14January2010
Helios 35mm F/2.8 M42 SLR Lens Review (On Canon EOS 350d / Digital Rebel XT)
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: lens reviews; reviews.
It’s time for another of my “sort of” lens reviews. I say that because it isn’t like the kind of article you’ll find on dpreview. I don’t test for distortion, sharpness or contrast. I simply go for a walk with the lens on the front of my Canon EOS 350d / Digital Rebel XT and take some photos of scenes I find interesting. When I’m back home I’ll process them in Adobe Camera RAW, Photoshop, and Nik Silver Efex Pro for the black and white conversions.
I’m a believer in the saying that 99% of all lenses are better than 95% of all photographers, and that these cheap old M42 mount lenses are a good alternative for the photographer on a budget. You may have to buy a mount adapter for a couple of quid and manually focus, but the use of a prime improves your photography because you’ve got to move around a lot more, instead of staying rooted to the same spot and “zooming” to change your composition.
Fort Brockhurst, Bridge To Keep Gate
The Helios 35mm f/2.8 is an interesting focal length. In a dSLR with a crop sensor, like my 350d, the 35mm equivalent is about 52mm – very close to what could be considered a “standard” lens that gives a natural looking perspective to your images.
As I said in the video I actually found manually focussing a little difficult when I went out to take these images. Perhaps it was the overcast, low-light day, or maybe my eyes were a little tired, but if you rely on the method of “rolling” out and into focus, you should be fine.
Snowy Path, Monks Walk Woods
A big benefit to these lenses is their price. I think I got this one for a few pounds on the front of a Zenit film SLR – so when I’m out in conditions where it’s cold and wet, I’d rather have an accident with this on the front of my camera rather than my more expensive Canon EF lenses.
Apart from having to use manual focus, the biggest drawback is if you go out with a mixture of M42 / EF lenses. It’s quick and easy enough to unscrew the m42 lens from the mount when its on the camera, swap the rear lens caps and fit a new lens. The trickier proposition is if you’re going from an m42 lens to an EF mount, because you can’t fit a rear cap on an m42 lens if its still got the adapter attached (or fit it into a lens case). You’ve got to unscrew the adapter and store it in your bag. Until you need it again – so even if you got an adapter for every m42 lens you’d still be standing there unscrewing stuff while the wind and rain were blowing.
Buildings Near Explosion Museum
On Canon dSLRs you can shoot in aperture priority, the camera will sense the light coming into the camera, and set a suitable shutter speed. So all you have to do is choose you aperture, focus and shoot.
Because the lens will be “stopped down” to whatever aperture you’ve chosen all the time (unlike a modern lens where it automatically is wide-open until you press the shutter), the viewfinder can be quite dark. Get around this by focussing at f.2.8, then stop down to the aperture you want, keeping an eye on the shutter speed as you do so.
Trunk Detail, Monks Walk
I got most of my m42 lenses from local car boot sales, often on the front of old film slrs. I always take a macro extension tube with me so I know that the thread on the lens is the right pitch – there are some rarer lens mounts that look similar but actually won’t fit on the m42-ef lens mount adapter.
Another consideration is if you’re shooting with a full frame sensor camera. If you are, there’s a chance that your camera mirror could catch on the rear of the lens when its focussed to infinity. Check out this article for details.
Converted Garages, Priddys Hard
If you’re used to using auto-focus lenses or cameras all the time, don’t worry about having to suddenly start manually focussing. You’ll get the hang of it quickly, and you’re not tethered to the cameras auto-focus points which can force you to “focus and recompose”.
If it’s a brighter day you can also use the old “f/8 and be there” maxim. Just set your aperture to f/8, focus on something not too far away (about 15 feet), then simply forget about focussing. Your depth of field will be such that most things will be sharp anyway.
Central Caponier, Fort Brockhurst
I’ve really enjoyed shooting with the 35mm f2.8 Helios. It may not be the sharpest in the world, but the focus ring is smooth, it seems very tough, and takes good enough photographs for me. Have a look at the images on this page, click on the links to take you over to Flickr to look at the larger versions, and if you like what you see, grab a Helios 35mm if you see one going cheap!
Brick Detail, Priddys Hard Sailing Club
Cheers, Rob.
15December2009
Lens Review: Helios 135mm F/2.8 M42 Manual Lens
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: lens reviews; reviews.
OK, I think that this lens, the Helios 135mm f/2.8, is one of my favourites, even though I haven’t used it for that long. I picked up the Helios from a car-boot sale some months ago for a few quid, but hadn’t got round to using it until a couple of weeks ago, and it has been a revelation.
I think my initial reluctance to try this manual focus M42 lens was based upon the lack of information on the ‘net about it. I couldn’t find many example pictures, and apparently Helios is a Russian make, but these “Made in Japan” examples are manufactured by a different company who “borrowed” the Russian name.
What should have encouraged me, was what attracted me to buy the lens in the first place – great apparent build quality and the f/2.8 maximum aperture, always rare in budget lenses. If the manufacturer took the trouble to stretch to the large 2.8 f-stop, it should have told me that the optics would be OK too.
