HELIOS 44-2 soft-focus adapter

cults3d

Hi, Here are some preliminary results of experiments on an Helios 44-2 to make it soft focus-monocle lens. My first try was to remove every lens but the front one. This works fine but gives quite a tele lens. I then tried to keep the front lens and also the rear element which is acting as a focal reducer. (only the rear lens of the front element is then removed) The drawback with this configuration is that there is no way to focus to infinity with the standard M42 adapter which is too long by around 5mm. To fix this, I 3D printed a dedicated M39 to M42 adapter that I screw on my NEX-M39 adapter. I must admit it becomes a very tricky lens. Somewhat difficult to find a correct focus when wide open. But, just close it between 2.8 and 4.0 and you get something quite fun: a mixture between radial unfocusing and swirly bokeh. I use it on a SONY-a6000 mirrorless camera. Take care when using this lens on a DSLR, the rear of the lens might come in contact with the mirror...