Industar 50-2 for travel photography

Industar 50-2 is a tiny lens that renders beautiful vintage-looking colors. It is so small, that it can fit into any pocket. It even fits into my wallet! I believe it is a fantastic addition to any travel photographer’s kit. And, did I mention the price? It costs only 10-20 euros. Here is my Industar 50-2 review.

Why vintage lens?

Well, most of the people shoot with popular cameras and lenses, as a result, the images look similar. As soon as you use some sort of non-ordinary equipment – your photos stand out. The vintage lenses don’t have the same image quality as modern ones, they may have some optical imperfections and are optimized for the film. But the image you get has some interesting, different look.

Industar 50-2, the classic low-contrast look

Industar 50-2 is probably the second popular Soviet lens, after Helios 44 series. The lens is low contrast, it has fluffy out-of-focus areas and large vignetting (on a full frame). It is also surprisingly sharp in the center (for its age/price/size).

Modern lenses benefit from advanced coating technologies. They bring improved colors, reduce flare and do other things. When you take an Industar lens – you don’t have all this. You use something simple and the result strongly reminds film era.

NOTE: In USSR they have a bit misleading naming for lenses. For Industar 50-2 the focal length is indeed 50mm, but it is F3.5!

Industar 50-2 review for travel photography

As I always tell, that travel photography is a bit of everything. Street, landscape, portraits, documentary. Basically anything, that can bring an atmosphere or a remote location.

I personally like using Industar 50-2 for a few cases:

- When I want to add an additional accent to the subject in the center
- Shooting portraits, that include a bit of environment (at F3.5 and higher)
- When I want my DSLR to be very small
-Macro photography with macro rings

And obviously, when I want to give vintage look for pretty much anything. I like doing it for some old architecture, or portraits in some classic environment. (for low-light I prefer Helios 44-2 because it is faster

Here are some examples:

The light on this portrait is far from perfect. The left side is in the shadows, but low contrast makes the image still usable. Note that vinjetting puts an additional accent to the subject in the center.

I like shooting foggy cityscapes with Industar 50-2, low contrast adds up to the atmosphere. To avoid vignetting, you have to set the aperture to around f8-f11. This means there has to be a lot of light.

I wrote a detailed review on my blog. You will find more examples of use, some practical information, and full-screen images:
https://engineerontour.com/industar-50-2-review/