As with any old lens, before I purchased it, I checked that the focus ring was smooth, the aperture blades changed nicely (remembering to switch the lens to M or to press the pin in on the back of the lens) and looked for fungus or dust inside the elements. This example was nice and clean, and it works great with my M42-EF lens mount adapter I got from eBay.
As with all my lens reviews I won’t be going into too much detail about f-stops and corner sharpness, and I won’t be taking photo’s of test charts. The photographs you see below are ones I took on ordinary photo walks, processed in Adobe Camera RAW, Photoshop CS3 and Nik Silver Efex Pro.
Scrap Destroyer At Priddys Hard
I was really pleased with the sharpness of the above image of a scrap destroyer at Priddys Hard. To see all the detail, look at the photo at it’s original size. It’s not tack sharp, I shot it hand-held at 1/500th of a second, but it’s good enough for me and shows the potential of the glass we’ve got here.
Railings, Forton Lake Bridge
The most exciting thing about the lens for me is how it’s making me see photographically in a different way. On my Canon EOS 350d / Digital Rebel XT crop sensor dSLR the equivalent focal length is about 200mm, which is pretty telephoto. I’ve used long zooms on my Fujifilm S5700, but only to make things bigger in the frame, not to explore the radically different view of the world you get at this focal length.
Railings Against Warehouse, Monks Walk
It’s a bit hard to explain, but using a 135mm prime lens is a very different experience from using wide angle or standard lenses. When I’m walking around looking for things to photograph, if I see something interesting I can normally visualise what it’ll look like through my 28mm or 50mm, they have a similar view to what I can actually see with my eyes.
With the 135mm the angle of view is so alien and different to what I normally see that I can’t easily visualise what the photo will come out like, so every frame is a new experience. It’s a new way of seeing, taking extracts from the surrounding scene and trying to pick out the best bits.
View Towards Fuel Depot From Forton Bridge
Being a prime the Helios 135mm forces me to move around if I want to re-compose a shot. There’s no easy zoom-ring here, and again that’s great for expanding my photographic repertoire, forcing me to try different things.
Pink Skips, Monks Walk
The 135mm focal length compresses the distance between subjects. Objects seem closer together, they don’t rush away from each other like with a wide-angle, so different, interesting compositions become available.
Building Detail, Explosion Museum
Ha! A brick wall shot – but one that shows how this lens is good for architecture shots – being a telephoto lens you’ve got to stand further away, increasing camera-to-subject distance, which reduces perspective distortion.
Metal Conduit Detail, Monks Walk
When people talk about lenses, especially primes (non zoom), you tend to think of their usefulness in order of focal length – so you would want a 29mm on your camera most of the day, a 50mm part of the time, and a 135mm for select, special occasions. However I could happily walk around with the Helios 135mm f/2.8 on my SLR all the time, just swapping to those other lenses when the need arose.
Wreck At Priddys Hard
I really like the depth of field effects you can get with this lens. The 135 throws you into the scene, and because the relative distance is compressed, getting the foreground and background blurry is easy, and I think, effective.
Old Buildings, Through Railings, Explosion Museum
So, in conclusion I’m really pleased with this lens. It’s turned me on to using the longer focal lengths as part of my photographic vision, and not just to get things bigger. I’m starting to understand the “look” of this lens, and can’t wait to use it more.
If you see a Helios 135mm going cheap, snap it up, you will not be disappointed.
Incoming Tide, Monks Walk
Watch a slide-show of the above images. (Large).
Cheers, Rob.
27November2009
A Wide Angle Alternative For Your dSLR: The Pentacon 29mm f/2.8 M42 Lens Review
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: lens reviews; reviews.
Kit lenses are fine, a 50mm prime is cool (if a little long), but for me a nice little wide-angle is a perfect all-day, light-weight lens. A bargain from our local car-boot sale, this Pentacon 29mm f/2.8, used with a m42-EF lens mount adapter, has been my glass of choice for the last few months on the front of my Canon EOS 350d / Digital Rebel XT.
Before you read on, check out this Flickr Slideshow of images tagged Pentacon 29mm.
What’s This M42 Business?
M42 camera lenses are old. An attempt to standardise the way that lenses fixed on to camera bodies in the days of manual focus film slr’s, any you find will be second hand and will probably come on the front of an old camera.
The term M42 refers to the mount on these lenses, or how they fix onto the camera body. M42 lenses use a screw thread, which as you know isn’t compatible with modern dSLR’s bayonet fittings. A quick search of eBay, using the terms “M42″ and your cameras lens mount – “EF” for my 350d – and for a few quid you’ll have an adapter to allow you to use these old lenses on your new camera.
The catch is that you have to manually focus these lenses, set the aperture via the ring on the lens, and you may have to set the shutter speed manually too, but that’s all easy to learn, and in learning you’ll become a more well-informed photographer.
Feeding The Swans, Fort Brockhurst
On my Canon you can use M42 lenses in Aperture Priority Mode – I set the aperture I want on the lens, then the camera chooses the shutter speed for a correct exposure. I’ve found that dialing in about 1/3 of a stop of under-exposure with exposure compensation helps to keep details in the high-lights.
