We begin our journey to this blog with the first in a series of vintage lens reviews. Non-technical, all touchy-feely and image-oriented. As photography should be, yes? Part of what makes these old lenses intriguing for me, is the discovery. I have bought online, but I prefer to search for them face-to-face. When You find one it just tingles a bit inside Your belly. Then You figure out what it does, how it sees the world and how it is to handle.
We could shoot away and show pictures and that would be all fine and nice but not that productive. So, to get some structure we have thought of 10 points of interest.
1. Lens on camera, weight and feel.
2. Sharpness.
3. Landscape.
4. Portrait.
5. Close up.
6. Architecture.
7. Still life.
8. Bokeh.
9. Against the Sun.
10. Video use.
I found this copy in a dusty second-hand shop as a kit with an old Zenit film body for 15€. A bargain, I thought! And it was. Helios-44M is a m42 screw mount, which are plenty to be found.
It is quite small, as most vintage lenses, but heavy. Construction is solid. Made in USSR so somehow that was to be expected. Some wear and tear but the optics are clear and mechanisms work fluently. This copy was manufactured in 1977, as marked in the serial. Good things came to the world that year; this lens, Star Wars and my wife 🙂
On my NEX 6 handling is nice. The camera is still small and balance stays good, though a bit front heavy. You can easily manage by holding on the lens only. Not a problem. When shooting it works together with camera controls. Focusing is easy. 87mm on a crop sensor is a surprisingly versatile focal length. Shooting manually is easy with focus peaking and magnification, I get close to 100 percent accurate shots, user error only.
For sharpness I devised a cunning “fence test”. I shoot a chain-link fence under a sunny day through all apertures, iso 100, focused on the first frame. So simple, cool and proficient 🙂
Strangely f2,8 center seems most free of color fringing, by f5,6 the edge is at the same level in sharpness as the center. Changing aperture does not seem to affect focus much, and I’m not looking too closely.
Of course, in real life I mostly use it wide open anyway to let all those vintage imperfections take full effect. Or f2.8 if I have a highlight in the center, in order to lessen the possibility of purple stuff. You can look for old high quality glass as a cheaper alternative to modern plastic fantastic constructions but that is not why You use a lens like this. Not to say it cannot produce sharp images, it can, but it can do much more.
Let’s agree this is a landscape shot. Epic geology is a bit sparse here in Vaasa. Flare gives nice character to the first shot. The second shot has the camera turned 45 degrees to the sun and the colors tell You it is a late summer evening.
This is vintage, isn’t it? Sure. Beautiful rendering. With the crop factor this lens becomes close to perfect for portraits. #nofilter
You cannot get macro-close but close enough for detail and space. Closest distance, measured from the lens, is 49cm. That could seem far but in image, is not.
Architecture is the Achilles’ heel of this lens, I think. You have to get quite far from an exterior facade when outside, and there’s no chance to get anything usable inside, save a stadium or the like. Yet, those colors look as they should.
Snapping away with this lens is a joy. Easy, fun and imaginative.
How about that bokeh. Here we witness the tour de force of the Helios, swirling bokeh. It is sweet, even on an aps-c sensor.
Even without swirl, out of focus is smooth and pleasing. It is almost difficult to miss a shot.
Sun gives, they say. Lovely flares, I say.
For video, check out our Youtube version of this review, here. In words, same applies to video as to image. More so, out of focus in video is close to ethereal. Trying hard here not to get carried away.
In conclusion,
it’s all about that bokeh, sure, but it gives surprisingly good results otherwise as well. The look is quintessential vintage with all the trade-offs for image quality. Still, I’m looking for something else than ultra-sharp, I’m looking for soul and this lens delivers and then some.
You want to start with adapted lenses? Find a Helios.
All images copyright Hill & Spruce.
Hill & Spruce Photography 