![]() ![]() The lens was made over a 40 year period with many different version, but my personal favourite is the early Helios 44-2, not least because it can be modified in a variety of ways to produce unique results. The Helios 44 lens has become something of a cult object in vintage photography circles in recent years. Only one’s creativity is the limit.Īlso, that very trick as you saw from the photographs above can be used in many photographic situations and to create a great variety of images.Jump straight to the sample photographs if you just want to see some pictures! On the other side as you can see from the photographs I showed you this one trick can be applied in 1000 different ways. Though I admit a modified Helios 44-2 is in a way a one-trick-pony. I make photographs because I enjoy the proses of taking photographs.įor this reasons, I find this lens very inspiring. My obsession is not measuring chromatic aberration and other technicalities. I understand that some photographers prefer to take completely uninspiring photographs of flowers or other items in their backyard to measure how many percent sharpness falls off towards the corner of the frame. It’s great fun to take photographs with such a modified Helios 44-2 lens. So why then would you want to have such a modified lens? I tell ya why: Because the images it produces are unique. It continues to amaze me what can be done with that lens. But that is of course just my preference. I prefer to play with photographic equipment rather than with my mouse in Photoshop. Play in the sense as a child plays or as a musician plays an instrument. What is even more important is that the results you get tend to be unpredictable.Īnd this unpredictability is very inspiring.įor me, photography has a huge element of play. ![]() Whereas with a modified lens it’s instantaneous. If a skilled Photoshop editor was supposed to do an edit with all the haziness, glow, blurriness and what have you… it’ll take 5, 10 more minutes of time per photograph. Though I have two strong arguments against producing such effects in Photoshop. Indeed 90% or more of what this modified lens produces can be also achieved in Photoshop. My answer to this argument is a resounding YES. Some may say: I can do all this blurring, haze, glowing, etc… in Photoshop. In the following days, I ventured out again a few times to put it further through the paces. So here are the first captures I took with my modified Helios 44-2 lens:Īfter only a few shots I got really excited with what this little lens could do. I did not mind the adverse conditions at all. Completely overcast sky with a slight drizzle – that kinda light.īut hey, I was not planning on taking ‘mastershots’ – I simply wanted to see what can be done with that modified Helios 44-2 lens. But the good news is here in Bali, where I live, I found a specialist who has mastered the skill of taking lenses apart and back together.Īfter he performed his ‘magic’ I was pretty excited that I finally had my Helios 44-2 ‘modif’ and wanted to straight head out to take this puppy for a spin. I am not versed in tinkering with photographic equipment. In case you are asking: No, I did not do this lens modification myself. And the side was facing inside towards the sensor is now facing outwards. To be more specific: The side of the glass that was facing outwards is now facing inwards towards the sensor. What that means is: To take the lens apart and take out the front glass / front element and put it back in after turning it around. And modify it to have its front element reversed. Therefore, it was a no-brainer to get another one. There is even a business in Russia that exclusively sells that lens. This lens can be had very inexpensively on ebay. Because I wanted one where I could do a lens modification with the front element of the lens reversed. After the complete success with my first Helios 44-2 lens shoot in Harbin, I had to have a second copy of that lens. ![]()
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