Helios 44-2 on NEX-3

[iangreenhalgh1]

I bought yet another Helios 44-2, I wanted the camera it was on.

Curiosity got the better of me so I tried it on my NEX, it has two bubbles in the glass, something I've never seen in a Helios 44 before, and it doesn't have the typical purple or blue coatings of most Helios 44s, it looks uncoated but surely is coated, just the coatings are not coloured.

These were in bad light this morning, but the lens still shines, I seem to have luck finding the very good copies This one is very sharp and has very strong contast. All wide open apart from the last one which was a f4.

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[Attila]

Looks perform very well, congrats!

[iangreenhalgh1]

If a lens can do well in light like this, it's definitely a good one, bad light sorts the men from the boys I have found.

[Lloydy]

I have two 44-2's and I wouldn't part with them, it's a wonderful lens on a NEX, or any other M42 camera.

[Aanything]

One stat: i had 4 helios 44-2 and all were from good to very good, while I had some copies of more recent versions (44m, 44m4 and 44m7) and i found more quality variation between them.
In the end I kept only the best copy I had for every version, and still it seems to me that the 44-2 is the best one: some of the more recent are just as sharp, but lack a bit of the character of the older one.