Helios 44-2 58mm F2 Russian Lens for Sony E NEX (for E-mount cameras)

Product Information

Lenses bought from good vendors from Ukraine or (before war) Russia often sold Zenit M39 objectives already in perfectly working conditions, complete with the M39>M42 ring and with infinity perfectly registered. It sounds a little far-fetched, if they had difficulties to get the lenses in standard dimension how on earth could they make an exact match camera?

When the two dots are the same like this the aperture stopper is set to f4 but the blades are fully open at f2. I also have to plug rangefinders where this is never an issue because you never look through the lens. On full-frame cameras the lens is always sharp enough for portraits, when your subject is in the middle of the image frame.

Optical formula, aperture blade count and other functionality is variable between the different versions but the differences won't significantly impact the performance or ease of use.

Achieving a full on case of the infamous ‘swirly’ bokeh can be pretty difficult, as it requires some specific combination of background, distance, highlights, and focus. I definitely felt that with the Helios 44-2 / HP5 shots with Danni that the shots were more crisp and sharp where they needed to be - obviously film and development/scanning is a factor here too folks so these are just my thoughts but I do feel like in this completely subjective and unscientific test I have to give this round to the 44-2! or smaller the problem is not noticeable anymore as the depth of field has increased so much that everything is within the depth of field from 13m to almost infinity (or around 500m) if the focus is set to 25m. They are reportedly named according to the lens mount, and the optical resolution; with the M standing for a lens with an automatic diaphragm.The image was also feature as their “Photo Of The Day” and spent 24 hours as the hero image on the Unsplash landing page. I really enjoy having big apertures available for low light so I started looking for another prime lens. If you're using this camera on a mirrorless digital camera then using the "preset ring" as the only aperture control is easiest. I love them, but the first time I got one I thought there was a manufacturer fault and the aperture numbers went the wrong way on the barrel. Little side note – its flare resistance is low even with sidelight, with serious contrast loss on all frame so use blend or just compensate with PS.

I was looking through photos on Flickr and noticed a few images in which the bokeh appeared to be swirling in a circular pattern. For me this is a consideration, but if you’re not interested in close ups with round bokeh balls it’s a minor concern. Some people criticize Helioses swirly bokeh because it is too strong and takes attention from the subject.After a quick test shoot I decided I was going to shoot this Helios 58mm 44-2 exclusively for the entire trip. The lens formula itself dates back to the 1920’s and referred to a variation on the six elements in four Double-Gauss formula made famous by the Zeiss Planar. The lens itself is made of a tough metal and makes it easy to see how these pieces of glass have stood the tests of time.