Helios 44-2 lens. Ultimate buying guide.
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- Опубліковано 28 лип 2024
- All 8 versions of famous helios 44-2 lens. Comparative review with test shoots. With particularities explained in details. The most exhaustive review on youtube. Im professional lens seller/repairer. For tested, lubricated and cleaned vintage foto equipment please visit my eBay stores at:
www.ebay.com/usr/kosbik84
www.ebay.com/usr/retrofotohouse
00:00 - Intro
00:34 - Photo Samples
01:02 - Production history
02:28 - Features explained
04:41 - type 1 KMZ made
06:22 - type 2 Belomo Zebra
07:48 - type 3 Belomo varnished
08:32 - type 4 Belomo glossy
09:27 - type 5 Belomo ordinary
10:47 - type 6 Belomo new body
12:13 - type 7 & type 8 Valdai made
15:02 - what lens is worth to buy?
16:02 - lenses test: one by one
17:40 - test charts
type 1 in mint condition: www.ebay.com/itm/226221748460
type 1 in good working condition: www.ebay.com/itm/326183853541
Best review! I have the type 5. Unfortunately with a few scratches and wobble. Is there a way to get rid of the wobble in the rear element?
@@stevestrasser6833 it is almost impossible, unfortunately...
@@RetroFotoHouse So how is it connected?
Aren't there any screws you can tighten so the free play disappears?
i just bought one of these but i have what looks like a tyype 5 but made in kmz factory in 74
About 4 years ago I watched this video to decide which Helios to buy. From your recommendation, I got a Belomo made 44-2 in very good condition on ebay for £55. A couple of years later I used it to make my first short film, which went on to win a six awards at some small film festivals. Two years later I am working on my 3rd and 4th short film and still use the Helios as one of my go to lenses, along with a set of Canon FD SSC's! Thanks for your advice, it was extremely valuable!
i'm glad it helped!
Man, You make insane and so productive work for all looking for reliable buying tips, thanks !
Excellent walk-thru - lots of facts and examples, simply explained and well worth a watch, for anyone interested in the commonest Helios lenses. I have one of these and although it's nowhere near as unusual or interesting as the earlier Helios lenses, it's better than not having a Helios at all !
Thank you for walking through these lens variants. Very helpful.
Thank you so much for taking the time to produce this video. I greatly appreciate your efforts ✌
My pleasure!
Initially confused but for "modification" take it as "model" , "type", "version". or "example".
A very in depth spec review of this popular lens. Thank you.
Thank you for your input! I will correct this in my next videos
@@RetroFotoHouse I was going to say the same, "modification" is a bit confusing...makes you think of some "mod" or "hack" that allows for additional features (like your Mir-1V close focus "mod"). Model or version is more appropriate :)
Great review! Initially I was confused by Belomo but I learned it's the same as MMZ (Minskiy Mechanichesckiy Zavod imeni S.I. Vavilova), founded in 1957 in 1971 became Belomo. I have type 5 (Belomo) and type 8 (Valdai) I confirm your assessment about the buil quality, still optical quality is good in both my lenses, zero chromatic aberration!
Thank you for your effort in clarifying the various modifications. It seems I have a copy of the last type (8) from 1988 (31 years ago). Even though it is rated lowest in quality compared to the earlier modifications, it is still decent build quality and capable of taking good photographs. I challenge the lens manufacturers of today to build something inexpensive and durable enough to last and still be usable in 2050 (31 years from now).
Yes, i agree with you. Thank you for your intput!
Thank you for the excellent video, it has been very helpful. Recently they gave me this lens and according to your video my lens corresponds to type 5, however the serial number is 74. It even comes with the guarantee sheet and instructions stamped with date of the year 1974. Thanks to your video I am going to buy an adapter and try to give this lens a new life. Thanks
I recently purchased a photosniper camera and it comes with a Helios 44-2 lens, awesome video, and thank you for some history on my Helios lens
Exceptional review. Very helpful for helping choose the correct version. Photos at end are also very good. Thank-you.
Thank you for your kind words!
Wow, amazing video, thank you so much for the clear explanations and visuals !
