MIR-1 37mm F/2.8 REVIEW + TEST FOOTAGE

MIR-1 37mm F/2.8 REVIEW + TEST FOOTAGE

There is a lot that can be said about Mir-1 37mm F2.8 Lens. Internet is filled with in depth information and reviews, but to save you guys time, I’ll fill you in on the background of this lens before we move on to its use in this day & age.

The production of  this lens originally started all the way back in 1954. It was manufactured in USSR (along with my favourite Helios 44-2) and was mainly made in 2 mounts, M39 and more popular M42 (although both are adaptable to modern cameras).  The design of the lens was based on Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f/2.8 and unlike Helios 44-2 was not a complete clone, but using same optical formal as Flektogon 35mm f/2.8, which is definitely a good sign considering how much more affordable they are than just about any Zeiss glass.

In 1958 Mir-1 received a prestigious Grand-Prix Award during the Brussels World Fair.  Russians were probably so proud of the award that every Mir-1 lens produced since the 1958 World Fair, sports the “Grand Prix Brussels 1958” inscription on the side of the lens, so don’t mistake these lenses for some sort of special/limited edition (I know I kind of did when I first saw one).

So let’s talk about the build quality and features of this lens. As you would expect from a lens of this age, it’s beautifully made (unlike some modern lenses), sporting “tank like” fully metal, solid construction.  You can tell that if you drop this lens, it’s unlikely that something will happen to it, but don’t do it anyway 😉

Both focusing ring and aperture are smooth and easy to adjust. While being one of the cheapest lenses out there, often selling for under $50, Mir-1 has a few features that will make any filmmaker very happy.

1st: Step-less Aperture Adjustment. This is absolutely awesome feature usually reserved to very expensive cine lenses, but some vintage photo lenses also had step-less aperture adjustment, which is so much better for video use and is probably the best way to adjust the exposure during recording without making it obvious.

2nd: 10 Aperture Blades. More aperture blades, nicer is bokeh when lens is stepped down. 10 aperture blades provide round circle throughout the aperture range. I usually like to step down my lenses by a stop or more to get the best performance out of them, which often means compromising of appearance of the bokeh with common for vintage lenses 6 aperture blade. With MIR-1 I can step down as much as I want and the bokeh will stay nice and round.

3rd: Very Long, 270 Degree Focus Ring Ration. This is yet another feature commonly reserved to cine lenses. Most modern lenses like Canon EF have between 45-90 degrees of focusing throw, which makes focusing manually a real pain especially when you need to track a moving object. Just a little bit much rotation and your subject is complete out of focus, which is the reason why I almost never use the amazingly sharp Canon EF 100mm F/2.8 Macro which I have from my photography days.  Focusing with MIR-1 on other hand is an absolute pleasure. You can really dial in your focusing point very smoothly and with a great precision, perfect for video use.

Optically MIR-1 is also quite a special lens.  It has the most amazing flares you’ll find on a lens. My test above really doesn’t do this lens any justice when it comes to flares. Below is the video by Vimeo member kCine which shows off the MIR-1 flares in their full glory!

A fellow filmmaker & great blogger Peter Prevec (website & twitter) shared his flare lens test (see video below) where he’s compared a bunch of completely different lenses to see what kind of flares the produced . Everyone’s opinion is different, but I’ll agree with Peter that MIR-1 produced some of the nicest flares you could imagine only challenged by fellow Russian Helios 44-2 and Tair 11a primes.

I personally love flares and I think that they add bags of character to a right project, but even I realize that they are not suitable for every project, some projects need a clean look in which case flares become unnecessary and simply distracting.

So for me, flares on MIR-1 is one of the best & worst features of this lens. This lens flares almost too easily due to it’s basic & not very effective multi-coating. If you look at my test above, the shots that were shot against overcast grey sky have a lot of flare just from that grey sky. Now I do love the flares from low sun like in this Helios 44-2 test video I’ve shot, but when the lens flares from being pointed at overcast sky, that is not very good, so what I’m coming to here is that this is very much a lens for a right project rather than an everyday, walk around prime. It does have that very natural field of view on a crop/super35mm sensor camera, but probably not the lens I would use for a corporate shoot. It’s much more suitable for films, music videos, fashion videos, arty commercials where you can let yourself be much more creative.

One more negative I wanted to mention is that this lens has unimpressive 0.7m close focusing distance, so close-up portraits are no-no with this lens. That is a shame, but I’m still definitely keeping this lens as a partner to my all time favorite Helios 44-2. I know I’m not the only one who absolutely loves the 44-2, so if you are like me, you’ll also love MIR-1.

Mir1
Click to find this lens on Ebay

 

I try my best to make this website a great resource for people interested in vintage lenses for video use, so I hope you’ve enjoyed this & other posts. I sure hope they will help you save some money on your future lens investments too. I’ve joined the ebay affiliate program to help me run this website, fund my tests & lens giveaways, so if you find this content useful and would like to help me produce more similar content, please use the links in this post if you’re planning to buy one of these lenses or bookmark and/or use this link if you want to buy anything else on eBay.com or this link if you shop on eBay.co.uk. You will not be spending a penny more using these links, while still helping as eBay will pay out a small percentage from any purchase or successful bid, which in turn will support new content on www.vintagelensesforvideo.com. Thank you.

