So a cheap lens for your arsenal, and you can end up with sharp wide-open examples as much as you can find VERY soft versions! But they are a lovely lens in use, and make a decent portrait lens on film and digital given the 58mm focal length. Surprising when you consider the use those machines must have had over the decades since 1945!) Not as well finished as the Zeiss, but every screw hole lines up, and every internal screw uses the same pitch thread. (The same applies to a number of other Russian lenses and cameras, of course-and when repairing a pre-war Contax shutter the much later Kievs provide an excellent source of parts. The lens of course is not actually a 'copy' of the Zeiss Biotar, technically it IS a Biotar because when the Russians seized the Zeiss photographic machines and designs-plus the personnel, of course-they continued to maufacture the same lenses using the same equipment for decades, and apart from modifying the body of the lens and improving the lens coating to make it slightly less flare-prone, it remains nevertheless a Biotar at heart.Some I dismantled back in the 1960s still had German markings on some of the inetrnal parts. Some of my favourite shots are from those days. They all printed fine using Ilford HP3 and then HP4 film. Still have the lens and camera, still working.not bad for £18 from Jessops when they only had one tiny shop in Leicester!Īs I said above, the lens is prone to flare, and also a little soft wide-open, but back then I managed many candid shots indoors using the lens wide open, and hand-holding at a guestimated 1/5 second. My first standard lens, bought with a Zenit E back in the mid 1960s. Sharpness: 8 Aberrations: 8 Bokeh: 8 Handling: 8 Value: 10 Camera Used: Zenit E, Pentax KS-1 Lovely effects contra-jour if you use the flare right Tips on using Helios 44 with pentax M42 adapter (loose fit, light leakage around mount edge) see this thread. Takes 52mm filters.Ĩ blade 44 (very similar to this lens) listed here. KMZ was probably the most prolific producer, the one in pic 1 however has the Valdai logo.įocuses down to 0.5m and has a mag ratio of 1:6.5 at closest focus point. Helios 44's were made in more than one factory. There are also non-preset "M" versions, and "K" versions with PK mount. More recent versions include multicoated lens elements. It is a classic preset lens with two rings, one to set the desired f-stop, one to open/close the iris, f2-f16. The earliest versions were just "-44", later they acquired the additional -2, -3, -4 etc up to -7, the latter is supposed to be the highest resolution version and normally commands highest prices, however sample variation is likely to be more significant with soviet lenses! This page reviews the 44-2 - probably the most common version. The Helios 44 (-x) is the standard, fast, 58mm lens typically found as the kit prime on the Zenit-series russian SLRs.
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