Vintage lenses have become really popular over the last few years, mostly amongst the video shooters but also with photographers. And these days, everybody seems to be on the lookout for those great bargains that offer a unique look at a very low cost. Filmmaker and YouTuber Yuval Aloni thinks he’s found something. It’s the Industar 50-2 and it seems quite commonly available on big online auction sites for around $10. This is by no means high-end glass, even by the standards set during the time in which this lens was made. But for what you can find them for, it offers excellent value that produces a wonderfully retro look. It’s not super sharp, although it’s sharp enough where it needs to be and it blooms a bit in contrasty areas, but in a very pleasing way.
One of the great things about older lenses like these is that because they have such relatively low contrast compared to today’s lenses with ultra high tech modern lens coatings that are designed specifically to increase contrast. This means they can potentially offer you a little wider dynamic range than the kinds of lenses we see released today. Or, they’ll present you with that nice slightly low contrast vintage look (I mean, it is a vintage lens) that seems quite popular these days.
I haven’t tried the Industar 50-2 myself and it doesn’t appear all that often on lists of vintage lenses to look out for – probably due to its pretty slow f/3.5 aperture – but the results in the video shown in the video above are rather nice. I think I’ll have to go on the hunt for one of these to add to the Helios 44-2 58mm f/2, Zeiss Pancolar 50mm f/1.8 and the Jupiter-9 85mm f/2 I often use when going vintage.
