Helios soup.
It contains:
Helios-81N (50mm f/2, Nikon F). Probably the sharpest and more contrasty of all. That also makes it a bit more modern-looking, though it definitely is Helios. That extra bit of sharpness is useful when placing subjects off center and when using longer focusing distances. Helios 44 and Biotar 58 fall apart in those cases, if wide open.
77-M4 (50mm f/1.8, M42, also exists in Nikon F). Also a bit sharper than 44 variants, but I think less so than 81N.
103 (53mm f/1.8, Contax RF). Probably my favorite. Rather than Biotar-based, this is a Summicron copy with rare earth materials that sells for coins and has really, really beautiful rendering.
89 (30mm f/1.9, fixed lens from Fed Mikron half frame camera converted to M39). Tiny and sharp. Some people like to use it as is, on full frame. it doesn’t vignette with black corners, but the conerns seem to always be focused at infinity and that looks odd. I crop it by about 20 per cent on full frame or use as 45mm equivalent on aps.
44-M7 (58mm f/2, M42) M4 to M7 are not sequential but simultaneous in time. They are all the same lens. The number is supposed to be a quality seal, with 7 being tested as sharpest and 4 as less sharp. Who knows if that’s always true. Some ebay sellers produce fake M7s by replacing the front plate of other 44 flavors, to charge more.
Helios 44-2 and 44 M39. In my view, Helios 44 is the 20th century condensed in an object. A luxury english cine lens, which then inspired Zeiss, and was later taken by the soviets from the nazis as war reparation and manufactured for the masses. The first version is the closest to Biotar for me, 44-2 a nice balance of Helios attributes, a bit softer than the M ones, swirlier, etc. Really beautiful lenses, but wide open the area of usable sharpness is more constrained to the center of the frame and shorter focusing distances (and who stops down an Helios? 
🙂 )
🙂 )By Adolfo
Helios-81N + Fuji X-T10 with Viltrox EF-FX II focal reducer.
Helios 77-M4 + Sony A7R II + Fuji X-T10 + Viltrox EF-FX II focal reducer.
Helios-103 and home-made Contax RF adapter, shot with Carl Zeiss Jena Prakticar 1.4/50 MC
Helios-89
Helios 44M-7
Helios 44-2
Leave a Reply