Helios 44m-6

It's not a Leica, not a Zeiss. But for the price, the best.

The Helios 44m-6 lenses are copies of the German lenses that the Russians took at the end of the second world war as reparations from the Germans.

These lens were very good quality to start with.

The fast f-stop and lens design will allow you to take good photos in lower light situations.

When the high f-stops of zoom lenses will give you slow shutter speeds and will cause camera shake etc.

Also, being of small size, they are the perfect for travel and tramping.

Try blowing up the photo to larger than 8 x 10 and you will see the sharpness.

If you lose or damage one, pick up another very cheap Zenite or Pentax screw camera body.

I first bought a 44m back in 1985, brand new, for £15, to replace a faulty Carl Zeiss 50mm f2.8 for my Praktica Nove II. A good use for this lens involves a T2 mount (which the lens will, sort of, screw into. This enables the Helios to be used on, just about, any make of SLR for semi-macro work (the T2 mount acting like a short extension tube). Stopped down to about f11 / f16 (to maximise depth of field), the lens is plenty sharp enough. I still have a 44m today, but only as part of my back-up Praktica outfit.

The best sharpness of the Helios 44m-6 35mm SLR lens is about f/8 and f/5.6 apertures, although it takes good pictures at other apertures as well.