Thanks for putting together this video, I couldn't find this much information anywhere else. Great job!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge! 🙏
Excellent stuff, thanks so much! I am going to go through all 15 of my Helios 44's now. ...I wish there was a video showing the difference between the 44m and all those other different versions too.
Video with helios 44m will come soon, please subscribe. Thank you
Thank you so much for this video, it really helps when searching for hours and hours.
EXCELLENT video! You are right, there are many Valdai ones on ebay. I see a Belomo ordinary one, I am about to buy! It says "Helios" in english, I think it looks cooler in cyrillic but that is the least of my priority haha. Thank you!
Thank you for this. I will finally adapt my fathers type 6. All my childhood photos were taken with it and zenit et. He taught me basics of photography on it.
Une revue très complète et très détaillée .Good job very nice review.
Superb introduction. Thanks !
Extremely helpful! Thanks for making this video!
Excellent info! The 44-2 is one of those lenses that was so taken for granted back in its day and it's quirks not always appreciated. Now we have greater choice, those quirks are an asset.
I have a KMZ version with white stop lettering, green DOF and yellow distance lettering. The serial number puzzles me though, it starts with 01. Pretty sure it came on a Zenit-E and was second-hand when I got it back in the 80's
According to some sources, the KMZ lenses starting with 0 and 00 were higher quality samples reserved for people of importance and 000 indicated what was basically a pre-production sample. I have several of these lenses, and my 00 sample has by far the most strongly coloured coating. The aperture mechanism is especially smooth too.
I just checked mine, it’s a KMZ in really good condition. The serial starts with 01 as well, and the quality of the image and much sharper and clear - unlike a few Valdai and BeLOMO i’ve used that had a washed out look
Thank you very much, great video which brings some light into the wide variety of 44 lenses. I personally prefer Type 6, just because of the more modern look of the body. They fit modern camera bodies very good.
Could you please tell me the adapter you are using? Mine gets too fit and I can't use the focus ring properly :(
@@libraproducciones I have the following adapters in use and i have no issues with them:
K&F Concept M42-FX II Copper
K&F Concept M10115 M42-FX
KIWI Fotos LMA-M42-FX
I think the last one is not longer sold. At least its not longer for sale on Amazon.de
Thank you so much. I figured out that I've just bought a type 8 valdai modification of this lens. However, got it for $20 and still beats too many expensive lenses for the magical bokeh. Got a fotga M42-EOSM adaptor and using it on my recently bought Canon EOSM. I've got a 18-55 STM IS Canon kit zoom lens which is a lot more expensive than the Helios 44-2 prime. 44-2 is a 58mm prime and on an aps-c sensor on EOS M gives 92mm so I can use it for Portrait photography at a cheaper starting price since 80mm and above lenses used in Portrait Photography are expensive anyways and I get a dreamy bokeh as well with this.
This is an amazing review, and an amazing channel. Thank you. I have subscribed and am looking forward to your new videos! Hope you can also have real-world tests per lens!
Thank you very much for your kind words!
You are such an expert on vintage analog lenses, I appreciate all of your videos so much.
I learned already so much. These videos are so great! Thank you very much! Such an amazing job!
Glad you like them!
There really are al lot of different versions !
My version is a Zebra With the BeLOMO Logo and 0017241 Serial number.
Thanks for the video, and also huge thanks for your other Helios 44 Lubrication guide, with that video I could easily restore mine !
Thank you!
Thank you very much for your excellent video - I made notes the first time I watched it, and so I looked carefully online for the one I wanted - my type 5 Belomo lens arrived in the post today, from the Ukraine! I really appreciate your help
you're welcome!
@@amursiberia
Yes export I think. My 1978 Belomo has yellow and green markings and “HELIOS” in cyrillic letters, no “Made in USSR” marking on the barrel.
A lot of work was put into this video! Subbed!
I remember I watched your video when I was thinking of buying one for myself. I used a few that I borrowed from my friends but they were Valdai & late BeLOMO versions. The vintage lens guy called me as he had only one piece in stock that just came in, I rushed to get it and I was lucky to get myself a pristine condition KMZ version!
