While exploring some old school camera gears from a Minolta collector based out of Kolkata, I stumbled upon a lens, a highly regarded one. This lens also came with a unique feature, which you will learn later in this post. Not letting go off the opportunity, I promptly added it to my list of purchase.
From my collection। Industar 61 L/Z – Accidentally stumbling upon a gem
The Industar 61 L/D is possibly the most highly regarded lens for Ukrainian Leica copies apart from the 35mm Jupiter-12. In an L/D or L/Z version of this lens, the L indicates that the lens has Lanthanum, and D indicates M39 mount while Z indicates M42 mount. Lanthanum glass isn’ t radioactive – at least not at any significant level.
The claims of lenses made with Lanthanum glass being radioactive due to the presence of traces of Thorium are very far from facts. It is Thorium glass that is radioactive, and those glasses use large amounts of Thorium, typically 10% Thorium by weight. Some of the most well-known Thorium glass lenses are the Kodak Aero-Ektars, early collapsible Summicrons, Pentax 50/1.4 (M42), and early Canon FD 35/2.0. Most of these lenses are multi-coated and marked with MC. Some Industar 61 L/Z bear the logo of LZOS (Lytkarino Optical Glass Factory), probably having been manufactured by that company.
The Industrar 61 sports a focal length of 50 mm used in crop matrices. The output you get is the equivalent of a 75 mm for Nikon or an 80 mm for Canon. The sharpness at 2.8 is very impressive and the not so strong Depth of Field mitigates the unnecessary sharpness that portraits might have. This gives the lens a versatility to be used as a portrait lens. Also, this is a fast lens considering the max aperture of f/2.8. The build quality is excellent with deep-set glass, and the handling is very good with a smooth focus ring. It is very easy to manual focus with this lens.
When used for macro, the manual focus is easy with the focus ring. However, the best way to focus is to move your neck forward and backwards to micro-adjust the focus (instead of using the focus ring). This is the classical way to focus with macro lenses (even with auto-focus lenses, you will achieve a more accurate focus by performing a good manual focus).
I am listing five uniqueness of the Industar 61 L/Z:
1. It has a step-less aperture mechanism, very convenient to use with my Sony A7R
2. The front element is placed deep inside the body, which gives the effect of the lens having a built-in lens hood
3. Unique starry-hex aperture at F5.6 which produces a very unique bokeh
4. The aperture control ring is placed at the front, just behind the filter ring.
5. A very long-throw focus helicoid and extremely precise manual focusing, so far one of the best I have experienced
My Industar 61 L/Z has a Minolta MD mount, which I find rather unique. I have never heard of any Industar 61 L/Z being produced in any other mount than M42. The quality and finish of the mount tell that it is factory produced and not an aftermarket fitment or conversion. That makes my Industar 61 L/Z truly very rare and unique.
Sharing some shots taken by me immediately after I got the lens, attaching it to my Sony A7R at F2.8. More images to follow.
