I did the tourist thing the other day and grabbed my 5D3 with a few old communist lenses…Helios 44-2 2/58, Zeiss Jena Flektogon 4/20 and Biometar 2.8/120. I intended to shoot some video but ended up enjoying the new focus screen so much I stuck to stills. The Helios remains my all round favourite due to size and vintage look. The Flektogon has amazingly little distortion compared to my Canon 17-40 (check out the straight lines on the image of Buckingham Palace). It’s a bit soft around the edges but that’s its character…
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I’ve discovered the charm and character (not to mention value) of vintage lenses. It started as a novelty having picked up a budget £20 Helios 44-2. I was looking for a lens that could better capture that filmic look particularly with regards to flares and light leaks which by design are hard to achieve with my Canon L glass. I was instantly intrigued with how a 30+ year old lens which cost less than a plastic Canon lens hood could resolve so well on a modern digital full frame sensor and produce such a signature, swirly look…
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I took my new (ancient) Helios 44-2 out for a quick spin and have posted a video complete with obligatory Russian folk music…mute now if you don’t want the Tetris theme to be stuck in your head for the next 48 hours.
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I recently picked up a Soviet Helios 44-2 58mm made in 1977 in order to obtain a more vintage look for film and stills. Sloppily crafted by prisoners with designs taken from a Carl Zeiss factory after WW2, the optics of this lens are every bit as flawed as the ideology from which it was born. And therein lies its charm…an artistic …
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