Since getting an A7, I’ve been on a vintage lens buying spree. I’m planning to spend an extended period of time with each of them in order know how each handles and draws, so you’ll see a series of posts (in time) with my thoughts on each of them.
The Industar-69 was produced for the Soviet Chaika half-frame (18x24mm) camera, which from 1965 to 1974 sold over 2 million copies. This explains the vignetting seen when mounted on the full-frame A7. It’s not very sharp at all, but its drawing makes its black and white results exceedingly endearing. Its size is a huge plus point as well, behooving it for a full day out on the streets.
The lens had to be modified slightly though; its flange distance is slightly off of the M39 mount, so I couldn’t achieve infinity focus right out of the box. The poor quality control of the Industar-69 worked in my favour - after disassembling the focus ring, I discovered that the focusing helicoid still had a few threads left, so I simply tightened it slightly.
These are some pictures I took on a day out. Post-processing done entirely in Lightroom (black and white conversion and some mild curves adjustment).
This post is a work in progress.