Helios 40-2 85mm f/1.5 Lens

Helios 40-2 85mm f/1.5 Lens

This time I want to show you some of the photos I have taken with one really special and cool lens! Well, I had only been using it for about a month, and it was enough to see how cool it is, so now I’m thinking that maybe I should get one and enjoy it again! Well, I’ talking about the old Russian Helios 40-2 85mm F/1.5 Lens! It is a full manual lens, which is one of the difficult things about it to use, but once you get used to that, and to the fact that you should keep your main subject in the middle of the frame otherwise it will get some weird artifacts, then you can just enjoy that fantastic piece if gear! I have been using it only on my Canon 1Dx, well the period I had it was quite small, and I only could use it for a few portrait photoshoots! Here are some of the photos I have taken with it! You can see how cool is that swirly bokeh, I’m in love with it! 

Also here are some other recent gear articles I’ve been writing, feel free to check them out:

ヘリオス 40-2 85mm f/1.5 レンズ

今回は面白いレンズを紹介したいと思います!古いロシアのヘリオス85mmです!めっちゃボケのぐるぐる形が綺麗でこのレンズにしかないと思います!たった一ヶ月ぐらいしか使ってないけど、数回の撮影ですごく楽しんでいました!欠点というと、このレンズはフルマニュアルで、そして、被写体のメインのところを真ん中に置かないとちょっと変に写ることですが、それに慣れたらこのレンズでポートレートを撮るのがかなり楽しくなります!100%は開放、F/1.5で使っていました!ヘリオスで撮影した写真の一部はこのギャラリーで見れますね!すべての写真はCanon 1Dxで撮っています!

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Comments

comments

4 replies
  1. George S
    George S says:

    Amazing work with this lens. It was so super odd/coincidental that you had posted photos taken with the Helios on your FB page recently because I have been researching about this lens the last couple of days with a very great temptation to acquire that.

    My only hesitation is not the manual focusing but the dual aperture rings. It appears that it has 2 rings that controls the aperture. Not quite sure if it’s similar to some of the Nikon defocusing and aperture rings on the 135 f2.

    Any advise on the way you used the 2 different adjustment rings? Any tips?

    By the way, there is also a Trioplan lens that does an even a more interesting bokeh effect. Have you seen that?
    Thanks in advance and your work is such and inspiration.

    Reply
  2. Pietro Sarubbi
    Pietro Sarubbi says:

    got on ur site just by chance -l m an entusiast owner of the canon of the canon 135 f 2 .l agree with u .it s a wonderful lens.u r right abt the gear. it s photographer and ideas that come first.bt on ur pics there s clearly a signature of a great photographer. l m an old photographer and l m sorry that l can’t give any referral fr my pics fr everybody.i converted recently to canon frm nikon (great cameras and lens) just fr use the 135 and the new 100-400 f 4,5-5,6 usm is mark 2 (great lens altough expensive).bt the 135 s in league of its own.l m at the moment reading reviews abt the helios 40 2 85. i like its special rendition . just a technical question . hw it s working the focus ring. seen that s kind of very-old-manual very smooth and accurate l guess. discounted the question of the difficulties pertaining this kind of very fast lens and paper-thin DOF.thank u fr reviews and all and sorry if my english it s nt so good.i m italian.are u russian by the way ? and were are u located ? in japan ?

    Reply
  3. Rob
    Rob says:

    The two adjustment rings indicate that the lens is a “preset.” In all likelihood, the lens mount is either an M42 or M39 Zenit on a Canon adapter. The ring that sets the aperture has the clickstops. The other ring with which you open fully for focusing, you then close down to the stopping point that you’ve set with the other ring. Hope this helps.

    Reply

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