#Helios lens official manual#
#Helios lens official full#

I got the 44-2 first, I'm more partial to that lens, and I feel the 44-2's bokeh swirls even more. Will this lens produce the unusual and beautiful swirly bokeh like the extra-ordinary earlier Helios 44-2? And the answer is yes in the right conditions at f2. Sharpness: 8 Aberrations: 8 Bokeh: 10 Handling: 8 Value: 10įirst of all: the key question many will want to know. I bought a Sigma super-wide II 24mm as a sister to her, yet this is still my lens-to-go. (Even if not 44M version per se) a must for any photographer if you ask me. An amazing lens for portraits and close-ups (though not macros), as well as some architecture (if you can go enough far, though). It is not a problem for me, though, as by f/2.8 she already produces good corners, becomes sharp and produces contrast). At f/2 and f/2.5, it is usable only for portraits (soft, low contrast). She is all metal, and I love her being heavy, to be honest. I fall in love with both pieces every time I take a shot and fix it at home. This lens helps the camera to produce the exact colors I want to have. One was the ability to use legacy lenses easily, second was the colors which reminded me of the good old film days (although 31, I am old enough to remember those days). I love the colors that this lens produces. This is an amazing and very important asset which is rather rare - at least in this price range. When you view a photo, it feels like the screen is just a piece of glass, and you can actually touch the subject you photographed. The photos look real, not unreal/surreal like many other lenses. On crop sensor it is limited only to the edges of the frame but still is great to have and produces very nice images. Get close to your subject, and fill background with some nice colors, and let her do the job. Officially she is the worst copy of all of her sisters (44-2, 44m-6, etc.) yet the images she produces are either fantastic, or takes a minute of PP to become fantastic. But I still can argue that this lens, not only for her (yeah, mine is a she and I love her) price but for the results she produces, is an amazing piece of a glass. I cannot say that I have used many primes. Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 10 Bokeh: 10 Handling: 10 Value: 10 Camera Used: K-50

Not useful for other than portraits at f/2 (such a great problem, eh?).

#Helios lens official full#

The full album for this test is here: Date: July 19, 2017Īmazing micro contrast, wonderful colors, great bokeh, swirl, build. I took test photos in Kensington Gardens, a London park that has some nice statues etc., with the lens on a Canon Eos 400D with an M42 adapter with AF confirmation chip. If I had to value the lens alone I'd say it was about half the value of the lot to me.

#Helios lens official manual#

The lens I tested here was part of a job lot with a telephoto, a Zent body, a 200mm manual lens, and a teleconverter which I got for £25, about $30. The 44-M probably isn't the best of them, but they're usually good all-round performers with no horrible flaws or problems, and I've only ever seen a couple with stopdown faults, the big weakness of many M42 lenses by comparison, I see more faulty Domiplan lenses than working. I buy and sell a lot of old lenses, and generally see several Helios lenses a month. Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 8 Handling: 8 Value: 9 Camera Used: Canon Eos 400D Not as sharp as some of the other lenses of this marque