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

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This is a simple manual focus lens, although it is not splash resistant – there isn’t much that can go wrong, there are no electronics. At the time I was thinking about the new camera and wasn’t really listening, then once he had left and I had time to wander some more and ponder some more. The Biotar was initially manufactured for cinema use, and then adapted for the Exakta mount in 1936. I’m not particularly great but have always enjoyed the hobby, and find it encourages me to stay out on longer walks which is good for the health.

Well, I wouldn’t know where to start as there are so many factors – the camera you’re using, the aperture, the focusing distance, the subject, the lighting and so on, not to mention if/how you’re post processing. It seems that you need some decent distance from your subject, and you need some background that can fall into swirly bokeh in the distance. If you're wondering why such a design exists then it's to allow for focussing / framing with wide open aperture.Later versions are all black and have the namings 44-2 (the most spread version), 44-3, 44M, 44M-4, 44M-5, 44M-6 and the final 44M-7.

Jerfareza is a freelance photographer from Indonesia currently based in Sendai, Japan, offering wide range of photography service especially profile portraits, couple or family photos, and wedding photography. 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. Next up we have a set shot with the equally talented, amazing and lovely Danni - shot with the same Spotmatic F but everything else is different! The Biotar design is very different compared to modern day digital optics, and takes quite some getting used to.I would say it’s not as resistant to lens flares as the 44M-4, has a little more of a tendency to take low contrast shots in certain kinds of light (harsh daylight for example) and maybe not quite as vivid and contrasty but it’s a lottttt easier to work with due to being able to select the f-stop range and being much smoother to focus than my 44M-4, therefore I’m able to take better framed shots that are more likely to be in focus.

Considering the cost of AF lenses, using vintage lenses is a very budget-friendly solution for photographers. The lens was mass produced in the USSR for a number of decades in various forms, and as such is fairly easy and inexpensive to find.It has stunning colour reproduction though, and the best flare/glare reduction perhaps due to the coating used which makes it worth the effort. When I shoot a tight portrait – it is quite a challenge, a slight movement can get a person’s eye out of focus. Well, most of the people shoot with popular cameras and lenses, as a result, the images look similar. The lens creates a very creamy background, given the right distance, as you can see in the photos below. During the later years though it has been mostly landscape, nature, travel and some street/documentary photography.

When the two dots are the same like this the aperture stopper is set to f4 but the blades are fully open at f2. If you like the creative impact of a “swirling bokeh” lens, but shoot with a micro 4/3 camera, then your comment that the helios 44 is “too long” gets a supporting vote from me.Actually, let me help you – here are a few articles written by Jeb in which he talks about how much he loves Soviet cameras and lenses. 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. Although the narrow focal length limits its usage for wide landscapes, its sharpness corner-to-corner and above-average resolution past f/5. A revived Biotar by the “new” Meyer-Optik Görlitz, same optical formula but with 14 blades aperture and faster at f/1.