RE: Helios lenses

[Nasos Kosmas]

I just found my D750 Hellios photos and as I see now  I have to come back to FF again
all photos  shot on f2  nef conversions  on  NX-D with no correction

[Airy]

Beautiful shots. I can also provide ugly ones, for instance (Df, Helios 44M, f/2.8, shot a dusk) :

[Nasos Kosmas]

Thank you, you have time to work with, you also have  Df that matches very much with the lens
 these are not within  the normal focusing distance, most of times I use m42 adaptors to get closer, so the out of focus areas are more pleasant
I am thinking to change from D750 to Z5, I see  sensors are very similar

[Airy]

Helios 81 N (50/2), an AI lens. Less quirky than the HE44 (58/2), with a less pronounced swirly bokeh but otherwise a better lens, except for the geometric distortion which is nearly nil on the HE44.

Here I tested it for night shots, so forget about bokeh. the HE 81 is not ideal but still usable under such circumstances. Shot today (well, yesterday) using the Df. Marked halos around point light sources have a fixed size, independent from aperture. Halos aside, performance is OK and contrast does not drop too much.

[Airy]

Second batch from the same session.

[Airy]

Last batch. This street near the old ramparts (rue de Gand) consists in restaurants and bars. They are all closed (COVID), otherwise the street would be packed full.

[Nasos Kosmas]

Seems good but nothing special to my eyes, I like 35 post  mostly
I just discovered that I also  have Hellios-81  50mm  on Nikon F mound with a Kiev 19 film body that i kept as a back up for my Nikon film cameras FM, F2AS
a quick  shot on the same object  on f2 with d750 and the same color profile at the shorter focusing distance. Hellios 44-2 is 58mm thus the difference in magnification plus the difference in flange distance
First photo is Hellios 44-2 58mm  already posted in Dec 20 thread

[Airy]

Nothing special indeed. The He 81 is usable but night shots are for others to beautify (esp. Zeiss 35/2 or 50/2).

The He 81 is sharper than the He 44, but bokeh is less magic - less whirl, more outlining, but funny anyway.

He 44 is rather mushy in the corners, where it becomes usable at f/4 and decent at f/5.6. This is no field curvature issue: I checked in LiveView, and adjusting the focus for the corners is barely necessary and does not bring much extra sharpness. The He 81 is much more even.

[Nasos Kosmas]

Yes I totally agree 81 is nothing special just a good lens as Nikons 50 1.8 MF
At the other end 44-2 is softer wide open with this magic swirly bokeh that i like a lot!
I also have  Kaleinar 100/2.8 on Nikon mount a good and relative small lens but my 105/2.5 is better, i have to check it on digital

[Airy]

Df, HE 81N wide open. A casual portrait, without mask(!)

I find the combination of high central sharpness with mildly swirly (but soft) bokeh very convincing.

[Airy]

Another example of a really nice background :

[golunvolo]

I like the night shots Airy, very specially the last one in the last batch: _DFC6364.jpg  I find you took advantage of the lens and created and capture an amazing ambiance and place for stories. Ole

[Nasos Kosmas]

Another example of a really nice background :

This is interesting I will give a try 

[John Geerts]

Great shots Airy with that lens, 

Love especially _DFC6347.jpg  because of the look of a 'miniature' and its emptiness.

[Akira]

I also love the night shots.  6347 is my favorite!