Which Helios 44m for swirly/spiral bokeh?

redstarjedi · Jan 18, 2017

Hello, i have a Mamiya sekor 500DTL on it's way, and i really want to try it out with a helios 44m. I admit that i've fallen for the swirly spiral bokeh effect. I've seen that there are multiple versions out there with different levels of lens resolutions, but i'm more concerned with which version provides the heaviest swirl/spiral bokeh.

The mamiya sekor 500DTL (like the 1000DTL) is a auto M42 lens, so unelss some one tells me differently, i can use the auto M42 helios, and i can skip the manual preselect ones.

Dali · Jan 18, 2017

As long as all Helios-44 share the same optical design, they should give you the same image.

4season · Jan 18, 2017

Sometimes one sees suffixes like "-4" or "-7" added to the lens designations: These denote resolving power, and the higher the number, the higher the resolving power of the lens. But they should all swirl the same

RSalles · Jan 18, 2017

I have owned several versions of this lens. As said before, higher the number, modern the glass/coatings. Between all the versions I came across the one I found really superb was the 44-3 - the one which is closer to the CZ Jena Pancolar regarding bokeh and definition, with a nice swirl too.

Go for a mechanical and optical closer to perfection as you can, those are affordable lenses, and worth investing in a good copy,

Cheers,

Renato

redstarjedi · Jan 18, 2017

Great, so a auto version, not preselect should work just fine right?

RSalles · Jan 18, 2017

If your camera - which I do not know - has a M42 lens size, it will fit. Some lenses have a pin on the back when pressed would permit to switch between M and A sets. As I bought the lens to use in my Canon DSLR with an adapter, I choose to buy the one with a larger back plate to permit this connection. If it's not the case with your camera, it would be an easy mod to block this pin in its pressed position, this way you can benefit of the preset lens point to compose just moving the A/M lever to A, and back to M to take the shot.

Cheers,

Renato

Fixcinater · Jan 19, 2017

You could use any of the Helios on that camera. The preset ones can be just as fast to use if you are using an off-camera meter.

I have had and sold probably 15 of these of varying styles and ages and my favorite before I found a Biotar was an early aluminum preset one as it had many many aperture blades so the out-of-focus highlights were always perfectly round. The later lenses with the auto-stop down are generally 5-8 blades so will show the aperture shape. With a deep lens hood, the contrast on the early model was sufficient.

Neil Grant · Jan 19, 2017

redstarjedi said:
Hello, i have a Mamiya sekor 500DTL on it's way, and i really want to try it out with a helios 44m. I admit that i've fallen for the swirly spiral bokeh effect. I've seen that there are multiple versions out there with different levels of lens resolutions, but i'm more concerned with which version provides the heaviest swirl/spiral bokeh.

The mamiya sekor 500DTL (like the 1000DTL) is a auto M42 lens, so unelss some one tells me differently, i can use the auto M42 helios, and i can skip the manual preselect ones.

I think they all do the spiral bokeh 'thing'. The advantage with the preset versions is the number of diaphragm blades compared to the 'auto' versions. 8 instead of 6 so your oot-of-focus areas with look nicer. A recent APUG post of mine shows of shows a 'Belorus' Helios 44-3, it's preset and claims to be 'MC'. Made in '91 - so it's one of the last. Earlier versions of this Minsk-made lens can have, easliy fixed, mounting issues with some m 42 cameras.

redstarjedi · Jan 19, 2017

Well, I outbid someone on eBay by one whole dollar and got a hellios mc 44-7 for 28 bucks. I may have been fooled though the serial number begins with 90, not 93. Oops. I can post a photo from the eBay listing later.

redstarjedi · Jan 19, 2017

Which Helios 44m for swirly/spiral bokeh?

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