A helios thanksgiving

[rbelyell]

i just received my new old helios 44-2 in time for thanksgiving! i used it for low light and even lower light, virtually no postprocessing, though some could benefit from pp! PLEASE CLICK ON EACH PHOTO FOR BEST RESOLUTION. as i shot in higher iso the pictures look much better when clicked on!

first, a picture of the lens:



a fine looking one, eh? now some low light:




some even lower light at iso 800:

[ManualFocus-G]

Looks like you had a busy time with all those people about! The Helios is a lovely looking lens, I have one the same in M39 mount. Shooting the band must have been a challenge with f2, which isn't really that fast all things considered, so you've done a good job.

I've found indoors shots need f1.8 or above at ISO1600 in order to be shake free though, certainly in lower light.

[rbelyell]

wow, faster than 1.8 at 1600!! ive never shot 1600; actually this is the first time ive shot 800! that being the case i actually feel very good about these and about the other thanksgiving ones i posted shot with the mir 35mm at 2.0! if i shot at 1600 w this camera all we'd see is blotch, and grainy blotch at that! thanks for the kind words shrek
t

[ManualFocus-G]

Remember, unless you have a VERY steady hand, you need a shutter speed matching the equivalent focal length as a minimum e.g. for 58mm you'd need something like 1/60 second.

In this respect I've found the Sony to be useful, as the Super Steady Shot plays a big part in me being able to shoot at much slower speeds, or lower ISO

Saying that, the Canons have far better high ISO performance anyway, although I understand the new a500/a550 have improved this a lot.

One thing is for sure, I'm not a fan of flash photography!

[rbelyell]

yeah, none of these were shot anywhere near 1/60! the best was 1/50, worst 1/15....