Lanthanum & rare earth

[Dave Wooten]

Has anyone done a comparison of russian Industar lenses---Industar 61 and Industar 61 L/D.....Does the L/D infact contain rare earth and the radio active element Lanthanum, and if so does this improve contrast etc....

The L/D lenses I believe were issued with the Fed 4 and Fed 5 series, and are also leica screw mount etc.

Maybe some one has an example of each?

Thanks
Dave in Vegas

[Ole]

A quick note about Lanthanum: It isn't radioactive!

But lenses with Lanthanum glass usually are, because trace amounts of Thorium are next to impossible to separate from the Lanthanum. And Thorium is radioactive.

Lanthanum belongs to a group of elements called "rare earth elements" for historic rason only. They are not particularly rare, nor particularly earthy, but the name seems to have stuck. Most of them are named for Ytterby, a village just outside Stockholm, Sweden (Ytterbium, Yttrium, Terbium, Erbium, Holmium, as well as Scandium)!

[Dave Wooten]

Thanks Ole!

You are always such a treasure of information.....is there any truth to the possibility that a lense containing lanthanum is any more desireable than one without? Are they more contrasty as claimed?

[jimgalli]

Lots of romance and urban myth. Else why would a 210 Lanthar be 2 1/2 times as much as it's sibling Heliar. I think it would be easy to prove any slight gains in contrast are long since eclipsed by modern coatings.

[Ole]

Both yes and no. They are not noticably contrastier, and certainly not compared to modern multicoated lenses. However the Lanthanum glass made some corrections far easier, so that the first APO Lanthanum lenses had far better colour correction than anything made before. So the focus is in a way more precise...

I do know that I have a 150/4.5 APO-Lanthar with a deep scratch on the rear element that is still my best 4x5" lens. I won't claim it's sharper, contrastier, or in any measyrable way "better" than other lenses, yet I find the pictures shot with it more pleasing. I have compared it to several other lenses, and there really is something special about it!

[jimgalli]

I won't claim it's sharper, contrastier, or in any measyrable way "better" than other lenses, yet I find the pictures shot with it more pleasing. I have compared it to several other lenses, and there really is something special about it!

Hmmm. Sounds like my Heliar. Oops, we hijacked Dave's thread.

[Dave Wooten]

that's fine I'll just hang around and maby learn something

[eumenius]

Hi Dave,

both lenses are equally good, as well as its sibling Industar-61 L/Z MC (M42 multicoated version). They definitely are from the very best lenses ever made by USSR - a highly-improved Tessars with close focusing abilities. From my own experience with these I can say that the lanthanum version yields a better color saturation and contrast, also it's claimed to have a better overall resolution. I-61 makes also a good enlarger lens, and gives no flare in all lighting conditions due to its design (built-in hood and small frontal element). I can recommend the lanthanum MC edition - it's improved, really. But a plain I-61 is a great performer, too.

Cheers,
Zhenya

Has anyone done a comparison of russian Industar lenses---Industar 61 and Industar 61 L/D.....Does the L/D infact contain rare earth and the radio active element Lanthanum, and if so does this improve contrast etc....

[Dave Wooten]

Thanks all very informative....I have acquired a Fed 5 B with the lens in discussion....I will put a roll through it.

Dave in Vegas

[rjr]

Dave,

this is exactly the approach I usually recommend: get a decent lens with some ugly and large rear cap in shape of a FED5. 8)

BTW, the L/Z version is still in production (http://www.lzos.ru/en/ind_61_l3.htm), the L/D should be available in it´s last version with NOS FEDs.

Zhenya, LZOS lists the J9 as "not available" - did they pull it from production? :-(