Is this the photographer's mid-life crisis? Vintage Glass Helios Lens
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 มี.ค. 2024
- Is buying a vintage lens to stick on the front of a modern digital camera the photography equivalent of a mid-life crisis?!
Possibly! I've succumbed to a class Soviet built Helios lens and I've been mildly obsessed by it for a couple of weeks now. The focus is hard, most of the frame is soft, the bokeh can be vomit inducing, if the sun even glances at it the entire image flares out! I love it!!
I found stills super absorbing, the middle of the lens is actually nice and sharp so that informs the composition. This particular lens is a cine-mod so the aperture ring is declicked and a couple of rubber toothed bands have been fitted so I've been able to pair it with the DJI Ronin gimbal and control the focus. The other modification is an anamorfake conversion. Essentially an orange oval insert with a piece of fishing wire. The effect is similar to a proper anamorphic lens providing a line flare when hit by direct light. Gimmicky yes, but a lot of fun 🤣
Everything that is terrible about this lens is ultimately what makes it great! Mass produced by the USSR you can obtain one very cheaply and the adapter to Sony is cheap too. The lack of anti-flare coating provides endless flarey nonsense that other people have to buy photoshop overlays for! Frankly I just like the look it provides, it has given be joy in use and makes me excited to pick up my camera.
What more could you want from a mid-life crisis?!
NB: This is a car crash production and I do apologise! I've become over confident in my little DJI Mics having had no trouble from them at all and this time it died early in exposition! Then in my rush to lay down some voice over I forgot to readjust the levels so that doesn't sound great either. Any way thank you for your patience if you've made it thus far. I really enjoy and want to get these videos out consistently but life and professional pressures often lead to everything being done in imaginary time and not to the standard I want! One day it will all come together!!
#photography #vintage #helioslens
Can we give it up for the real star of the video... the axelotl hoodie!
Absolutely 👏 That’s a fantastic Alfie & Alice hoodie now available in adult sizes (I have a red panda one!) alfie-and-alice.co.uk/shop/hoodies/axolotl-hoodie-2/ The model may be familiar too!
I rarely use A/F lenses now , 90% vintage lenses ,Topcor are my favourite at the moment . Much more involved than auto everything .
Interesting cheers Duncan. Most of the time I'm in manual when I'm 'proper' filming so I don't miss that but the individual quirks of a vintage lens for sure make you work harder and I like that too. I'll have to check out Topcor, thanks 😀
OMG I feel personally attacked LOL. I was obsessed with Sigma Art series lenses, wide apertures, and tack sharp glass for years and suddenly found myself ordering a couple of Vivitar Series 1 zooms in focal ranges I definitely did not need, for apertures narrower than I prefer, all for the look they give. So far I love them! But I've also watched hours of vintage lens videos and scrolled eBay endlessly... it's time to stop. I'm stopping now! 😅
Haha definitely don’t feel attacked think of it more as being part of a support group 😂 Only the support you get is encouragement to buy more classic lenses! I also love Sigma Art though I use my 24-70 a lot for work 👌
@@wildernessphotographic The 24-70 has been out of my price range for a long time but on my list until I discovered the Art series also has a 50-100 *f/1.8* which is a better focal range for me and a whole stop brighter. I have the 30 and 50mm f/1.4 Art primes, and bought the Samyang MF 85mm f/1.4 which is absolutely gorgeous glass if you didn't know, for under $200 (Samyang does have an AF version for around $400).
So just a recommendation for vintage lenses, the Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm AF f/2.8-4 is awesome. It's from the sixth release of that lens and the only one they put out with autofocus; originally made for Cosina. Warm colors, buttery smooth watercolor-ey backgrounds, and round translucent highlights when you find the right settings. Better yet, it's tack sharp especially in the center, but has a certain glowy softness throughout the frame while retaining tons of detail. The colors are saturated but dreamlike. I'd absolutely say you can use that for professional work. It's definitely going to be first in my bag for portraits, and I got some amazing woodland photography with it.
I also grabbed the VS1 135mm f/2.8 (made for Komine) which turns EVERYTHING into soap bubbles if it comes anywhere near a light source. It's the Helios 44 but in 135mm and made for Vivitar.
The VS! 28-105mm f/2.8-3.8 just arrived with a Minolta MD mount. I almost sent it back b/c a lot of people say there's no adapters for MD to Canon EF, but Fotasy makes one and I have now confirmed that the flange distance is not a problem and it works with the adapter just fine... besides having that whole fun twist-focus design. Will report findings when I get to take it out for a spin!
@@wildernessphotographic Next up in your midlife crisis... it would just be TERRIBLE if you discovered the Lensbaby optic swap system...
@@worldadventuretravel haha I have been looking and resisting! I’m definitely intrigued by Lensbaby as I haven’t played with the system yet but think I’d almost certainly love it! Thanks so much for sharing your recommendations and experiences here, amazing, lots of research rabbit holes to explore 🤩
I started with a fuji XT-1 and a hellios 44-2 lmao
Nice and have you stuck with it Thomas or moved on to other things?
very good lens, you can modifi it in varius ways to do crazy efects, is the best lens i have 44m
Thanks Manuel! I love it. Have you modified yours yourself? What effects are your favourite? 📷
@@wildernessphotographicfront lens invert and shape boque with a line in the lights are my favorite, is easy to do it yourself
@@manuelmadriz1969 very cool I’ll have to give that a try thank you 🤩