This review presents exactly old Helios-44 lens 2/58 for M39 thread, and not its subsequent modifications. Its number 0220423, issued at the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant (KMZ), as evidenced by the emblem of the plant on the lens. Also, part of the old white Helios-44 was produced in Belarus.
Aperture limits 2.0-16.0
Number of aperture blades: 13
Thread: M39
Focal length: 58mm
Optical design: 6 elements in 4 groups
Helios 44 lens overview, front view on a modern camera
The optical design was taken from Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 2 / 58. Zeiss lenses are still famous for their excellent quality and picture.
Photo at Helios-44
The lens has a classic white metal frame, typical of its years of production. Resolution 35/14 lines / mm. Focusing range from 0.5 meter to infinity. Note that there was also a Helios-44 for "Start" with a special bayonet mount. You can look at Helios-44 2/58 with 8 aperture blades.
Photo at Helios-44
The first thing, of course, that catches your eye is his white metal frame, which looks unusual on a black camera.
Sample photo on Helios 44
Advantages of the Helios 44 lens:
- Excellent aperture. What does the lens have enough sharp already at full aperture. On F / 2.0, good sharpness is obtained, which allows you to use it in poor lighting, and on 2.0 you can get good portraits.
- There is aperture preset ring. You can set the aperture to the desired value, focus on sharpness with the F / 2.0 aperture fully open, close the ring to the set value and take a picture.
The photo on Helios-44 is old, white, with 13 aperture blades. No processing.
- This lens can be used with full-frame cameras. On the crop matrix, the angle of the field of view is narrowed, the equivalent angle will be as for 87mm in the full frame. This is a great focal length. for portraiture, because the lens is great for photographing portraits - and therefore it is still very loved by modern photographers.
- Excellent sharpness. This lens is one of the first, after it there were a large number of modifications, different models were produced at different factories. In general, modifications of Helios-44 (m2, m3, m4, etc.) made it one of the most popular lenses in the world. Because of this, in later periods there was more marriage and later versions are considered to be worse in quality in comparison with such old people as Helios-44. Remember that when gossip becomes obsolete, they become myths. So the myth was created, that Helios are rather unpleasant lenses.
The photo on Helios-44 is old, white, with 13 aperture blades. No processing.
- Its design will survive both me and you, my dear reader. This is not modern Chinese plastic. Illusions about the super-high quality of modern lenses, like teeth, are lost with age. Helios-44 removes so far.
- 13-blade aperture... Only a few of the modern afto-focus lenses can boast of this number. From the manual: only Jupiter-37a, Jupiter-11, Tair-11 can compete with this Helios in terms of the number of petals and the correctness of circles in the blur zone. It's funny that the diaphragm has an odd number of blades, which is not typical for Soviet optics. With a circular aperture, you can easily get rid of the “nuts” in the bokeh, which are very undesirable for portraits.
The photo on Helios-44 is old, white, with 13 aperture blades. No processing.
Disadvantages:
- Inconvenient focuser ring, described the problem below.
- Weakly holds lateral light.
The bokeh is excellent, slightly twisted in the Helios (Biotar) style. But in my opinion Helios-44 twists bokeh much less than its subsequent modifications. HA noticeable only on open diaphragms when closely studied. Lens gives a sharp, but at the same time soft picture (sharp contours, but even and soft color filling). On crop, I did not notice a serious drop in sharpness at the edges of the frame, nor was there a visible vignette. In order not to read a lot - see the gallery on Helios-44 in this review. (Pictures 1600 * 1200 are adjusted to the size of your display to open the picture completely, just copy the address of the image and paste it into the browser line).
How to use with modern cameras?
Lenses with an M39 mounting thread (for SLR cameras, M39 X 1 / 45.2), such as the lens from this review, are very easy to use on almost any modern digital camera (both SLR and mirrorless), for this you just need to choose correct adapter. The cheapest adapters can be found aliexpress.com.
For use on modern digital SLR cameras Canon EOS need M39-Canon EOS adapter, you can buy such an adapter (adapter) here. Also, an adapter M39-Canon EOS can be easily replaced with two adapters: M42-Canon EOS + M39-M42. Detailed information on the use of such lenses with any Canon EOS cameras will find here.
An adapter is required for use on Nikon SLR cameras M39-Nikon F, you can buy such an adapter (adapter) without a lens and a chip here. Also, one adapter M39-Nikon F can be easily replaced with two adapters: M42-Nikon F + M39-M42. Detailed information on the use of such lenses with any modern Nikon cameras will find here.
