The Industar 26m (Cyrilic: Индустар) is another vintage lens that comes from the ex Soviet Union. It was manufactured by FED and KMZ and equipped FED rangefinder cameras. Today it is one of the most affordable vintage lenses that you can find from the second hand market. I got the lens for free as a gift cause i bought a Jupiter 8 lens! But does affordable means bad optical and build quality? Lets have a look and review this unknown Tessar based design.
Industar 61 sample image
Tech Specs
- Mount: M39 Leica screw-mount
- Focal Length: 52,4mm
- Minimum Focusing Distance: 1m (Some users with a simple modification change the minimum focusing distance to 0,4 meters)
- Number of Aperture Blades: 10 blades
- Aperture Range 2.8 - 22
- Filter thread: 40.5 ( i was able to fit the lens hood of my kit lens - Sony a6000 16-50mm )
- Optical Design: Tessar - 4 elements in 3 groups
Industar 26m - Sun star effect
Operation - Handling
The Industar 26m is similar to the Industar 61 L/D. It is compact, lightweight and has two rings. The aperture ring at the front and the focus ring at the back of the barrel. Both of them are smooth although the aperture rings feels a bit loose and not precise. It is also click-less. Some older versions have a small lever - knob on the focus ring similar to the Jupiter 8. The lens is all metal (unpainted aluminum) and can be scratched easily. The whole build quality is not bad although it seems cheaper compared to the Industar 61. On the other hand finding a good copy of a Soviet lens can be a matter of luck.
The lens colors are on the cool side
Optical Character
The Industar 26m produces similar images to the Industar 61 L/D but it is a bit less sharp in the corners and less contrasty. The sharpness in the center of the image is acceptable though even wide open. The lens becomes much sharper at F/ 5.6, F/8 and F/11. Color rendering is really nice (neutral and a bit cool) and the bokeh is pleasant. It also produces great black and white images. The letter P means that it has enlightened optics. Its weakest point is that it cant handle side and back light although it is coated. Under such light it produces very soft images and lots of flares. That means that the use of a lens hood is a must unless you are under normal shooting conditions.Vignetting and chromatic aberrations are present but they can be easily fixed in post processing.
The flaws: Back light sensitivity, soft images and flares
Another sample image - Industar 26m & Sony a6000
Industar 26m - Bottom line
Overall the Industar 26m is another good lens from the Soviet era. It is not the sharpest or the most contrasty lens but it produces great images and has its own unique character. But you must know what to expect and how to use it. Although the later model (Industar 61) is greatly improved, some people may like the Industar 26m more because of the softer images. The optical character, its focal length and its lightweight and compact design make the lens a good all rounder. At such cheap price and availability i see no reason not to try it. After all you can consider Industar 26m the most affordable prime lens you ever had.
Links - Affiliate code: If you purchase products using my links I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you. You can buy the Industar 26m from eBay: https://ebay.us/TAmuTG
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