The legendary Helios 40-2 85mm f/1.5 is joining IronGlass’ MKII rehousing lineup. While its little brother, the Helios 44-2 58mm f/2 get all the fame, the 40-2 is actually the true king of swirly bokeh, which makes it a perfect addition to the IronGlass’s Soviet MKII series. The Helios 40-2 has an interesting history, being… Continue Reading
Helios 44-2 58mm F2 is a legendary lens, but it just got even better! Welcome the new Helios 44-2 VLFV Cine Edition, proficiently rehoused by IronGlass! Mission: Our main goal with was to bring out the best in this lens but addressing the mechanical quirks and limitations of the original body that make it unsuitable… Continue Reading
If you’ve watched the review above, you should now be pretty familiar with what IronGlass Amber PL Set is all about, but for those who want to know more, here is some additional info about each lens in my set in case you are not familiar with them. My set consists of 6 lenses:… Continue Reading
I’ve reviewed so many vintage lenses in the last few years, but which ones do I actually use on daily basis? The video above and info below should finally answer this question. My top 3 most used vintage lenses are: Helios 44-2 58mm F2 Canon FD 50mm F1.4 Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm F2.4 I… Continue Reading
Foreword: This post is aimed at people who are just getting into vintage lenses, but maybe even a seasoned vintage lens user will find some useful info here. When it comes to buying lenses, things can get pretty confusing, especially at the start. There are so many brands, models, types, focal lengths, etc and there… Continue Reading
You might know how much I love the Helios 44-2, the cult Soviet 58mm F2.0 prime, but a very skilled lens technician, Richard Gale obviously took his love for this lens much further. His DSO FF58 modified Helios 44-2 lens is well known and used by many DOPs, who looking for that magical look you… Continue Reading
I don’t use vintage telephoto lenses (over 200mm) very often; in fact this a first time I’m reviewing a 300mm telephoto prime. As you might know, due to the lack of the optical image stabilization, such lenses can be difficult use for video. A rock solid tripod is a must and the actual lens has… Continue Reading
Krasnogorsk lens review has been a long time coming. I first discovered them in 2013 when I reviewed their little brothers, the Kiev-16U trio. At the time there were no adapters that would allow Krasnogorsk mount lenses to be used on any modern cameras, but shortly after I bought my set, RAFcamera released the Krasnogorsk… Continue Reading
Industar 50-2 is the lens that I meant to buy a long time ago. A lot of photographers and cinematographers around already have one of these and that got me wondering what all the fuss is about. The first thing that you notice about this lens is its tiny size and yet it will work… Continue Reading
Recently one of VLFV readers, Phil Abatecola got in touch to share his experience using (mostly) Russian vintage lenses to shoot his feature length web series. There were loads of things Phil had to take into consideration when building up his “Kremlin Kit” for the series and I felt that it will definitely be a… Continue Reading
