Vintage Photography: Helios 44M-6 58/2 Lens Review
The Helios 44M-6 58mm f/2 lens is part of the Helios-44 series of lenses which were produced in the old Soviet Union between 1958 and 1999. It is considered to be one of the most produced series of lenses in the world.
Helios 44M-6 is part of the series of lenses having the M42 mount; this is where the M in the name comes from. This mount was introduced by Carl Zeiss Biotar for the lenses being used on the Praktica photo cameras.
The lens presents an effect called swirly bokeh, which is more pronounced on the older lens models in the series, such as Helios 44M-2. This type of bokeh can be seen on all of the models of Helios-44 and Helios-40 and is characterized as an optical vignetting. The bokeh “circles” get more ellipsoidal as the person using the lens moves further away from the subject in question.
This is a prime lens, not a zoom lens. It has a focal distance of 58mm, which makes it the perfect choice for portrait photography, or macro.
How did I use the lens?
I used the Helios lens with a Nikon D3400 with an APS-C crop sensor, with the crop factor of 1.5x. Due to this fact, the focal distance of 58mm turns into 87mm, which makes it the perfect for portraits, due to the shallow depth of field (f/2) and it being prime lens.
Because the focal distance changes, the lens aperture does also; therefore 2, being the maximum aperture opening, becomes 3 and so on. All of this doesn’t change the qualitative photos you can achieve using this lens.
Lens specifications
Focal distance: 58mm
Aperture opening:
- maximum: f/2
- minimum: f/16
Covering angle: 40.9°
Image stabilization: No
Nr. of aperture blades: 6
Lens focalization: Manual
Lens mount: M42
Type of lens: Prime
Weight: 270g
How is the lens constructed?
The lens is amazing, like all those produced in the old URSS. It has 6 metal blades and its lenses were produced 100% from glass. This awesome construction ensures a sharp image even at the maximum aperture opening of f/2, and a gorgeous bokeh.
Taking into account the quality materials used in the fabrication of this lens, it should be very expensive to buy, right? Wrong! The lenses were produced in such a large number at that time, that nowadays it can be bought at a price of 20–40$.
Therefore, it is truly a bargain!
How do you use the lens on a DSLR/Mirrorless camera?
The Helios 44M-6 lens can be used only on manual mode, by using an adapter. Being constructed to be used on film cameras without an adapter, the lens’ mount doesn’t fit the one that DSLRs and/or Mirrorless cameras have.
Now I will talk about using the lens adapter strictly for a Nikon DSLR camera.
- Plastic adapter — doesn’t focus to infinity
The lens adapter comes in 2 alternatives, one cheaper than the other. However, using the cheaper alternative comes with its perks.
1. The lens adapter doesn’t allow focusing to infinity.
You will be forced to use the lens just for macro photography, or if you’re as courageous as I am, you can try using it for portrait photography. However, it might tire your model to have to sit still for seconds on end until you finally get the focus right. One small movement and the image is ruined.
2. Unable to modify the opening or closing of the aperture.
The M42 mount lenses introduced a pin which was used to close the aperture blades “automatically” the exact moment when the shutter would fire. The cameras (ex: Zenit) using the M42 mount lenses had a bar inside of the mount which would push the pin that closed or opened the blades according to the chosen aperture.
This tiny pin, which looks like a button, can be observed in the right side of the lens (in the below photo). As you can see in the picture, the lens adapter doesn’t push down the pin responsible for showing the aperture changes.
3. The plastic adapter can remain stuck on the lens.
For the longest time I couldn’t use this adapter on another vintage lens I own, because it got stuck on the Helios lens. The construction of the plastic adapter is of such bad quality; I really don’t recommend it, but if you’re on a budget it is nice to have, but I definetly do wish you would get the second alternative. Don’t complicate your life with cheap and useless lens adapters.
One recurring problem I have with this adapter is that it keeps getting stuck on my camera body. Whenever I try to take it off my camera, it somehow gets screwed so tight that I’m unable to get it off. It is just the worst thing that can happen!
- Adapter featuring a correcting lens — focuses to infinity
The second alternative for the lens adapter is made out of metal, has a correcting lens and allows the person using it to focus to infinity. This adapter lets you change the aperture, as the tiny pin that we talked about before, gets pushed down.
A downside can be that sometimes, as a photographer friend has let me know, you can’t really focus to infinity. The Nikon cameras present a big distance between its mirrors and the mount of the lens, or the place where the vintage lenses get mounted onto the camera body. All of the Nikon cameras have this issue. Therefore I would recommend using vintage lenses on Mirrorless cameras, because they got rid of the complicated mirror system used by DSLRs; you would also not risk scratching the mirrors with the adapter.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the Helios 44M-6 lens should be a must-have for everyone who is passionate about photography and vintage cameras. Having to use the lens on manual mode all the time, will help bring out the creativity in you, and therefore you will get a new reason to learn and develop your photography skills. That’s a bargain in my opinion.
Pictures taken using the Helios 44M-6 lens
Disclaimer: I know the lens is now veeery popular among photographers, but I felt like writing my own review of it since I love it so much. ❤