How to use this lens with cameras of other systems (Pentax, Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, Samsung, Sigma etc.) - ask in the comments and you will be prompted. If you have any questions on compatibility and adapters, ask in the comments (comments do not require any registration at all, any user can add a comment).
Comments on this post do not require registration. Anyone can leave a comment. Many different photographic equipment can be found on AliExpress.
Sample photo on Helios 44
Features to watch out for:
It turned out to be quite enough for me inconvenient focusing ring. That is, the focuser is arranged rather inconveniently near the camera mount, the ribbed “nut” of the focuser is also located on the side of the mount, and the second part of the focuser is smooth metal, which is also not very pleasant and convenient to turn.
The photo on Helios-44 is old, white, with 13 aperture blades. No processing.
Aperture has fixed values from 2.0 to 16.0. The lens on the cropped matrix becomes very sharp at 2.8-5.6. Helios 44 has a single-layer enlightenment, which does not greatly help in the fight against backlight and side light. The resulting picture on a fully open aperture exceeds all my expectations.
The photo on Helios-44 is old, white, with 13 aperture blades. No processing.
Reviews for the Helios-44 2/58 lenses:
- Helios-44 2/58 [KMZ, 13 petals, M39, silver, No. 0220423]
- Helios-44 2/58 [KMZ, 8 petals, M39, silver]
- Helios-44 1: 2 F = 5,8 cm П [KMZ with replaced lenses, No. 0007220, review of the lens from the reader Radozhiva]
- HELIOS-44M 2/58 [KMZ, 8 petals, serial number 7843528]
- HELIOS-44M 2/58 [Jupiter plant, Valdai, 8 petals, serial number 8027170]
- HELIOS-44-2 2/58 [plant 'Jupiter', Valdai, 8 petals, serial number 83052779] + autofocus review
- MS Helios 44-3 2/58 [MMZ, 8 petals, 8619437, 9167912]
- MC Helios-44M-4 2/58
- Helios-44K-4 58mm 1:2 [KMZ, 6 petals, Pentax K]
- MC Helios-44M-4 58mm 1: 2 [plant 'Jupiter', Valdai, 6 petals] + autofocus review
- MC Helios-44M-5 58mm 1: 2 [Jupiter plant, Valdai, 6 petals]
- MC Helios-44M-6 58mm 1: 2 [plant 'Jupiter', Valdai, 6 petals]
- MC Helios-44M-7 58mm 1: 2 [plant 'Jupiter', Valdai, 6 petals]
- An article about most of the major modifications of the Helios-44 series
- Gallery of pictures on MC Helios-44M-4
- Look at modern the lenses 'Helios' can at this link
- A lot of Helios of all varieties can be found on ebay this link
Original 'Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 2/58 ':
- Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 1: 2 f = 5,8cm T [17 diaphragm blades, M42]
- Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 2 / 58 T [12 diaphragm blades, M42]
- A lot of Biotars of all varieties can be found on ebay this link
Look at modern the lenses 'Zenitar' и 'Helios' can at this link.
All photos in the gallery below and throughout the review - without processing (NEF, Auto tone, Resize and JPEG convert Q80%, watermark)
UPDATED
Examples of photos on Helios-44 2/58 (13 petals) and a camera Nikon D810 photographer shared with readers of Radozhiva Anastasia Tretyakova.
Results
A great old-tempered lens, suitable for all types of shooting. For cameras with a cropped matrix, it serves as a good short portrait portrait, since already at F2.0 it gives a high-quality image.
Familiarity with the Soviet Helios brand lenses I recommend starting with an inexpensive and common lens Helios-44-2 2/58 (aka HELIOS-44-2 2/58). The following links can look at modern lenses Zenitar и HELIOS.
Comments on this post do not require registration. Anyone can leave a comment. Many different photographic equipment can be found on AliExpress.
Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram
Hello, I have 2 lenses: Helios 44 and Helios 44m-4.
I’m already shooting on Helios 44m-4. Should I try 44? Or is the difference between them not so great?
You can try. There is no point in buying, the lenses are similar.
good day. I now came across 44 Helios with an incomprehensible mount similar to Nikon))) apparently from the start. How can I attach it to Nikon 5100 ?? can anyone help with the alteration? Or throw glass where ??
There may be different options. You can regrind.
how and where can this be done?
dima_detkovskiy@ukr.net
Address on contacts from the MANUAL OPTICS section
and what else?
