So I have four H-44's, including one z39-mount silver H-44 that's basically the original production model as far as I can tell. This last one was advertised for sale with "light cleaning marks" to the front element. It came and there are some moderately large moderately deep scratches, not "cleaning marks." I did not take action against the seller because I felt it would be useless (he's in Ukraine). The images are sharp but it loses contrast badly at wide apertures, even if there's no strong light source in frame.
So here's a thought. I have a unusable H-44, the first black m42 model, with a frozen focusing helicoid and no focusing ring. Someone gave it to me and I kept it for parts, and to mount on my macro bellows before I had other H-44's. What's the possibility of swapping the front element over to the scratched silver H-44? Are the front elements cemented? Do they interchange between these two models? They seem physically identical except for the paint, the markings and the screw mount.
So here's a thought. I have a unusable H-44, the first black m42 model, with a frozen focusing helicoid and no focusing ring. Someone gave it to me and I kept it for parts, and to mount on my macro bellows before I had other H-44's. What's the possibility of swapping the front element over to the scratched silver H-44? Are the front elements cemented? Do they interchange between these two models? They seem physically identical except for the paint, the markings and the screw mount.