truls
Lifetime Member
Posts: 568
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Post by truls on May 16, 2013 10:33:44 GMT -5
Maybe a stupid question, as Leica is Leica quality. But is the Fed Elmar copy in m39 format in any way comparable, or will it show up in the pictures?
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Stephen
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Still collecting.......
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Post by Stephen on May 16, 2013 13:25:08 GMT -5
Simply put, the Russian lenses are not quite in Leica's league, but can be if your lucky. Early Fed and Zorki Industar Lenses are now about 55 years old, and suffer due to age, dust, and scratches etc., which reduce sharpness a bit, but do reduce contrast.
Also the collapsible versions are poorly baffled and the ground edges of the glass elements are visible, again causing reflection and very much lowering contrast.
The Russian's improved a lot, the later 2.8 Industar can be just as good as a decent German lens, but again they were variable. The Ex Zeiss lenses were a different matter, they were usually good, as the basic design had been calculated by Zeiss, only the Communist lack of quality control spoilt the rivalry to the German made originals.
By the way, the Russians always claimed the Industar was not an Elmar copy, even pre-war. It is the same glass arrangement, but all optical makers worldwide used similar formulae.
With older Industars with film use, try to use the lens clean, and with a deep hood, it really helps. For B/W pick a high contrast film, or process for contrast. You should consider using a Yellow filter at all times with the Industar. For colour neg use the hood, nothing much else can be done apart from a polariser.
With Digital cameras, no problem, post process to sharpen and raise the contrast.
Stephen.
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Stephen
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Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
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Post by Stephen on May 16, 2013 13:44:42 GMT -5
Both the Elmar and Industar are four element configurations, but the Industar is more properly classed as a Tessar type, and has the iris diaphragm in the usual position, whilst the Leica is at the front, behind the front element.
Stephen.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2013 17:00:43 GMT -5
Sharpest "Elmar-type" lens I ever owned was a collapsible Elmar copy on a post war Japanese Leotax. One of the great regrets of my photographic life is that I sold that camera.
W
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Stephen
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Still collecting.......
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Post by Stephen on May 16, 2013 17:18:05 GMT -5
But the Japanese were in the position of very professional copyists on lenses like the Elmar, as the designs were based on experience in manufacturing items for wartime use based on German designs with permission. Most of the smaller camera makers after the war, had owners, and senior workers and optical technicians who had worked on optical projects for the Japanese Armed forces. Pre-war, most Japanese makers bought in optics from Germany, or were from experienced older makers like Olympus. The Russians were new to 35mm at the time that the Japanese were quite experienced in making lenses like Tessar and Elmar types. No copies of Leica from Japanese had bad lenses, the Leotax was always rated well above average. The best ever Leica fit standard lens was the TTH made for the Reid in the UK.
Stephen.
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