Helios and Centauree

[bhurley]

As a way of avoiding the urge to upgrade my camera (circa 2012 Sony Nex 6), I got an adapter so I could use my cheap-but-awesome Helios 44M 58mm lens on it. No speedbooster, so this is a telephoto lens on the APSC sensor of the camera. It's perfect it its imperfection. Here's a shot from our garden last week, of a flower called Centaurée; it has a bunch of names in English including Montana Blue.

[rpcrowe]

The various Helios lenses provide very creative renditions of which this image is illustrative.

The differences in the renditions have to do with the background and the area surrounding a subject, the aperture used and, apparently, whether you are shooting with a crop sensor or a full frame camera.

I have not tried it with my helios 44-2 lens but, I have seen comparisons on the Net in which full frame cameras produce more of a swirly background bokeh than do crop cameras.

I use all of my Legacy Lenss for their unique renditions rather than just to get cheap glass...

[bhurley]

The differences in the renditions have to do with the background and the area surrounding a subject, the aperture used and, apparently, whether you are shooting with a crop sensor or a full frame camera.

Yes, I've noticed that too: I don't have a full-frame camera to try it on, but I do notice the beginnings of swirly bokeh in the slightly larger APSC sensor of my Sony compared with a Micro Four-Thirds sensor. The closest I've come to the otherworldly Helios look is this one shot on the same day.