The Helios 44 underwent a series of incremental upgrades over the many years it was produced, improving coatings and central sharpness. The Helios’ 58mm focal length is at the longest end of the definition of the 35mm “standard,” which ranges anywhere from 35mm to 60mm. I personally own the 44M, 44-2, and 44-4, all built with the goal of emulating the Zeiss Biotar lens.

Once a month (or more if I'm feeling inspired), I promise to send the newest story straight to your inbox . My only worry is that some people might think that this lens is representative of all classical lenses.The inconsistent nature of USSR quality control means that there are inevitably differences between the output of even the same plants (and definitely between plants) When you look at the length of time these lenses were produced over, it’s safe to assume there can be some significant differences.

This of course won’t appear in every image, you sort of have to get the distance and focus just right to get it to get the out-of-focus area to swirl this crazy. What really makes this lens special is that buttery smooth rendering when shot at the faster apertures.

I go f/2 for portrait and most macro work and f/8 for landscapes or street photography so I can literally swing from one side to the other and adjust my Canon EOS 4000D (nice simple DSLR, nothing fancy) shutter speed and ISO depending on what I’m aiming at, or in-between if I’m taking the same shot and can’t decide how much bokeh I might like.

You have a ring that will allow you to switch between wide open and your chosen aperture with one smooth motion. I advertised a job lot of brownies and other pieces I didn’t use on Facebook Marketplace and quickly sold them. I personally own Helios 44M and its overall a good all around lens, even before you include its low cost, Quality control is spotty, so I cant relate to sharpness after f5. Several companies made these lenses over several decades, in the millions of units, so they aren’t exactly rare.

Still its a great lens and its character really helps set it apart from the many other 50mm lenses for M42. I do like the 44M onwards and its variations, and image wise they’re lovely, if anything better than the older 44-2. So I attached the 44-2 lens to my Zenit 11 and went for a trundle to Monk Bretton Priory to make myself feel better…it was closed, it really wasn’t my day.

Never quite pulled the trigger but if I got back into M4/3 I would certainly explore one or two of these lo-fi lenses. After that he has been using Canon SLR, Nikon SLR manual focus and Autofocus, Sony mirrorless crop sensor, Nikon DSLR and Nikon Mirrorless. It is worth noting that if you are shooting on anything less than full frame (a digital camera with APS-C for example), the effect will obviously be less pronounced. it’s worth noting that mine does not mount on my Spotmatic F, earlier models might be better off, i use mine on a Praktica instead. I had one ages ago with an adapter on my original DSLR, a Pentax K-x, with an adapter but without realising at the time it would only focus very closely (due to the adapter and distance from lens to sensor being greater than lens to film plane on an M39 rangefinder).

I will in the future use the Helios with a speed booster to be able to shoot with EF converted glass on Fuji X mount with a reduced crop factor.