Great video ! I learned a lot about the different models.
Thanks for your guide. Digging out my old Helios 44-2 lenses from the drawer which I used back in the 1970s, reveals they both seem to be the type 1 KMZ version (from the logo). Although mine have some yellow lettering, not white, as yours do.
Amazing video, thanks for sharing!
Thank you Alan! I love your videos as well!
Thanks for making this video. Especially explaining about the different plants. I've been looking on ebay, now I know what to look for. Rather than "modification" I think "version" or "variation" would be a better word.
thank you for your input!
Thanks for the video. I bought a KMZ & Valdai 44-2 and my Valdai version is better than my KMZ. The KMZ version has a loose focus ring, aperture ring & the aperture lock, while the Valdai is solid and only has minimal play in the rear element.
Thank you so much for this.
top tip with the symbols, once you know its obvious. with the added tactile scence. one of my serial numbers starts with a 0 ?
glad i have nearly got the full set.
you should feel the build quality of the lens bundled with the km camera, 1999/2000.
great video, thanks.
Very nice, my grandpa gave me his Zebra type from 72. I knew it felt special but 2%, that's another level :D
I just got it today for 30 bucks on Ebay 😅
yes and if it is m42(not m39 mount) and starting serial number 0,00,000 than speak another story
Thanks for the analisis of the fantastic Helios!
Great video! Tnx man this helps a lot!
Thanks for doing this!
I have one Helios 44-2 58mm
Thank for your review
great tutorial. Thanks a lot man !!
Excellent review! Thanks a lot.
Glad it was helpful!
Fantastic explanation of Helios 44-2.. I am also a customer. I purchased a Helios with purple flare modicication.
Thank you!
Thanks for your video i got the one from 75 what a swirly bokeh beast and very sharp as well in the center
Excellent. Thank you!
I have a Valdai rare 44-2 Helios. My helios have a little oil on the blades. Valdai rare 44-2 Helios have low contrast and have low colors it's good for a post processing color correction.
Excellent video, really helpful, thank you.
extremely useful, thanks!
Very useful video, thank you!
Thanks for the extensive video - Very informative and really enjoyed learning more about this glass. Thanks!
Thank you for watching and sharing! :)
Great work! Thank you for the info!
Thank you Gary!
Thank you so much for sharing 🙏🏻🙏🏻👍🏻
Very helpful video. A similar one on the Helios 77m would be great if similar variants exist.
Well, it is possible, but the problem that it is very difficult to gather all version at once. There are 4 i guess
Apparently I have 89' kmz and my father's 76' mmz (BelOMO v5), was pretty interesting to compare to other models as well.
Build quality it indeed superb and everything is working like a clockwork.
Thank you very much for sharing 🙏🏻🙏🏻😊
Very very helpful, thank you
Hello, I never comment on UA-cam and i just found this video and your account, as filmmaker well done, for you work and thank you for sharing it. I'm looking for working on vintage look and thank to you, I have downloaded your video to compare frame by frame each type of Helios. This will help me to find my next cinematic lens.
I will look at your others videos and Ebay for found this, thank you for your work and hope you are safe with the war
Very interesting insights. Thanks for sharing these details. I understand now that I have two KMZ copies - but mine have green and yellow lettering. One has distance scale in feet the other in meters.
Can you please show your copies? Because i never saw a green scale KMZ helios. Sometimes, it happens that a front ring is simply exchanged
@@RetroFotoHouse I have several Helios and I have 2 models with KMZ logo and green/yellow marks, here are some pictures : drive.google.com/drive/folders/11Jp_JHysa0_plMdrNxFFdLT9JX9t76We?usp=sharing
Retro Foto House Sure thing. Here’s a link. => drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-xBVMB2V_YOVhZB-EOSA1bfVc3eytfH0
Thank you, this is great, valuable information
Great Video, thank u so much!
Glad it was helpful!
