Helios Lenses
Quote from HeggenDazs on February 9, 2022, 5:22 pm@jbp https://www.ebay.com/itm/184723715438?hash=item2b0264356e:g:gDEAAOSwOMxf6y5x
This guy is from around the same production batch as mine, so I can assume it's about the same quality. Mine has a lovely focus wheel and a nice clicky aperture ring. It's pretty tops, plus this version of the helios comes in a K-mount flavor! You can plonk it right on the Pentax of your liking.
Thank you! I didn't see this post before I made an offer on another one... I'll come back to it if the seller refuses my offer. Those look mint condition. 😎 I'm pretty pumped to get my hands on one. Bummed I didn't do it before taking the Christmas tree down - imagine the bokeh with that as the background!
Something to look forward to for next Christmas! haha
Well! I'm very pleased to say I have a Helios on the way! Unfortunately since it's From Russia with Love, the ETA is April 5. Patience...
Quote from HeggenDazs on February 10, 2022, 9:40 pm@jbp heck yes! What did you end up getting?
Helios-44k-4 58mm. There's some damage to the very edge of the glass but I think it shouldn't affect the image. Can't wait to try it out. 😁
@jbp I was eyeing that exact lens the other day, you mean the one that has the tiny buildup of fungus right at the very edge of the lens. Yeah, you should have no issues with that little bit of fungus. And that lens was completely mint minus that imperfection.
Quote from HeggenDazs on February 11, 2022, 3:06 pm@jbp I was eyeing that exact lens the other day, you mean the one that has the tiny buildup of fungus right at the very edge of the lens. Yeah, you should have no issues with that little bit of fungus. And that lens was completely mint minus that imperfection.
I didn't see your reply until today, sorry about that. I didn't mean to leave you hanging. Yes, that's the one! The ETA was April but I'm happy to say it arrived yesterday. What a nice surprise that was. Although it felt a bit surreal to receive a package from Russia given what's going on right now.
First snaps below. Tried to find a nice background for bokeh (laptop keyboard will do!) and something with color. Bad breath, anyone? lol Already I'm in love with it. It's surprisingly sharp in the center, and that bokeh...
I must admit I've not used manual lenses much with my DSLRs. I find it difficult to focus without a focusing screen like on my AE1 and K1000. Just something to get used to. Aside from that struggle it is very fun to focus manually with no AF fall back. Feels like hard mode, very fun. 😁
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I was talking with my dad and he had aired the same annoyances with shooting manual lenses. The advantage we have as Pentaxians is the blessed green button though. Makes life so much easier. If I could point you in a direction, I'd say try mounting it on your K-3 and turn on focus peaking. It's a nice cheat code to get around the smaller OVFs. The only camera I can reliably focus the Helios through OVF is the K-1.
I used focus peaking for the Altoids can after ~10 failed attempts at getting it in focus in the OVF! 😆 Guess I'm stubborn. I found that the K-3 will alert me when the selected focus point detects focus, even in manual mode with a manual lens. I don't remember right now if I had to hit the AF button to make it do that...maybe I did. But that is helpful. I had good success with that outdoors this morning. Certainly better than eyeballing it, but not as good as focus peaking.
A focusing screen would be ideal, so I'm thinking of installing one, but I feel like it must reduce the brightness and clarity through the viewfinder, so I'm hesitant:
Quote from HeggenDazs on February 25, 2022, 5:10 pmI was talking with my dad and he had aired the same annoyances with shooting manual lenses. The advantage we have as Pentaxians is the blessed green button though. Makes life so much easier. If I could point you in a direction, I'd say try mounting it on your K-3 and turn on focus peaking. It's a nice cheat code to get around the smaller OVFs. The only camera I can reliably focus the Helios through OVF is the K-1.
I've toyed with getting a new focusing screen for my Pentax K10D, although I'm a little confused how much better it would be, and it's a bit pricey to pay for an experiment: https://www.focusingscreen.com/index.php?cPath=25_67&osCsid=4o6dkd4qb7aihemouo0jqqcji6
So, yes, focus peaking is where it's at. We also have manual focus confirmation on Pentax cameras (lights up a square in OVF and gives you a beep). It works if you play with it a bit and learn it's limitations, like it's not terribly accurate. You may find you need to front or back focus a bit when it beeps. But you can learn that and then it works decently well. Also stopping down a tad helps there.
That said, I do alright with my Pentax K10D. I've just learned to take a few shots and sometimes I take a peak at the playback and see if I got it. This usually works out.
