I’ve owned this Helios 44M lens for some years now but I think I’ve only shot with it once, a very long time ago.
These lenses were churned out in vast numbers in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. Consequently, you can generally pick one up at a bargain price.
The 44M is a 58mm f2 lens, becoming an equivalent of 87mm on an APS-C sensor (close enough to 85mm). Naturally, everything is manual and there’s no electronic communication with my camera. The focusing ring is nice and smooth and on this one the aperture ring has positive clicks (I have read that some of them have a smooth, non-clicky aperture ring and I’m guessing that’s a good thing for videographers).
The unique selling point of these lenses is their swirly bokeh effect. You really need to get close to your subject and have the background quite a way off to maximise the effect. Ideally, you’d also use a sensor larger than the APS-C of the Fuji X system. I do have a Canon 6D, and somewhere I think I also have the required M42 adapter, but manual focusing aids on mirrorless bodies make it a doddle to use a lens like this, so that’s what I went with this time.
I went for a wander around my favourite local Victorian Necropolis, Leicester’s Welford Road Cemetery, to try and have a bit of fun with this lens today. I’ll post some of my photos below. The swirly bokeh is only really prominent in a couple of them, but I enjoyed my little photo walk.