Focusing can be a bit tricky, as modern cameras don’t have focusing aids in the view-finder. I’ve found the best way is to open the lens to its largest aperture, f/2.8 on the 29mm Pentacon, so the view-finder is nice and bright. Then focus as best you can by getting the subject sharp, going past, then rolling back to sharp again. Then turn the aperture ring to the f-stop you want, keeping an eye on shutter speed so you don’t get camera shake.
Spinaker Tower
So, m42 lenses are a viable alternative to modern lenses. You can pick them up cheap at Car-Boot sales and flea-markets, just make sure that the aperture rings are smooth (and work!) and that there’s no fungus or cracks in the lens.
I do think that you shouldn’t go mad and spend a lot of money on these lenses. Pick up nice clean examples where you can, but just bear in mind the cost, and whether that with your shooting style you would be better off saving up for the auto-focussing and metering modern lenses.
Why The Pentacon 29mm?
29mm is a great focal length on a crop-sensor camera, like my 350d and most other consumer dSLR’s. If you take into account the smaller sensor, the 29mm equates to around a 50mm lens when used on a film or full-frame camera. That’s a focal length similar to what we see with our naked eye, and it’s wide enough to easily get foreground interest in the frame, and you’ll find that perspective lines really seem to zoom away from the camera, creating a dramatic effect in lots of images.
Heritage Way (South)
The Pentacon 29mm offers an aperture range from f/2.8 (nice and wide) to f/22. It’s got distance markings on the lens, so you can work out your depth of field depending on your aperture, and feels solid and well-made.
It does have some softness around the edges, and my best shots have been taken at the smaller apertures (f/8 and above) using a tripod and shutter release.
Marine Parade East, Lee On Solent
Image Quality?
Well, take a look at the photo’s on this page. Remember that these images have been edited and post-processed (some are hdr’s). They’re not as they came out of my camera. Use them as a guide to what you could get out of the Pentacon 29mm. Look at them big, or at their original size, and ask if they’re of acceptable quality.
One thing I’m not convinced about is the ability of M42 lenses, when used with an EF mount adapter, to focus to infinity at larger apertures. At this focal length the horizon is a long way away, and things in the far distance can be soft, but everything else can come out nice and sharp, especially if you use a tripod.
Promanade, Portsmouth Harbour, Gosport Side
Conclusion
I really like the Pentacon 29mm f/2.8. It gives me the field of view I like for my photography, and it forces me to move around with my feet to get the right composition. It was very cheap (a fiver I think), and has been on the front of my Canon EOS 350d / Digital Rebel XT, more than any other piece of glass I own.
Skate Park
However, I personally won’t be shooting with M42 lenses on the front of my Canon all of the time. It’s not that I don’t think the Pentacon 29mm is good enough, it’s rather that I get frustrated with the hassle of swapping over lenses and mount adapters if I’ve got both M42 and EF (auto-focus) lenses in my camera bag.
I’ll be getting the Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 for Christmas, so it’ll be interesting to compare the two lenses. If you’re on a budget with your photography (like me) I’d definitely recommend you pick up a M42 adapter for your dSLR, and then keep your eyes peeled for bargain glass like the Pentacon 29mm, but always weigh up the cost of new auto-focus lenses, and don’t spend too much.
Stokes Bay, Looking Towards IOW
Thanks, Rob.
19June2009
Video: Old M42 Lenses On Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: reviews.
I thought it was about time to make a video showing my Canon EOS 350D / Rebel XT with it’s arsenal of M42 Manual Focus Lenses, all car-boot bargains.
Thanks, Rob.
3June2009
BigStockPhoto Diary #5: 29mm M42 Pentacon Lens Gets The Thumbs Up
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: istockphoto.
I have to admit that I’ve been a bit of a “Pixel Peeper” lately. That is to say, I’ve been zooming in to 100% in Photoshop to check the sharpness of the shots with my Canon EOS 350d / Rebel XT, and I’ve got to say that I haven’t been that impressed.
This isn’t what photography is all about. Hell, if you zoom right into any famous photo chances are it will be slightly (or a lot!) blurred. Trying to achieve perfect sharpness is a distraction, and worrying about it is even worse. When you print out your photo’s they’ll look good, and most people look at them on the web quite small, so it really doesn’t matter anyway.
However, it didn’t matter how much I knew the theory, it still bothered me that my lovely new (second-hand) dSLR wasn’t much better than my trusty Fujifilm S5700 / S700, so I went for an independent view and submitted a recent shot of the Spinnaker Tower to stock photography site Bigstockphoto, taken with the 350d using a manual focus m42 Pentacon 29mm lens.
The guys and gals at BigStockPhoto are trying to sell our photo’s to professional users, so they check photo’s for quality, and I was pleasantly surprised when the above image got accepted.
So I’m going to stop worrying about slightly blurred images, and get on with trying to take great photographs that capture the moment.
Cheers, Rob.
