It is indeed generic. In fact, first Zenit came to be from Zorki camera, which was in turn a crude copy of Leica. They "just" added a mirror box. Later models didn't evolve much in terms of mechanics and it's arguably the easiest SLR to service on your own, until it comes to adjusting shutter curtains.But just as the basic design is generic throughout many models and as there are quite few around the Zenit should be a good base for repair training.
I was contemplating a purchase of 'father' of this lens, silver Zeiss Tessar 50/3.5 for SLR on M42 thread, with some fancy coating, but in the end that money went elsewhere. After all, it would never be my daily shooter lens and 70$ is a fair amount of money out here.Great that someone is using a Tessar-type in an SLR, as japanese makers made us think SLR life only starts with a Double-Gauss lens.
(Well, Pentacon even offered a plain triplet for their SLR's.)
I agree, the industar 50-2 is one of the few lenses I carry with me everywhere, i have an adapter for my EOS film cameras as well to use it there and it's simply brilliant. Perhaps the only thing I do not quite like is how prone it is to flare, but then again for such a cheap and small lens there's not much room to complain. At this moment I have it on a Chinon CS-4 and the whole set up is quite small and light, although I do sometimes miss my clunky Zenit.I was contemplating a purchase of 'father' of this lens, silver Zeiss Tessar 50/3.5 for SLR on M42 thread, with some fancy coating, but in the end that money went elsewhere. After all, it would never be my daily shooter lens and 70$ is a fair amount of money out here.
Zenit looks like a concrete block compared to any post-1972 Japanese camera and I quite frankly am accustomed to lightweight, ergonomic and functional cameras from four islands in Asia. However, their stock optics, normal 50 mm lenses with f/1.8 are somewhat dull. Yes they are sharp, yes they are good performers (some of them - great performers actually), but they all lack character and sometimes I want some beautiful rendering instead of clinically sharp images. And that's where M42 comes in. Tessar scheme specifically. Of course I use Flektogon and Biotar b*stards from Russia as well, but Tessar has some punch.
I have a few issues with it too, like you said, it's prone to flare. Most Soviet lenses are, thanks to "super" coating and in case of Industar 50-2, its glass is tiny, stuck in front without anything remotely similar to hood, filter thread is of odd size and one can't find a hood easily either. Second complaint is regarding the aperture control. it's in the wrong place and it's too easy to go off-focus while trying to adjust the aperture. Luckily when using on APS-C sensor wide open I get equivalent depth of field f/5.2 which is ok. As for using it on Zenit, I just like to complicate my life sometimes.I agree, the industar 50-2 is one of the few lenses I carry with me everywhere, i have an adapter for my EOS film cameras as well to use it there and it's simply brilliant. Perhaps the only thing I do not quite like is how prone it is to flare, but then again for such a cheap and small lens there's not much room to complain. At this moment I have it on a Chinon CS-4 and the whole set up is quite small and light, although I do sometimes miss my clunky Zenit.
Interestingly, original Zeiss lens had a bit better aperture ring with sort of a grip on the barrel. I imagine it would be easier to operate the aperture this way, rather than on Industar. Not sure about clickable stops though, I don't own Zeiss unfortunately.Yes, ergonimics of lenses is an issue. Click-stops could conúnteract a wrong location of an aperture dial. Otherwise one can dampen it strongly so that twisting the helicoid would be much easier than the dial.
It was 33 mm initially. Later it was changed to 35.5 mm. Both threads are uncommon nowadays.What is strange with soviet filter thread sizes? I never looked into that matter so far.
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