I recently acquired the Valdai (Type 7 from your video). It is silver, and has very little wobble in the mount and no oil. I believe it has been modified, as it has 16 blade aperture (not 8, not 13). So far it has performed as expected. Mostly used for portrait and macro work. Excellent video.
yes, modified. Valdai never produced silver version. I think it was just polished.
A really fantastic resource for what is becoming a very popular vintage lens. Thank you!
Thank you! Great info
Glad it was helpful!
You saved me from making a grave mitake!!! Thank you soooooo much for this!
Glad it was helpful
Impressive video!
I have 1982 BeLOMO from Belarus, awesome.
If I may give a few suggestions (for future videos):
**It'd be great if you explained some less common mounts and how their adapters work.** For example, the Contax/Kiev mount for cine cameras...lenses that don't have a focusing helicoid (if I'm not mistaken) and the helicoid is built into the film camera (or adapter).
**Perhaps explain the differences between the Mir-1 and Mir-1V (1B),** and which of them can be adapted; same for many other lenses that have various models depending on the mount.
**You could make a video (or video series) talking about the history of Soviet lenses** and comparing them with their Zeiss counterparts. Talk about **glass coating** in Soviet lenses, and about the **radioactive Thorium lenses** people are so worried about...while they are harmless.
**And obviously, we'd all appreciate more "mods" and "hacks"!** Either making lenses focus closer, or swapping elements to create more (or different) bokeh types (doughnut, bubble, swirly etc.); even building new DIY lenses from old elements and bodies. I suggest you check Mathieu Stern's Facebook group (Weird and Vintage Lenses Photographers), it's full of people that experiment with vintage lenses, disassemble them and mix them up. You could even promote your channel there!!! :D
Thank you for your input, will definitely use some of your suggestions for future videos.
thanks a lot, I guess all are basically the same lens formula, as the image quality and swirly bokeh quality seems very identical. they only differ in the build quality and aesthetics.
11:11 This may cause problems when used in Pentax cameras with adapter. I used abrasive paper to fix it:) Just use screwdriver to remove this ring and grind it a little bit:)
Nice and very detailed video, thank you.
so we can imagine that the 75 green and yellow is part of the 15% production witch is a good and recomended one like you said ?
On the number 5 production the contrast is a lot less compaired to 1,2,3 those ones has very nice bokeh and contrast colors.
If you can, get 1,2,3 but they quite rare to find
excellent review.
Glad you liked it!
Great video. I think I have the #5 one, with the long green settings. I love it. I want to give one the same as a special gift to a young photographer friend in Iran. Can you ship to Iran? I have asked the question on Ebay on my husband's account but thought you might get this quicker here! Cheers.
Great video ! :)
Great vid!! Could you do one the different helios 58mm f2 lenses, comparing 44-2, 44-4, 44M etc etc
I can tell you all about them.
Very informative video, even if I already knew some of this. I've had KMZ and Valdai versions and there's definitely a noticeable difference in build quality. The KMZ one I had was really nice.
I had a Valdai and it had better quality build than my KMZ. More importantly, it took far finer images. It just goes to show that with old well-used lenses you cannot generalise "betterness" from just one lens.
Excellent explanation and very practical insights, thanks. New sub. I'll be buying mine soon, so this is perfect!
Very good explanation over this historical lens.
Thanks you very much.
Thank you !
I got a Zenit Camera with a Helios 44m 6 new in it's original box. They were never used. I don't what to do with it. I have another helios which I use and a jupiter 37a. I love them.
Donate it to me
-I believe I have type 5. But the aperture ring is stuck at f2. I feel I'd break the lens if I forced the ring. Any advice?- edit: I watched further and realized I had the type 8 Valdai with green markings. Guess I got ripped off. Thank you so much for this insightful video
I'm looking to buy a Helios 44-2 as well. How do you differentiate between the two?
a legit great vid
I found the type 1 kmz, I hope it will shoot well
Thank you so much
I have two Helios 44-2 lenses, an MMZ with a serial of 83M, and a KMZ with a serial of 168K. The KMZ is by far much optically clearer with less haze and more contrast overall and sharpness than the MMZ, but the MMZ is still better than a Valdai which I'm very happy about
I have both versions too, and recently sold a late KMZ because I always preferred the look of the MMZ type 5 version, another difference was a slight yellowish color cast on the KMZ, the MMZ was "colder". I have a version 1 KMZ I just bought that I'm curious to test and compare with my MMZ.
