#Best bokeh lens helios lenses manual
#Best bokeh lens helios lenses plus

Lightshow, do you have knowledge that the heavy purple coating version was an issue for all of the 13 bladers or did you have a bad sample? I also have a very early 44, with the f22 aperture, if you find one, jump on it. Just avoid the 44 with 13 blades and no red P(Pi) with the heavy purple coating, it has nasty purple ghosting/flare.I'm thinking of pulling the optics out of a good 44-2 and sticking them in this body to get the 13 blade iris. I can either keep them all or resell one or two of them. What I have decided is this: As there are so many Helios lenses available cheaply on eBay in UK I have decided to buy a Helios 44 M, a Helios 44-2 and if I can find one in good enough condition, a Helios 44. It seems to be kind of a one trick pony but it's fun. Anyway, I did put it together and just didn't tighten it very tight and took it out a little today. The two pieces of glass do touch when I reversed the front one so I'll try to come up with some sort of shim between them, probably out of wood. It has two small holes on the front plate so it was pretty easy to remove with snap ring pliers. I won a 44M that arrived yesterday that I did reverse the front lens on. I've had a 44-2 for some time now and it has become one of my favorite lenses so that I haven't really wanted to risk modifying it. Here is a sample with modified Helios-44, 13 blades However, you can get super swirly effect by simple modification, best described here. General rule is: the older the Helios, the most swirly character. Thank you for any suggestions and/or any photos that display swirly backgrounds and the lens used.

I would like to try a Helios 44 again to achieve swirly bokeh but I am confused by the number of versions available cheaply on eBay. I once owned a Helios 44-3 but sold it before experimenting sufficiently with it. However, the standard EF-FX adapter has little metal 'springs' to ensure all lenses fit snugly but the LT doesn't have this. I have the EF-FX LT II then adapt all my lenses to it so it might be the secondary adapter (ie M42-EF) that's the problem. The only problem I have with the LT is that it started out as quite snug fitting on the lens side and now it's very loose. The helios seems a touch sharper when it's on the LT compared to a standard adapter but I haven't tested it properly (ie same target) so I can't say that with certainty. I'm not much of a pixel peeper but it seems ok to me. How does it perform in terms of sharpness? My adapter is coming from China so might not get it till January I don't know if that makes a difference.Įxcellent info and results :), just what I was hoping it would do. PS: my helios was made in the Valdai factory. I read somewhere that the relative camera/subject/background distances are important to get the best swirl. I had the focus set to 1meter (3feet) and the tree with highlights on the leaves was 2.5(ish) meters (~8feet) away. Note: I set the camera to display focal length as 42mm (58x0.726) so that I know the lens and adapter combo that I used. You would loose most of the swirl if the helios was on a standard adapter using an APS-C camera.

#Best bokeh lens helios lenses plus

The 44m-4 plus Lens Turbo II works to give a definite swirl. With this in mind I've bought a Zhongyie Len turbo 2 which will bring the focal length down from 85 ish to 58 ish again in theory giving more swirls I'll let you know how it works when the lens turbo arrives The swirl will become more evident toward the edge of the frame and since th APS-c sensors crop this you'll lose most of the swirl. I use them on an a6000, but the real defining factor here will be your sensor. Heuser.I have a 44m and 44m-4 both give the same results IMO. Images of the Helios 44-3 were kindly provided by S. It is also preferred version of many users as it delivers more stable results and has a slightly shorter minimum focusing distance of 50cm. The Helios 44-3 is the latest installment of the Helios 44 lens variation.

#Best bokeh lens helios lenses manual

Contrary to the Helios-44-2, this version has a manual / automatic aperture switch. this results in a less circular aperture, which in turn slightly degrades the bokeh.

The Helios-M has a different type of aperture blades as these are bent upwards.

The Helios-44M feels a bit more solidly build than the 44-2. Image taken from the original Soviet manual of the Zenit-E cameras that were exported