Industar / FKD 21CM f4.5

[Andrew Moxom]

I won an Industar 21cm lensmade in 1957 by FKD off of Feebay for $25 as I was hoping it would exhibit similar bokeh to the heliar type lens?? It was made for the last FKD wooden camera of that time. I hear that the Industar lenses can be quite good, and know that many of the 50mm versions in screw thread or M mounts for 35mm can give wonderful swirly effects. Will the same happen for the larger format lenses? Not much is available search wise on teh 21cm... some info on the 30cm is available, but not much on the bokeh. I was wondering whether Ole, or Jim Galli might know?

Thanks

A.

 

[David Nebenzahl]

I think you may be suffering from some delusions derived from popular mythology regarding Russki lenses ("oh, yes, those old Commie lenses are so bad they actually have marvelous bokeh", etc., etc.

Can't tell you anything about your 210 mm lens, but I've used several other Industars in both 35mm (50mm) and 6x9 (105mm) formats, and I can only say that they're actually quite good lenses. Very sharp and contrasty. The 105 on my Moskva-5 gives razor-sharp images. So no, you're probably not going to get any fancied "swirly" effects with your lens. (Unless it's completely gunked-up inside or something.)

 

[loman]

The 210mm industar lens is a copy of the tessar, so if it's in good condition, I would expect it to be an exellent lens. It is not a heliar design so it would not give the look of one either.
As for bokeh, well I never saw a good photograph where bokeh played a lead role.
Regards
Mads