Trying out old cheap lenses for DSLR - The Helios 44
Hey,
Are you tired of spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on some new fancy glass?
You like photography, but your wallet won't let you experiment with a variety of lenses?
Then fear not the use of old vintage lenses - like the ones your grandpa used on his first camera.
Look at this picture - I know it's not a masterpiece, but still the bokeh looks nice.
If you look at the lower end tier of Canon EF lenses, they start at about 100 USD. This lens however is cheaper than filling up your Prius at the gas station.
Let me present you the Helios-44.
The 58mm/2 lens from soviet production is a merely a 1:1 clone of the Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm/2 - a very sharp lens good for portraits and with a very nice bokeh. The Helios-44 one of the most mass produced lenses in the world. Have I mentioned the price?
In Europe they are about 20 to 40 Euros. If you live in one of the post-soviet states, you'll get them almost free.
Have I mentioned the best part?
The lens features an M42 screw mount. That means you can mount them on almost any DSLR and definitely on any mirrorless camera. Get an adapter for 5-20 bucks, depending on your camera, and start using M42 lenses.
If you use a Pentax camera (I don't), you don't even need an adapter. The Helios 44K-4 already features a Pentax-K mount.
But let's go back to the M42 lenses, right? Of course they have some disadvantages. There is no autofocus, but do you really need it? If you do not take pictures of fast action, like sports, autofocus is not a must have.
You're getting them very cheap. And when you start using them, you want more to start experimenting.
I mean.. why not? They will most definitely not ruin your financial status and you will be greeted with a lot of fun.
On a German website similar to Craigslist, I purchased a set of various (a ton of) lenses. The owner somehow sent his other vintage trash aswell, but who cares! When they arrived, my father was like: "What the hell did you order again?" - look at it yourself:
I payed 200€ for 23 lenses. That's less than 10€ per piece. It was sort of a mystery box. There was the Tair-3S and a Nikon macro lens, which are sold at almost 90€ per piece. (I will get to them in another post) But also there were bad lenses and lenses with fungus.
Even if you only count the good quality ones, i payed 20€ per lens. And.. I'm now a proud owner of a Super-8 Projector :DD
I'm running of the topic... If you wonder, which camera i'm using. It's the Canon EOS 70D, in this picture with an Industar 50-2 - again another post :)
If you wish to learn more about other vintage lenses, feel free to follow.
Other lenses I will feature here include (but are not limited to):
- Tair 3 300mm/4.5
- Mir 1B 37mm/2.8
- Pentacon 50mm/1.8
- Pentacon 29mm/2.8
- Industar 50-2 50mm/3.5
Thanks for reading, share your Ideas below :)