Table of Contents
Why I Chose This Lens
I was initially looking for a fast wide-angle lens for medium format night photography.
I wanted one with an f/2.8 aperture, but I decided to take the opportunity to buy this Soviet lens from the 1970s at a good price.
I have never handled a Soviet lens without mechanical flaws, and this one is no exception, as its aperture is stuck wide open.
Good Performance
This lens, which was not my first choice, turned out to be an excellent companion, delivering high-quality images full of character.
It is not the sharpest lens wide open, but it has that distinctive Soviet rendering of textures – the kind that makes you want to run your fingers across the image to feel its roughness.
Unlike other Soviet lenses I have tested, this quality does not come with the unpleasant “flattening” of perspective often associated with them.
A Lens Full of Character
Another area where this lens shines is its ability to make you truly feel like you are shooting medium format rather than 35mm.
You may not feel dizzy when looking at some images, but there is a pleasant sense of weight and depth that I have not found in my other medium format lenses (Pentax 645 A 200mm and 45–85mm, Fujica GS645W, and various bellows cameras).
I believe this impression is partly due to the distortion produced by the lens… a case where optical “flaws” become strengths.
A Lens That Traveled to Space
This lens is also a piece of history: one copy traveled to space during a joint mission between the USSR and the United States.
There are some truly excellent Soviet lenses out there. If you are willing to overlook their mechanical unreliability, you can find remarkable optics at unbeatable prices.
Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL3BADUyIC0 (à 2 minutes 40).
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