Earlier this year I did a review of the Industar 50mm f3.5 50-2 Russian built lens. It’s a vintage lens that comes in an M42 mount. It’s a full-frame or 35mm lens so it works on cameras like the Sony A7rII, but it performs really well on these APS-C cameras like the Fujifilm X-T2.
Glacier Bay | Industar 50mm f3.5 50-2 – Fujifilm X-T2
Because this lens is so small, I couldn’t help but bring it with me on the cruise up to Alaska. We had a few rainy days, so I took this old lens out for a spin again to get more acquainted with it on the X-T2 since I have mostly been using it with my A7rII.
It’s a fantastic little lens on these smaller cameras because it eliminates all the problems that happen along the edges with full-frame cameras. So you get more of that center sharpness, and the lens also has fantastic micro-contrast, which makes it a great run-and-gun street photography lens. In this case, boat photography.
I never felt the lens had great color rendering, but that could be because I was using it on my Sony, and nothing looks like it has good color rendering when you’re using a Sony. I think this is more impart because this lens flares very easily. On an overcast and rainy day like in Glacier Bay, it was actually looking pretty nice, but still, nothing compared to Fujinon lenses in terms of color.
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First time here – nice articles, nice photography, and nice blog.
I’ve just bought my first Helios (50-2) and am thinking of the Industar for my next one. Have you never used some of these old lenses (Helios, Industar, etc.) in a way that makes the most of their idiosyncrasies? Rather than looking to minimalise them…
The Industar 50-2 is a micro-contrast beast, so you get really punchy looking images, so by default everything has more of that look. I actually use it quite a bit on my Nikon Z6 and love it. The flaring doesn’t look great on the Industar so I don’t like to lean into that, but the flaring and everything with the Helios lenses looks great.
There is just a natural old school quality you get with those helios lenses, especially in bright environments. There are a few variants to them and they all behave differently, the 44-2 has some crazy swirling bokeh. I actually got the mitakon speed booster to use it on my Fujifilm APS-C system to capitalize on that, but otherwise if you use the helios lenses on APS-C you lose some of that swirl but they still have that low contrast flare that makes them interesting.
I had my first try-out with the Helios at the weekend on my 5D4- some great images from it with lovely character, even on a cloudy November day (and yes, some swirly bokeh…).
I have an Industar 50-2 arriving after the weekend so I’m looking forward to comparing the two at some point.
I had my first try-out with the Helios at the weekend on my 5D4- some great images from it with lovely character, even on a cloudy November day (and yes, some swirly bokeh…).
I have an Industar 50-2 arriving after the weekend so I’m looking forward to comparing the two at some point.