 

46 Responses to MIR-1 37mm F/2.8 REVIEW + TEST FOOTAGE

  1. very nice lens , sharp and great colours…using it on my M4/3 camera.
    easy to modify to achieve close focus from standard 0.7m to cca 0.5m or more extreme cca 0.3m…
    nice to have a moderate wide with close focus for 20$

    • Mine is VERY soft at 2.8 but better when it’s stopped down. I believe mine is an earlier copy because it doesn’t have the “Grand Prix Brussels 1958” written on the side.

    • the russian lans can be very different in quailty of the rendering..like Helios 44 and Jupiter 8, some copies are nice some are not good…poor control quality during manufacturing

    • Like Rutrem said it’s basically the same thing, but there is also a different version of this lens which is apparently inferior quality, so stick to well known design.

  2. Nice review! I got a 1965 version (with the original manufacturer certificate) off eBay for about $100, which included shipping from the Ukraine — took about 5 weeks to get to the US. I’m really enjoying it so far. I’m also a fan of the Helios 44-2.

    When I first got Mir-1, it wouldn’t mount correctly with my M39 converter for the Sony E-mount, because the converter I had was the typical M39 short bellows/barrel length. But I was able to buy a little M42 to M39 thread ring converter ($2 on Amazon), add it to the longer M42 converter, and the Mir-1 one works terrifically with that.

    I’ve also been having fun with a couple of Industars. Little review here…

    http://www.mmaguirephoto.com/blog/2015/2/7/three-soviets

    I hope to try some Jupiters at some point, too!

  3. Thanks for this review. I was trying to find a partner to my Helios 44-2 as well, I think I just found his mate!

  4. Stiff focus ring?

    My copy of the Mir-1 is quite stiff when turning the focus ring. Is this normal for this lens? Should I think about dissambling the lens and re-grease the mechanics?

    Thanks for sharing your experience.

  5. I bought MIR-1B 37mm F/2.8 but it only allows me to focus from and between 1-3feet only and if i try to focus froma distance like 10feet or something to capture a wider angle it doesnot focus not even at infinity as well any ideas or suggections please. thanks

    • It may have been modified to an M42 bellows/barrel length. What I did (see my comment above) is use a M39 to M42 thread adapter (purchased for $2), and then attached my Mir-1 to a M42 adapter for my camera. Works fine that way.

      • Thanks Mike
        I will try and do that, meanwhile I also saw that you have tried out a few industar lens I have this INDUSTAR 69 LENS 2.8/28mm it does the same thing and its not as wide as 28mm either and ideas

      • The Mir I have is a M42 thread (Mir-1V (B) 37mm f/2.8 M42) so an adpter that you are suggesting wont work as currently I am using a M42 to Nikon AI

        • Ah, I see. It may require some internal adjustments then. As for the Industar-69, my copy focuses alright, but it also doesn’t seem as wide as a proper 28mm, and the image from it won’t fully fill a full-frame sensor.

  6. Thanks for the great review. I just got one of these on eBay. I had shot with this lens on my Canon 60D but then putting it in my 6D i noticed the mirror hit the back of the lens. Hopefully I didn’t brick my 6D 🙂 Curious if anyone knows a work around for this. Thanks! Also, anyone know the front lens filter size?

  7. Hi Alex, I’m testing a Mir 1b I purchase at a lpcal store for nearly 10 euros. The lens is in good condition overall, no fungus or scratches, but the focus ring is a bit stiff, and turning it it’s difficult without shaking the camera. Do you know how to fix this problem? I thought to open the lens and grease it, but i don’t know what part to apply the grease nor what type of grease to use.

  8. Hi. Very informative guide you’ve built up. I’ve enjoyed reading.
    I bought a 1971 Mir 1 M42 a while back, and while it’s a great sharp lense, and the flare is great, I was disappointed by the colour of the lens flare, which is brownish amber. I was hoping for the wonderful blue flares I’ve seen I several examples. Is there a specific version or era I need to look out for, if I am to attempt again to buy a second Mir 1lens to obtain the blue flare I seek? Thanks!

  9. I think I’m in love with this lens and want to get one and adapt it to m43 mount, but I’m curious about being able to use it with a Nikon to m43 speedbooster as well, for focal reduction and extra stop. I use mostly all nikon mount glass… does anyone have any info on whether this lens can be successfully modded to get the infinity focus for a nikon mount? Can’t seem to find anything anywhere.

  10. […] MIR-1B 37mm F2.8 – This lens very popular wide/mid-range lens, same as Mir-20 was also closely based on Zeiss Flektogon equivalent. It’s a favourite lens of many thanks to its incredible flares, if that is your thing (see 00:45 & 01:23 for a few examples of those flares). This lens also has one big downside: the closest focusing distance of just 0.70m making it somewhat unusable for capturing proper close-ups. If you want to learn a bit more about this lens, make sure to check out my review. […]

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