Am considering buying a Helios 44-2 lens with adaptor to fit onto my nikon d3100 - if anyone can share pros and cons from personal experience with this lens I would be grateful. I am looking at it as a challenge considering it will be my first time forced to use a manual lens - an affordable challenge!
I have one with an adapter for Nikon. Use it for fun - hard to catch the moving kids in focus, but when you do, the pictures turn out nice. Great for non-moving things. These photos from my project were made with it:
Considering how inexpensive they are (around $50?), it's a great fun.
A friend of mine told me trying to focus might drive me crazy so for moving cats and street no good. Also I think he is asking too much perhaps, euro 75 although that is with Nikon adaptor. @vera365 thank you .. I am tempted as those shots you posted and other swirly bokeh shots look great
I got mine of eBay. And a adapter ring separately. I didn't find manual focus too bad - quite enjoyed it. But yes - cats might be a problem. The bokeh thing - it works really well when the background is quite far away (first photo - sun-lit trees were quite away from where the kid was staying.) What I like is quite a different experience shooting from what one is used to. Good luck with it and have fun if you get one!
This is a really interesting discussion! Thanks fro starting it, Catherine.
And, thank you, Vera @vera365 for the link about how to retrofit old lenses. I have a few old Nikon lenses that I love - I just may have to inquire about getting some adapters for them - I loved them then and they may still have some life in them yet!
i have one, i should use it more... i will use it some this week because i cant remember what i last took with it...on my crop sensor i dont think the bokeh really works the same..and after the sharpness of the dslr lenses it takes a bit of getting used to the inevitable softness....i enjoy manual focus but it takes more concentration and you cant be spontaneous unless you use a smaller aperture, then you dont get the bokeh. it might push you to photograph different sorts of things.
I've used mine on Canon & Sony crop cameras and absolutely love it.
It's my go-to lens if I want lovely bokeh (that and the Jupiter-9).
The magnifier/focus-peaking options make focusing it pretty straightforward - though it's not a lens I use on moving subjects.
@kali66 show me the results ! i am ready for new things and a new look to my shots in some way - it started with the idea of this lens but now i have my eye on a fuji x-e2 with a 27mm lens altho i read this helios lens can be picked up at a cheaper price than the offer the first caught my eye so might hunt for a really good deal and play with it too - on non moving subjects seems to be the consensus!
well thats a totally different thing! the sexy two i read they call it in Japan :)
yes i have picked up a collection of old manual lenses very cheaply and i love playing with them. careful, it gets addictive! i took some shots this morning so i'll put some up.
quite varied depending on how much distance there is and how many smaller vs larger points of light. i used AV mode, and found in this contrasty light i needed to bring the shadows up a bit. reminded me how beautiful these prime lenses can be :)
@kali66 hahaha the sexy two - yes, totally different and it suddenly feels like i might have to dress up a bit for this camera - much lighter which is a draw but I read that editing in lightroom is an issue with fuji
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Considering how inexpensive they are (around $50?), it's a great fun.
And, thank you, Vera @vera365 for the link about how to retrofit old lenses. I have a few old Nikon lenses that I love - I just may have to inquire about getting some adapters for them - I loved them then and they may still have some life in them yet!
It's my go-to lens if I want lovely bokeh (that and the Jupiter-9).
The magnifier/focus-peaking options make focusing it pretty straightforward - though it's not a lens I use on moving subjects.
yes i have picked up a collection of old manual lenses very cheaply and i love playing with them. careful, it gets addictive! i took some shots this morning so i'll put some up.
here are the some shots taken wide open at f2... you can see the bokeh is
@joemuli
I’ll try to start digging on eBay💙