Industar-69: First shots
Soviet lenses are like a box of chocolate: you never know what you're gonna get.
I bought an Industar-69 with the idea that I was intentionally buying a "bad" lens. It's a 28mm f/2.8 lens originally attached to a half-frame film camera, the Chaika. It had to be infinity-modded to focus on mirrorless.
The seller told me emphatically — "NO!" — that it wouldn't work on my Ricoh GXR but I found a few examples so risked my $35 anyway.
Because Flickr is peppered with delicious examples like this:
![DSC08962](https://live.staticflickr.com/4636/39565560291_f12dd0f0b0_b.jpg)
![Untitled](https://live.staticflickr.com/8481/29584919812_757daa3f09_b.jpg)
A bit weird, distorted, desaturated, odd bokeh, vignetty, soft… Hardly destined for greatness. That was exactly what I wanted! It's easy to buy a sharp, perfect lens. It's not easy to shoot digital that feels like 1970s film.
And this is what I got today, my first day with this lens on my Ricoh GXR M:
![](https://thelightslide.com/content/images/2021/12/R1025431-4.jpg)
![](https://thelightslide.com/content/images/2021/12/R1025419.jpg)
![](https://thelightslide.com/content/images/2021/12/R1025423.jpg)
Check out the sharpness and detail at 100%:
![](https://thelightslide.com/content/images/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-28-at-6.38.28-PM.png)
Not quirky at all.
It's a good lens.
Dammit!
It's teensy weensy, weighs nothing, and comes with a focus depth that is absurdly deep. Infinity is max 25 ft away… astonishing. I got the photo of that motel sign from a moving car; just set the lens to infinity and bam!
So yeah even though it doesn't fulfill my digital Diana dreams, I'm going to get a lot of use out of it.
And the rear of the lens is nice and flat so next time I'll try it on my Fujifilm X-M1. Maybe the problem is that the GXR is too good at dealing with old lenses.