Industar 26m

Industar-26m versions image by Siim Vahur (Image rights)

The Industar 26m is a 50mm, f:2.8 lens made at the KMZ factory in the Soviet Union. It is named "Industar" as this was the standard Soviet name for this type of optical formula, with four elements in three groups; this lens is often said to be a variation on the Tessar, and is thus comparable to a wide range of lenses made for many different mounts. The Leitz Elmar 50mm was also a Tessar variant with the aperture placed differently, so the Industar and Elmar may be considered to be part of the same family.

The 26m was sold as standard with many FED bodies, including the majority of the FED 2's, which were previously sold with the collapsible Elmar-lookalike Tessar clone the Industar-22 and later sold with the updated version of the 26m, the Industar 61, type L/D.

Variation exists between versions of this lens. Earlier models have a knurled ring with a focusing lever, and later models would introduce the scalloped ring that would be carried forward onto the 61. A red Cyrillic letter P (looks like a Greek uppercase Pi) indicates premium coating.