Now, that’s certainly not to say that the Helios 44-4 doesn’t render sharpness when the operator nails the focus. An indoor courtyard on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Normally, I’m the first person to wax poetic about the stunning clarity of the Sigma DP2 Merrill, or the pristine sharpness of the Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 (my favorite Fuji lens).
Instead of pushing itself to be the sharpest lens around, the Helios 44-4 leans in to it’s optical quality for a more atmospheric, filmic aesthetic. This old soviet lens has a dreamy, bloomy feel – the highlights blow out and glow in a pleasing gradient, and there’s a uniform softness to the images. The slightly out of focus shots still had a distinct mood to them – a mood that may not have been improved with tack sharp focus on the subject’s eye. In the words of Henri Cartier-Bresson, “sharpness is a bourgeois concept”. While I missed critical focus on a good amount of shots, I noticed something. The Fuji X-pro2’s focus peaking ended up being more of a distraction than an aid, so I did my best to eyeball my shots in the EVF. Fuji X-pro2, Helios 44-4.Īfter taking a single test shot on a nearby pigeon – and successfully nailing the focus – I felt confident enough to start shooting my friends as we walked through Central Park.
Swirly bokeh lens canon manual#
Manual focus is… weird, and the focal length is substantially longer than anything I’d shot with in a while. I invited some friends out to Central Park in the late afternoon so I could get some test shots on my Fuji X-pro2. Maximum sharpness is attained around f/5.6–f/8, but to use this lens at anything other than f/2 feels like a waste. The aperture ring holds firmly in place, and the focus ring is nice and smooth. Note that the adapter you use will likely feel cheap and plastic-y in comparison to the Helios 44-4! The build construction is substantial: solid metal and steel.
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