Soviet Lenses
Turist-FL Spotting Scope
I came across this unusual looking lens accessory while browsing eBay for early M39/M42 gear. It’s a scope designed to attach to any M42 mount lens and adds additional magnification to whatever it is attached to. It wasn’t hard to…
MTO-1000AM 10.5/1100mm
I’ve spent days getting to know the MTO-1000, both its limits and its strengths and have enjoyed using it. The MTO-1000 is by a considerable margin the largest, heaviest, longest, slowest most intimidating and difficult lens I have ever used.…
Industar-24M 3.5/105mm
On the continuing quest to fill in the gaps of my early Soviet M39 SLR lens collection, I’ve managed to finally pick up a copy of this rare lens. Not only do few of them come up for sale, the…
Tair-11 2.8/133mm
It occurred to me when comparing the Telemar-22 to the Tair-11 that I have not done a write up yet about this lens. I’ve owned it for about 6 months and it’s among my favourites within the M39 SLR family.…
Telemar-22 5.6/200mm
Having exhausted the faster, more desirable primes from the vintage Soviet M39 SLR family of lenses, I’ve set my sights on some of the more obscure offerings just to complete the collection. The Telemar-22 falls firmly in this category. At…
Prototype Industar-22 3.5/50mm
This unusual little Industar-22 has certainly become an intriguing purchase. I believe this was actually a prototype for the first Zenit SLRs...primitive ergonomics, narrow focus range, soft edges, relatively slow aperture of ƒ3.5, heavy vignetting and low contrast - all…
The Legendary Helios-40 1.5/85mm
Although the Helios-40 is sharper even shot wide open, it’s 3 times the size of the Jupiter-9. When it comes to flare, the Helios-44 has it beat hands down (as in producing a prominent flare) - the Helios-40 is rather…
Jupiter-6 2.8/180mm
Ergonomics aside, this is a stunning lens. It feels like it’s built for battle - in outer space. Unsurprisingly, it exhibits the same weaknesses as the Sonnar design it's copied from - green/magenta chromatic aberration, strong vignetting wide open and…
Jupiter-11 4/135mm
This Jupiter-11 was a curiosity purchase. They seem almost as common as the Helios-44 and can be had for almost as cheap even though Russian sellers insist on calling it "rare". This is a decent lens. It’s almost too decent…
Mir-1 2.8/37mm
This has been a good month for finding prime, vintage primes and the latest addition is the finest condition lens so far. This 1964 Mir-1 is perfectly mint and comes straight from Ukraine where it was made. It wears the…
