Old Russian lenses

[Guilherme Belchior Afonso]

Has anyone tried the old Russian Helios lenses? Like the Cyclop 85mm 1.5. Its a fixed aperture and was originally used on sovietic night vision devices. It has the same glass elements as Helios 40, 40-2. I am wondering if there are out there any Scarlet/Epic footage with this lenses.

Thanks

 

[Nick Morrison]

Has anyone tried the old Russian Helios lenses? Like the Cyclop 85mm 1.5. Its a fixed aperture and was originally used on sovietic night vision devices. It has the same glass elements as Helios 40, 40-2. I am wondering if there are out there any Scarlet/Epic footage with this lenses.

Thanks

I've never seen RED footage with this lens. But I'm sure it's dope. FYI...the Cyclop is a fixed aperture lens, so it's always stuck wide open. You can't stop down.

Why not just get the Helios 40?

 

[Ben Scott]

I love the Helios 44-m4 on both my 60D and my Scarlet.

 

[Nick Morrison]

I love the Helios 44-m4 on both my 60D and my Scarlet.

Oooooh....FYI consider getting the Helios 44-2, the build quality is much, much better than the later 44-4 (which is kinda plasticy, etc). The 44-2 is all metal and built like a tank and has a great smooth focus throw. I have both and leave the 44-4 in a drawer. Optically they seem the same, down to their coatings.

 

[Guilherme Belchior Afonso]

Thanks for the reply. Do you guys have any footage with the Helios 44-2 that you can show? Thanks

 

[Nick Morrison]

Thanks for the reply. Do you guys have any footage with the Helios 44-2 that you can show? Thanks

I don't, but you can do a flcker search for a sense of what its like (at least in stills).

Or check Vimeo, I'm sure there are a whole bunch of kids who've shot with it.

 

[Ben Scott]

Love the M2 as well Nick, but bought a batch of 5 44Ms and kept the one with the nicest mechanics which happened to be a 4.

Amazing bargain lens though, whichever way you go

 

[Nick Morrison]

Love the M2 as well Nick, but bought a batch of 5 44Ms and kept the one with the nicest mechanics which happened to be a 4.

Amazing bargain lens though, whichever way you go

WOW. I admire your thoroughness. Nice.

 

[Ev Shipard]

Aesthetically the Helios 44 M is a very nice lens and some good copies can be found. Wide open on a large sensor can give pretty stunning swirling distortion. The bigger brother- Jupiter 9 is a very nice lens also- they have a distinctive look and may not be the sharpest but can have very nice results for a more classical mood to your imagery. I love this Russian m42 glass- all built to compete with Zeiss still lenses for the Zenit camera made by KMZ. They look great on a Krasnogorsk 16 and great on larger sensors and flare nicely. It is often not technically ideal and you may have to get a few to pick the best optically and mechanically but for me I really love the aesthetic.
Jupiter 9 4K still...

 

[Nick Morrison]

Aesthetically the Helios 44 M is a very nice lens and some good copies can be found. Wide open on a large sensor can give pretty stunning swirling distortion. The bigger brother- Jupiter 9 is a very nice lens also- they have a distinctive look and may not be the sharpest but can have very nice results for a more classical mood to your imagery. I love this Russian m42 glass- all built to compete with Zeiss still lenses for the Zenit camera made by KMZ. They look great on a Krasnogorsk 16 and great on larger sensors and flare nicely. It is often not technically ideal and you may have to get a few to pick the best optically and mechanically but for me I really love the aesthetic.
Jupiter 9 4K still...

Perfectly said, and I agree 100%. The Jupiter 9 is classic portrait lens, and another example of the buried treasure the soviets were making on the other side of the iron curtain.

 

[Timur Civan]

Here ya go:

 

[Guilherme Belchior Afonso]

Thanks a lot! Some of the shots have a nice glow. But i think i could get that effect in post shooting with a sharper lens.

 

[Vadim Bobkovsky]

Thanks a lot! Some of the shots have a nice glow. But i think i could get that effect in post shooting with a sharper lens.

Of course you can, but it's so fun!

 

[Ben Scott]

WOW. I admire your thoroughness. Nice.

I think they were about £10-20 each on ebay and i got that back for each of them

 

[Nick Morrison]

Thanks a lot! Some of the shots have a nice glow. But i think i could get that effect in post shooting with a sharper lens.

Some of the "glow" of vintage lenses is perhaps replicatable in post but not always. Once the glow morphs into a flare, or is somewhere in between, that is hard to fake in post. Also old primes, even the ones soft wide open, are generally pretty sharp stopped down. They should not be summarily dismissed.

But more importantly, old lenses have built in "defects" (what we would call them now) in their design that can create gorgeous optical imprints on your image that a moden "sharp" lens can never do (because it was designed to be pristine, and leave no mark).

When the Japanese made the word "bokeh" famous (as far back as the 60's), they did so in part because they were falling in love with the mesmerizing colorful imprints of new and in particular old lenses. For decades they have been mining our past, trolling through the history of photography, to find the quirky and wonderful old optics that can do what no modern lenses can. If you pay attention, you'll find an entire world laying at your feet, waiting to captivate your audience in ways no modern lens ever could.

 

[Mark T Workman]

I love the Helios 44-m4 on both my 60D and my Scarlet.

Interesting idea but what what mount do you use, PL or do you need something special ala All Star?

 

[Nick Morrison]

Interesting idea but what what mount do you use, PL or do you need something special ala All Star?

Almost all Russian stills lenses can be bought in the very universal, and adaptable M42 mount. M42 adapters to OTHER MOUNTS (Nikon, EOS, etc) are cheap, good and plentiful.

 

[Andrey B]

Here it is:

 

[Ben Scott]

Mark what these guys said. M42 to EOS adapter is usually about $2-3. Maybe $10 for a swanky posh one.

 

[Arnold F.]

I have been exploring this world for a while now and after buying several m42 lenses on eBay I can tell you that it is a minefield. Be prepared for two things: 1) Paying a little higher than the stories people frequently tell about getting one for $10 and, 2) to get duds that you may or may not be able to return.

I have purchased perhaps a half dozen of these lenses lately: Industar, Jupiter 9, Takumars, Meyer Optik, etc., and almost all of them have had problems that make them unsuitable for any serious use, at least for me. Before bidding, I ask if there is/are fog, haze, cleaning marks, scratches, oil on blades, smooth mechanics. I ask these questions EVERY TIME, regardless of auction description, and more than half the time the lenses arrive with exactly the problems I asked about. This means returns, which also means running into a seller or two who choose not to fully stand by their sale and either won't take it back or won't reimburse for all shipping.

You can find some very cool old still glass out there but if you can't examine them beforehand it's going to be a win-some, lose-some situation. That said, I'm still very excited by the possibilities of these old lenses.