I have from the start and with the trigger lever. Does he not play a role?
I have two of these lenses. one 44-2, the second 44M.
Camera 4/3.
Lenses are very poor at full aperture, and the 44M also provides fog up to F / 4
44-2 catches hares.
DOF is microscopic.
For serious shooting and shooting a moving lens, these lenses are not suitable.
You're out of luck if both are from KMZ. But if this is BELOMO, "Valdai" or "Vologda oil", then there is nothing surprising.
I strongly disagree with BELOMO. Minsk Helios of any modifications, very high quality (I myself have Helios 44 white, 65 years old and Helios "zebra", 72 years old) in excellent condition. Dozens of lenses have passed through my hands, I test everything, so I can draw conclusions.
Which of the modern digital SLRs are most suitable for installing Helios-44? Consider a low-budget option.
Any are suitable. The best option is Canon's digital control center.
Hello Arkady! I love your reviews! Already took two lenses on your "tip")))
I have not regretted one thing ...
May I ask your opinion for the third time? I shoot on Nikon d90.
As a staffer I use Sigma 17-50 2.8, I like it.
I would like and prick to try the Soviet glass Helios 44 ...
What do you think, if it makes sense to have my kit on hand, take Helios for portraits?
Thank you for your two data tips to me earlier on Sigma 17-50 2.8 and Nikkor 70-300 VR - love both!
Take 44-2 for a penny to play. But it is better to spend money properly, taking 50 1.8zh or d
Thanks for the advice Arkady! Although I used 50 1,8 g and did not see a big advantage over Sigma 17-50 2,8 for myself ... maybe I got such a good copy, I mean Sigma ...
Please, can someone help establish the year of manufacture (at least approximately) of the Helios-44 2/58 lens, pr-va KMZ, black, thread: M42, No. 0467298. Stands at Zenith-E KMZ No. 68142037.
In the KMZ reference information I found such information:
"Sometimes there is serial numbering with a single leading zero: 0..НННН (for example: Helios-44 lens of the first years of production)."
If my copy is from the first years, then why does it have an M42 thread and not an M39?
This is quite difficult to do.
All M-42s - after 1970, regardless of the “zigzags” of the marking (I also came across such ones).
To catch up - I forgot to indicate one more important (and strange, in my opinion) detail. My specimen has 8 petals. Can't identify him in any way ... !?
Say, but in comparison with the cheap fix Nikkor 1.8, which is better?
In the general case, Niccor.
But what about the difference in price? I just have Helios-44. The adapter is still about 20 bucks.
In price Helios-44 is cheaper.
I understand that Nikkor has autofocus and convenient control of settings directly from the camera, but Helios does not. And if we talk exclusively about the quality of images? What was published in the article, I really liked, for example.
If you like it, then the quality is on top. In the case, a normal instance of Helios gives excellent quality.
Good day!
I have a question - I found a friend at the zenith3- helios 44, but not white as you have in your review, but black. I really want to try it, I have a canon 500d carcass. so here is the question about the adapters - I have a bearing of 3,5 / 8A, it works for me on the m42 adapter with a dandelion ...
and the question itself - in order for me to put Helios 44 on my carcass - I need to buy an adapter 39-42, then screw it on my 42nd from bearing and everything will work?)
Yes, that's it)
oh, please delete my first post .. I immediately jumped to the second page of comments, in the first I found the answer to my question) thanks!)
Everything is fine :)
One hundred percent of the installation of the * asset on Canon: how much is there on the image of the presence of 2 transitions?
No effect.
Hello, is the M42 Adapter (with a lens) suitable for Helios-44 with a Nikon D3000 camera? Thank you in advance)
Yes, it’s, it’s just for Nikon
And besides the adapter, nothing is needed?
For amateur cameras, you can purchase and install Lushnikov's Dandelion, but you can also without it, that is, you do not need anything else.
Tell me, really, to remake this lens into focus without an extra lens. And another issue of the lens is the first two digits so I know the year of manufacture, but what if it's 00? Thanks in advance.
Good afternoon, share, if you know, are there any significant differences in Helios-44 of 13 and 8-blade versions. What may be the disadvantages of the second relative to the first. Thanks.
If both are M39, then the differences are not significant.
Thanks for the review, it is a pity that I stumbled upon it late, please tell me, I acquired Helios-44 2/58 from inexperience, but Jupiter, does it make sense to take Krasnogorsky or is the difference between them insignificant?
