![]() More on the History Background of the Helios 44-2 To learn more, head over to Gear Focus online. From historical photography relics such as the Helios 44-2 lens to the latest in cutting-edge tech, Gear Focus has everything you need to take your camera skills to the next level. With its low price and incredible history spanning world-powers, the Helios 44-2 is a legacy lens worth adding to your collection - if not for the effects, then surely for the conversation starter!Ĭheck Out More Cool Facts About Photography History At Gear FocusĪt Gear Focus, we are passionate about all-thing photography. Thus giving the photos a slightly unfocused look with swirly effects that center around the subject being captured. While at first glance the Helios 44-2 is a basic legacy lens, it has retained its popularity due to its character and ability of the lens to create a “swirly bokeh” for photos. These include the flagship builder KMZ, as well as Jupiter, BeLOMO, Arsenal, and others. The varying versions of the lens that emerged were due to manufacturing being split between several Soviet factories to keep up with demand. The popularity of the 44-2 lens exploded, and soon an upgraded 44M-4 was built. These materials gave the 44-2 a sturdy feel that photographers loved, and the unique performance of the lens made it a favorite for many individual’s gear bags. One of the most interesting facets of the 44-2 was it’s relatively inexpensive manufacturing cost due to the metal and hardened plastic that made up the lens. ![]() Both the 44-2 and 44-3 would feature an M42 mount, essentially doing away with the M39 mounts for good. A 44-3 was also created, adding an MC layer. ![]() A version came later that was called the 44-2, which would become one of the most popular camera lens models for soviet photographers before bursting onto the global scene. The Helios 44 was the first of the series of 58mm f/2 lenses and featured an M39 mount. Special Kudos to Connor McCaskill for such an awesome video and extremely well researched history of one of the world's most popular lenses in history! Make sure to show some love to Connor by subscribing to his YouTube Channel! The Helios 44-2 It was this 85mm that would become the most popular camera lens over time. The 50, 58, and 85mm were the first Helios lens options built. Telephoto lenses were known as Tair, while wide-angles were called MIRs, and the run of the mill standard lens of 35mm Zenit cameras was the Helios. It seems that you need some decent distance from your subject, and you need some background that can fall into swirly bokeh in the distance.In a way that was unique to the Soviet optical world, cameras were most often categorized by their lenses. I took another shot with a subject at mid range, perhaps 4-5 feet away while still shooting wide open at f/2.Ĭan you start to see the swirl shape in the background? This photo showed me I’m getting closer. It isn’t swirly bokeh yet, but it definitely has more shape to it. I aimed up at a leaf that was a little further away, still shooting wide open at f/2. This image was shot up close which caused the background to blur too much for the swirl I was looking for. When you shoot wide open at f/,2 close up to the subject, the background is a beautiful, buttery, soft bokeh. I took the lens into my in-laws yard to find out how best to find the swirly spot. It arrived the day before we left so it was ready to go right away. After a quick test shoot I decided I was going to shoot this Helios 58mm 44-2 exclusively for the entire trip. I bought the lens right before a two-week trip to St. This unfocused image shows the popular swirly bokeh effect Well, this “defect” looked really cool to me and I wanted to incorporate it into my lens collection. I did some quick digging and found out this was called “swirly bokeh” and certain vintage lenses created this effect through a manufacturing defect. It was awesome and unlike anything I had ever seen! I was looking through photos on Flickr and noticed a few images in which the bokeh appeared to be swirling in a circular pattern. I really enjoy having big apertures available for low light so I started looking for another prime lens. It’s a great lens but after taking it out a few times, I concluded it wasn’t for me. The 24-70mm and adapter are super heavy and ridiculously front-heavy. ![]() The 55mm shoots like a dream and is insanely light-weight. I started off with a Sony 55mm f/1.8 and a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens that requires a Sony adapter. You can see how I used it in my last article: when to trick your camera for the perfect exposure. A friend convinced me that having small-form, full frame camera would be an entire different way of shooting. I recently bought a Sony A7 to compliment my Canon 6D DSLR. ![]()
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