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G1 + Industar 69

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robertasumendi

Guest
So I modded my Industar 69 lens (28mm f/2.8 Leica thread mount) this morning -- thought I'd do a brief writeup and post a couple samples since I haven't seen anything anywhere yet that showed what it can do on a G1 when it's been modified for infinity focus.

These are just sitting outside my neighborhood cafe. Laziest photography ever: Wait for the subjects to come to you, then point and click :)

f/2.8



f/5.6 (approx.)



Construction is really cheap and flimsy!

I found that you need to grind the infinity stops down to the same height as the lip of the mount piece they're a part of. This is the only note I'd add to Hamish Gill's tutorial.

When it's modified for infinity focus, the aperture scale no longer lines up with the dot. So you're just guessing the whole time. This is fun :) f/2.8 is really soft. Definitely lomo snapshot sort of look. It sharpens up real nicely around the f/5.6ish region. Covers the full sensor no problem. Color is distinctly pastel-ful, though I'll point out that today the sky is a bit overcast. In general, IQ wise I'm sure any color skopar would blow it away at just about any aperture, and if you're looking for the extra stop of speed I doubt f/2.8 on this lens is preferrable to f/4 and a stop higher ISO on a skopar.

In use, this becomes a fun lens to use on the G1, turning it into perhaps the most hi-tech snapshot camera ever. Much more fun than the IQ would indicate. At infinity, anything over 15 feet away is in focus, so I set it around f/5.6 and start snapping. Framing is optional, but the swivel screen makes it fun. Using the VF often feels like a waste of time and effort. It's just compact enough to fit the G1 into a large coat pocket, and the lens is recessed enough that a lenscap is entirely optional. It seems silly, but aesthetically it's such a good match I find I just want to leave it on :)

All in all, for the money, it's fun to have a compact normal prime that reduces the process to point-and-click operation without the AF lag of a compact digital. It's refreshing to let go and concentrate solely on what's going on around you. It's also really fun to have a pancake on the G1, and I'm sure the 20/1.7 will live on mine.
 

LizaWitz

New member
That rusty ford- did you do a bunch of color correcting, and post processing, or is that a Point & Shoot kind of result on iA?

It looks cool, all those images have a retro-shot-on-film-in-the-70s look to them, or a shot on film FROM the 70s look.

But I'm wondering if that's due to post or the lens...
 
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robertasumendi

Guest
Ron - not sure what l/d means but if you mean length/diameter it's about 2 cm x 4.4. phobus already posted a photo of it on the G1.

Liza - The only post on the Ford is a rotation (flat tire :) ) and something like +50 saturation in Photoshop. No levels or anything like that. I can't remember if this particular shot is pre- or post- chroma NR. The shot with two cyclists has zero saturation adjustment, the Impala photo is something like +25. FYI the Ford photo is pretty close to 100%. I also really like the effect of 70's snapshot lens + noise/grain free digital capture, at least as a graphic designer... adds another look to my bag of tricks.

This evening I'm going to modify the other lens I bought and put the better one up for sale here at a nominal price.
 
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butterdada

Guest
I have this lens,too.
Infinity focus is ok, not very bad.
F8 + DMC-G1



Best best 28mm I used on DMC-G1 is Konica UC hexanon AR 28mm F1.8.
Besides, Voigtlander 28/2 is ok.
I will try Contax G Biogon 28/2.8 modified to M mount in the future.
 

LizaWitz

New member
I love seeing all these lenses, but could you help the clueless by letting us know the mount the lenses use? Many times manufacturers make lenses in multiple mounts over the years, and I'm having trouble figuring out where to find these lenses.
 

hodad66

Member
I just purchased two "Industar" Russian lenses. The 50-2
is black with an M42 mount. The silver one is M39 but when
I tried it I soon found out that it still needed to be the same
distance from the sensor as the M42.

I was hoping that being M39 that it would fit more closely to
the body as the M39 adapter is less that half the thickness
of the M42. Now I will have to order an M42 to M39 screw
adapter so that all is working.
 
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