Thank you
The difference is not worth changing.
Arkady, is it possible to put the Helios-44 2/58 lens through an adapter on the NIKON D3100?
Will it be possible for them to photograph animals (portraits)? Given that you can’t force animals to pose and sit still? Wouldn't it be difficult for me to figure out the settings if I am just starting to master the DSLR? Thanks for the answer.
On one of the sites, I found a photograph taken with this lens and a Nikon D90 camera. Judging by the photo, it was made with focus on infinity. I asked the owner of the lens a question and he confirmed that yes, it has focus on infinity. But when I asked how he achieved this, he replied that he had already purchased a redesigned lens using the Nikon system and did not say how it was redone. There is not much information on the Internet on the 13-petal Helios, and certainly there is no information on how to make it shoot with infinity on Nikon cameras. I'm certainly not chasing infinity, but maybe someone knows how to make the lens focus at least a couple of meters further with the M42-Nikon adapter.
FAT 32
Hello! Actually, I also found little information on this lens. And I wanted to get this very infinity. Somewhere there was information (but then I couldn’t find it) that you need to unscrew the lens from behind, then insert a gasket, stick it on and ready. I apologize in advance, I write as a woman of all those. I don’t exactly know the names, so I can call everything wrong :-) But I’ll tell you what I personally did. I unscrewed the lens behind the lens. I wrapped a thin piece of polyethylene a little on the thread and screwed it a little. There, just a little bit of thread is endless. Now I’m happy. I didn’t have to disassemble the main thing :-) My Helios 44 did it on a camera! And you will succeed! Respectfully Julia.
The latest Helios-44 M39 were released in 1970 at the Minsk Mechanical Plant. The first time I saw them was that year at VDNH in Moscow. They were made in black frame according to the new GOST (41/20 lines / mm instead of 35/14 in the old one) with a 6-blade diaphragm. My Helios-44 Made in USSR M39 from the same cohort has quite good blackening (Industar-50 is blacker better, and the I-50-2 is completely black inside) inside the frame, diaphragm (matte) and chamfer lenses. It is sharp at the full hole. With the M42-Nikon adapter without a lens) the G-44 and G-44-2 focus up to 1.5 m, that is, they are quite suitable for close-up portrait. About this, the quality of the portrait, despite the smaller scale, is better than that of Helios-40 (he shot it many times with both).
Helios-44, 2/58, M39 lens, No. 6008636 is not white, but steel. what is the difference
In the finishing of the frame - and nothing more!
But can I attach it to Sony?
Privit. I plan to buy a used NIKON D3100 with the China Obligation and Proof 36000. How can I protect the respect when buying and protesting?
I have Helios 44m-7. Is there a difference between 44m-7 and 44m?
If your hands are straight and not afraid. You can jump to infinity. The main desire. I jumped more than once and 44 or 44-2 is not important, especially 44M.
there is an opportunity to buy inexpensively - but you have to choose -
what is the fundamental difference between the two helios-44 - both are white
but-
1st - Minsk - Cyrillic, М42, 1950
2nd - Krasnogorsk, Latin m39, I don't know the year
otherwise there are no differences, both multi-petalled,
Good day! I have a problem. Can you tell me why when I put Helios 44m on the Nikon D3000 through the adapter with the lens I can’t get focus to infinity? Pictures are blurry. And when shooting, for example, portraits, the picture is not clear and as if illuminated.
Despite the declared infinity when using an adapter with a lens, sometimes the lens still does not reach infinity. Who knows where and by whom these lenses were made)) And the lens also spoils the image very much - the softness is not weak. Well, plus a drop in contrast. You seem to have a complete set) It was like this with Helios 77m-4, until I threw the lens out of the adapter, after that the software stopped and the contrast increased. And even with a lens, the green focus confirmation point can lie, I have never seen this without a lens.
Mikhail, at Geleos 44, of any modification, the back of the lens unit rests against the adapter body. The protruding part (the one that abuts) is easily twisted with flour. It can be grinded on a regular fine emery with a flat surface (emery for sharpening kitchen knives). With only 0,5 to 0,6 mm sharpening, this is sufficient. It is not necessary to remove the lens from the twisted block, it will not reach the surface of the foot bar. Metal filings do not electrify and do not stick to the glass (although it is still worth blowing the block with a pear). Assemble the lens and infinity - in place.
Strange, I couldn’t resist ... I tried two helios 44-2 with lens and lensless adapters