Description
The Russian Helios-40 is one of the greatest lenses made in the USSR. This lens has a 39 mm
SLR mount, and was intended for use with the early Zenit cameras (Zenit,
Zenit-S, Zenit-3, Zenit-3M, Kristall), but its optical registration (back
focus) is the same as in the Universal Pentax Screw Mount, so with a simple
39 to 42 mm adapter ring (not included but can be made or found) the Helios-40
can be used with any 42 mm Pentax Screwmount camera.
The lens is large, heavy, it has a lot of glass and metal. The aperture is a “preset” type – there are
two rings. You set the aperture with one (it has stop-clicks), and after
the focusing is completed, you close the aperture to the preset value
with the second ring without taking your eye from the viewfinder. The
lens
Yuri Boguslavsky –
The lens is very fast, and this works great with the Zenit finders (that are often quite dim). The focusing is easy, with very shallow depth of field. It also looks great and feels balanced when mounted on a Zenit body. I used mine with the Zenit-3M. The Helios-40 is one of the best protrait lenses I’ve seen.
Alex Dr. –
I have bought this Helios from Fedka.com several months ago.
It?s very nice lens for portraits. Very fast with amazing bokeh. I use Helios on both digital and film cameras and it produces astonishing results!
Here is one of my shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30429895@N04/2855832135/