@@zverispetras I also find a yellowish/warm colour cast on my Helios lenses, and all my vintage Minolta MD lenses as well, but nothing that a slightly cooler temperature in post doesn't fix
Thank you for sharing this video. Awesome information! I bought a black zenit E with a helios44-2 type 7, has little grass on the plates, and a little free play on the rear, but the quality of the images is excellent. I use on a full frame nikon dslr. Some problems to focusing but unscrewing a few turns the rear elements I can focus on until infinite. I would like to ask you, Do all 8 variants has coated lenses? Thank you!
no they don't. all these lenses are singlecoated
Great video. What would you recommend for photography only? Thank you
try helios 44-2 type 1 you won't be disappointed
Thank you for such a useful video! I am currently torn between a Belomo Zebra 44-2 and a KMZ 1971 44-2 - both lenses are fully serviced, in great condition from a good seller and are very similarly priced.
I'm looking to use either lens on my Fujifilm Mirrorless camera for still and video - which one do you reckon would be better? I'm just concerned about the freeplay on the KMZ version, the seller has confirmed it has a very small play of around 1/100th of a CM.
Thanks you :)
Pick up Belomo zebra and you will be happy
i have another one thats different than these ones.
There's also a manual/auto button on the bottom. Looks relatively new, like 80's/90's i'd say.
Came on a Zenit with another 2.8/29mm
You mean helios 44m i think
@@RetroFotoHouse exactly, my bad. Are these any good compared to the 44-2?
I have the type 8 (Valdai) in silver and I find almost all of the lenses coming from Ukraine right now are all Valdai. As focus changes most of them get soft in the center while the edges get a halo/ring of sharper focus
Fantastic video. Were there any other KMZ versions of the 44-2? I have just picked up one from the KMZ plant with Green, Red and Orange writing from 1975 with the serial number on the front name band.
yes, this one is genuine one, at the moment of recording a video i was not aware about its existence.
Thank you for another informative video! Is there any way to fix the wobble on the rear flange mount? My Helios suffers from this.....
it is difficult without turning lathe machine, as inner tolerances were often not resected
I bought a type 1 44-2 lens KMZ, in factory condition, serial: 0117329
It will not focus properly on nikon cameras, unless you will use an adapter with correcting glass, but it will deteriorate image quality....
Thanks for the video, very informative. I hope you can answer 2 questions I have:
1. Is there a difference between Type 1 KMZ and a KMZ Helios 44 Black M39 8 blades Serial Number N04XXXXX?
2. Between the KMZ Helios 44 M39 and the Helios 44-2 Type 5 Belomo which do you recomend? (I have M39 and M42 adapters so mount is no problem.)
m39 version will not hit infinity, on dslr's, therefore i recommend type 5 belomo
It’s an amazing video, thank you it help me a lot because I’m thinking to buy this lens, the only question I’ve got is how can I realize that is a type 5 belomo, in almost everywhere I found this lens to buy it’s not specified, thanks again and sorry if it’s a dumb question
you need to look at the factory sign on the internal ring, near front optical element.
I have been looking for this for a very long time! Thank you so much! Now I know I have the Helios 44-2 from Valdai (´77), Could you be so kind to answer me a question? What does the block on the rear means? Does that mean that If I buy an adapter I can´t use it or something?? Thanks again!
i did not catch what do you mean
Hello, I've seen quite a few of your videos but until today I haven't subscribed, I quite like the videos that I've seen so far. I told you, a while ago I tried to adapt a helios 44M 7 to nikon and I do not know what happened; the thing is that today I removed the conversion to nikon and when riding it does not fit the focus ring. Please you could make a video showing how the said ring fits and finishing the motage. Thanks a lot
Thank you for all the info can you do 44m7 review as well? It is hard to know which lenses are real since there are many fakes being sold.
Will come in the future for sure!