Product ReviewsHelios 44-2 58mm F/2 Lens Good condition USSR

Beautifully Swirly!

This lens reminds me of the 1980’s - the years of Lomo and Zenit cameras. Helios 44 was standard on the Zenit and - if I remember correctly - optional on a Zorki.

I have a drawer full of 50mm lenses, from modern Sony’s and Canons through Sigmas and all manual SLRMagic f/1.1 to older Maxxums and Rokkors all the way to classic Yashicas and Takumars. My all-time favorite is the 50mm f/1.2 Tomioka, the fastest 50 for m42 mount ever. I love the Tomioka not just for being a 1.2 but for its magic bokeh producing an impression, or rather a suggestion of gentle concentric rings capturing the viewer’s focus onto the eyes of the subject.

Now the Helios can somehow do the same trick, but at f/2 instead of f/1.2, and at 10% of the price. If you shoot mirrorless or canon or A-mount, you have no excuse. Buy one today and have fun!

One thing that I don’t like about the Helios is it’s ergonomics: the aperture and focus rings seem to be in the wrong places: aperture near the front of the lens and focus on the rear, opposite of most lenses you can encounter today. After a few minutes you will get used to it though and the lens will be pure fun!Read full review...

Verified purchase: No

Excellent lens for the artistic photographer

This lens is excellent for portraits or other low depth of field work wide open. At f/2, assuming you are using it full-frame, expect blurry corners, and a sharp center. This is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on your subject and how you want to portray it. At f/5.6 and higher, the entire image will be extremely sharp, on par with the best 35mm lenses.

The quality of the out of focus areas is one of the main reasons to get this lens. Like many former USSR lenses, it is excellent. It can produce swirling out of focus highlights in some situations. The background looks as if it was painted with brush strokes.

Flare for this lens is greater than most other lenses of similar focal length. This may vary depending on your copy. My copy is single-coated. On the plus side, the front element is recessed, providing an ad-hoc lens hood. Still, it's better to also attach a real lens hood if flare is a concern. Then you won't need to worry about flare, unless your light source is in the frame.

Build quality is good - solid metal, and compact.

If you are looking for absolute sharpness wide open, I don't recommend this. It excels at artistic effect. If sharpness is what matters to you, you'd be better off buying a good 50mm f/1.4 and using it at f/2.0 or f/2.8.

In summary, you get two lenses in one - a super sharp f/5.6+ and an artistic low-dof f/2.0.Read full review...

Excellent value, widely available. A no-brainer!

All lenses in the Helios 44M series are known to be spectacular value for the money, giving images a great deal of character due in large part from the highly sought-after swirly bokeh. In the case of the 44M-4, the lens is better known for its more desirable contrast and sharpness, while the 44M-2 is better known for the quality of the "swirl" in the bokeh. Still, though, you can never go wrong with either of these lenses, whether you're shooting on APS-C or FF, though the evidence of swirl will be less prominent on the former. Build quality is second-to-none; if you get the right copy, the focus ring is smooth as silk, the aperture ring clicks nicely at each stop, and the compact size of the lens makes it all the better. You'll see some softness wide open from both members of the series as expected, and considering the issues of quality control during the many years of manufacturing, each lens tends to offer different results. Nonetheless, as iterated previously, the character provided by these lenses is truly astonishing. Simply put: both models are must buys!Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: hanhan_beauty998

Beautifully made European lens and image quality. Easy to use on Canon DSLR

A classic European lens; the Helios 44M series is possibly the MOST mass produced standard lens in the history of photography. It's a German design refined by the Russian optical industry. It was the standard lens on Zenit 35mm SLR cameras for decades. It has been rediscovered in the last few years as a brilliant lens to adapt to modern DSLR digital cameras. The soft quality and extraordinairy "bokeh" of this lens is legendary. But make no mistake, if you stop it down to f/8 it's a sharp performer too. it fits well to my Canon EOS 5D Mk I body. The one I bought from a Ukraine seller was a Chrome model from 1960. This all metal lens will blow you away with its size, weight and durability. F stop clicks are nearly silent for shooting video, and focus is smooth, though a bit stiff on my copy. You may find some scratch marks or imperfections on your lens as I did. This means you got a good one! Back in Soviet Russia production numbers were more important than quality construction. So often a photographer would take home a Zenit SLR with 4 or more copies of a lens to test! When he found the best one he would return the others. Often photographers would lend each other a good sample of a lens. So a heavily used lens meant it was good from the factory. So don't be afraid of a few small scratches. The seller I bought this from adjusted focus for Canon DSLR mounts. He also included an M39 to M42 lens thread adaptor so I could mount it right to my Canon and shoot. Great for low light portraits since the focal length is a bit longer than 50mm and helps minimize spatial distortion. It focuses close too. Just put your camera in "M" or "A" mode and make some old school low light photos. It's one tenth the price of a new Canon 50mm 1.4, and though not as fast, it has a unique image quality modern lenses can't match.Read full review...

Fantastic piece of equipment

Awesome image quality. The way the lens handles light can get you some really sick shots. The microcontrast is fantastic.Can be a bit hard to figure out exposure with the aperture not being electronic at all, you'll have to figure out your lens' native aperture, and the manual focusing can be hard with larger apertures so you'll want to make sure to get an adapter with focus confirmation but once you get used to it it's not too bad and totally worth it. Definitely a great buy for $50.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: anzelm18

Top tier soviet design with beautiful image characteristics.

Rigid build quality on this all metal lens.
Center sharpness at max. aperture is incredible considering the age, corners fall off quickly, but the out of focus qualities of this lens are what make it so special.
Beautiful colour rendition.

Great for creative use/shooting in a more painterly style.Read full review...

Like a tank and really sharp

I was a little worried when saw it in a thin bible wrap, but when opened up and saw the build quality, I was convinced that it can survive the overseas shipping even without the wrap!

The IQ is above my expectation! Center sharp wide open with fantastic bokeh. I know 44-2 is legendary, but it is still better than I thought.

Very clean and smooth. Two things I need to get use to: the pre-set aperture and the focus ring is tighter than my Takumars. The lens itself is in top qualy.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: timonby

Good oldie

Its built like a tank, very sharp. They one I got has a very loose aperture ring and a lot of grease on the blades, but not a biggy, nothing that a good cleaning can't better.
I'm very pleased with this lens.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: top_10000

"Small with several desireable uses"

I do photos and I use different lens from normal to wide and also long lens. My Jena 2.8/80 is my first choice on normal photos and other general use. But is also a good choice for macro photos. I do not do digital photos. I do strictly film photography. I don't have functional issues with my Jena 2.8/80mm Biometar Lens. A good buy for my pertacon six camera and a lot of inches of film to do and look.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: ukr_photo_goods

Helios is a nice vintage product, good image quality in a strange package.

Strange design, vintage lens from USSR. Tested with Olympus M5, MFT sensor. Overall quality is surprisingly good. Controls are strange but usable for full manual stills or motion. I like the solid built vintage lenses, and have dozens. This reminds me of OM lenses a bit, with the aperture controls out front. IQ is quite nice, no CA to speak of, fast enough to control DOF and low light. One of the better cheapo vintage finds out there. Many variations are available, mine appears to be an older model. YMMV. Paid about $30 USD delivered to US. Would not pay a lot more. Good lens for film student or very low budget motion picture.
Nice smooth images.Read full review...