INDUSTAR-22 1: 3.5 F = 50mm. Moscow (KMZ). Review of the lens from Rodion Eshmakov

A review of the INDUSTAR-22 1:3.5 F=50mm Moscow (KMZ) lens was prepared especially for Radozhiva by Rodion Eshmakov (instagram).

Industar-22 "full face". Enlarge.

Industar-22 is one of the first photographic lenses produced at the Krasnogorsk plant. The lens uses the "Tessar" optical design (4 lenses in 3 groups) and was calculated in 1945. It was produced in series since 1948 as a standard for Zorky cameras.

List of major modifications:

• Industar-22 1: 3.5 F = 50mm. Moscow (KMZ, 1948) - this article.
• Industar-22 1: 3,5 F = 50mm P (KMZ, 1952)
• Industar-22 1: 3,5 F = 50mm P (KMZ, 1953), converted for SLR cameras
• Industar-22 1: 3,5 F = 5cm P (KMZ, 1954), version for Zenit cameras, with a leash
• Industar-22 1: 3,5 F = 5cm P (KMZ), version for Zenit cameras, no leash.
• Industar-22 1: 3,5 F = 5cm P (KMZ), rangefinder in a rigid case, with a leash.
• I-22U 1: 3,5 F = 50mm P (KOMZ, 1960), photographic
• Industar 22U-1 1: 3,5 F = 50mm P, photographic

Technical specifications

Optical design - 4 lenses in 3 groups, "Tessar";
Focal length - 51,39 mm;
Relative aperture - 1: 3.5;
Field of view - 46 °;
Light transmission coefficient - 0.8;
Aperture - 10 blades;
Fastening - M39 thread with a flange of 28.8 mm.

Design features

Industar-22 inherited the main parameters and body design from the German Leitz Elmar 50 / 3.5, the main difference being the position of the aperture: in the German lens, it is installed between the first and second lenses, and not between the second and third. Quite often Elmarov fakes, made on the basis of Soviet folding lenses, surface at auctions.

Industar-22 is ready to shoot.

The modification of the lens presented in the article is apparently the oldest of the serial ones: by the look of the factory logo ("coffin"), it can be established that the lens was produced earlier than 1949. Therefore, since serial production began in 1948, this is the first year of production.

There is no serial number on the lens, but there is an inscription: "Moscow". Externally similar lenses (Industar-10, aka FED 50 / 3.5) were also produced in Kharkov at the FED plant - perhaps the city of production at Industar-22 was indicated to distinguish the lens among Kharkov ones. It is also interesting that the Industar-22 optics are covered with a faint coating, but there is no “P” letter on the lens.

Side view of Industar-22.

Like all folding Soviet fifty rubles, Industar-22 is made of nickel-plated brass - the body is weighty and beautiful. On such a small lens, the distance scale and depth of field were fitted, which are not very convenient to use. Industar-22 has an infinity focus lock, which is almost worn out from many years of use, but still works. Focusing is performed by rotating the entire lens unit. Usually after that it is customary to write that it is difficult to use polarizing filters, but Industar-22 does not have a thread for them at all.

Initially, the lens has a minimum focusing distance of 1 m, however, if you unscrew one of the helicoid stoppers and install a longer screw instead of the other, the lens unit will be able to make a whole revolution and the MDF will decrease to ~ 0.5 m. The operation does not harm the lens at all, changes can be canceled in less than a minute. Other folding lenses can be modified in the same way.

Folded Industar-22 from the side of the fastening thread.

Among all the modifications of Industar-22, this one has the largest number of aperture blades - there are as many as 10 of them. The hole, however, sometimes still has a shape that is far from round, due to the poor quality of the diaphragm mechanism. It is extremely inconvenient to control the diaphragm - a thin, thin ring for this requires prying and leading with a fingernail. Well, if the mechanism is not stiff from time to time - in my case, cleaning was required.

Interestingly, the name "Industar-22" actually refers to two lenses: the original Industar-22 and the Industar-22m. A modernized version was introduced around 1950 ( source ) and featured improved technology and optical performance. The lenses in these two lenses are not interchangeable. Therefore, the lenses previously described on this website are the Industar-22m, while the one presented in this article is the original Industar-22.

Optical properties of Industar-22

The lens served as an inexpensive kit lens and isn't exactly a top-of-the-line lens. However, it's known that the more recent Industar 50-2 works well even with the 50MP Canon 5Dsr—maybe the 22 is just as good?

I didn't have an Industar-50 on hand to compare, but I do have the slightly less well-known and more advanced Industar-26m . Both lenses were designed around the same time—in 1945 (I-22) and 1946 (I-26).

Below are the photographs taken in equal conditions on Industar-22 and Industar-26m with equal apertures. For Industar-26m, an open diaphragm was also used.

As you can see, Industar-22 has poor overall image contrast and faded colors. Apparently, the enlightenment of the late 40s is not doing its job. Poor-quality (or deteriorated over time?) Blackening, characteristic of Soviet optics, can also contribute. In addition, Industar-22 has less field aberrations than I-26m: in the latter, the image quality across the field was sacrificed to aperture ratio.

Crop of the center of the frame (top row) and edges of the image (bottom row) for the first series of images on Industar-22 and Industar-26m.

In the center of the frame, even on an open I-26m, it is better than Industar-22. This becomes especially noticeable when examining photographs taken in the near field.

Crop center of the frame for the third series of images on the I-22 and I-26m.

When the aperture is closed to F / 8, the image quality formed by the I-22 is much inferior to the I-26m - both in sharpness and in contrast. Industar-22 absolutely does not tolerate backlighting: the presence of the sun in the hemisphere practically guarantees the appearance of "solar rain" and a dense veil.

Crop center of the frame (top row) and edges of the image (bottom row) for the fifth series of images on Industar-22 and Industar-26m.

Perhaps, this lens shows itself in the best way in macro. I used the lens in conjunction with the M39 / M42 + M42 / EF + EF / NEX adapters, while folded it was possible to focus to infinity, and when unfolded, a focusing distance of about 25-30 cm was achieved. But even with this, the image suffers greatly from distortions: pronounced chromatism (red and blue borders indicate a rather poor correction), spherical aberrations.
In general, it seemed to me that this Industar-22 is a very weak optically lens, even in comparison with its later versions (Industar-22m), which did not cause any particular complaints from me. Image quality is difficult to improve even by aperture.

Below are photos taken with a full-frame Sony A7s camera (shooting in RAW, processing in Imaging Edge).

Conclusions

Industar-22 of the first year of production - a small-format debut of the Krasnogorsk plant - was, probably, quite good in its time. Today the lens is of more interest to collectors because of its mediocre performance. The later folding Industar-22 and Industar-50 look no worse, sometimes cost less, but give a much better image.

You can find more reviews from Radozhiva readers here.