some new lenses

some new lenses

The only lens i had for my new fuji x-a2 wa the standard kit lens, the 16-50mm etc, which for a kit lens, quality is not that bad.

Never liked the depth of field on it though, the bokeh was not nearly enough in the end, sooooo, i delved into some adapted lens topics on forums around the internet found many raving about the Helios 44-2! The name certainly sounded familiar, in fact i am pretty damn sure i bought a Praktica with a helios lens attached when i was in my teens, along with the usual pentacon lenses that also came with most m42 mount camera's.

I cant say i remember the lens too well, at the time i was trying to figure photography out the hard way, lenses didnt really figure too much to be honest.

But the results i saw online of this 44-2 model were astounding!

It is a 58mm f/2 lens which gives off some really interesting bokeh when used in certain situations.

I obviously bought one from the Ukraine, arrived yesterday along with an adaptor to mount on the fuji. Sadly it has rained like a good'un since so no chance to go outside and test it properly on the kids, or the dog, but as soon as i get chance...

One thing to note, the apeture ring is on arse backwards, meaning at wide open the aperture scale on the ring actually says f/16 and not f/2 as ought to, not that i am too bothered abyway, the aperture ring does not click, and to be honest, it's not a big issue for me, i could take the lens apart and put the aperture ring on the proper way, but as i will be using it wide open, being the main reason i bought it, it ain't no biggie.

I also bought the Samyang 8mm f/2.8 fisheye for the fuji.

Cannot praise it high enough, for nighttime photography it is stunning, and now i have a remote release for my camera, i can do extra long exposures at night for even more detail in the sky. Have tried the lens out a couple of times, works brilliantly, and fabulous for doing vlogs on the move, really handy! I guess i will use it when i go to london again, ideal for indoor work, but that distortion, whoah! Gotta be careful with that or use it to my advantage, Probably a novelty lens really but quite often, specially on the streets of london and in certain places, i wished i had a lens wide enough, for example, waterloo station, and certainly canary wharf underground, i really pictured those scenes in extreme wide angles, and the 16mm would not cut the mustard, ok the 8mm may be too much, but you gotta use a lens like that wisely. And for the price, well, can't complain.

Same as the helios, that lens with the adaptor cost me less than £40, far less, £35 i think, maybe even £30, but it is clean, no scratches, zero dust, blades work smoothly, no sticking, just a few marks on the body; obviously been taken apart and cleaned up before the sale because it was manufactured in 1981 when i was 7 years old.

Not sure i will even use these lenses for self portraits, the 8mm not flattering and the helios such a bugger for sharp focus wide open, but its just a minor obstacle really i guess, just need to get used to it before i do anything too adventurous with it, though i did do some off camera flash with it earlier today with my dog, only way to get her to pose very still was place one of her toys on top of the door, she lays down then, neat trick lol




her nose was in focus at least, so i unsharp masked it a tad, not too much though, no point, but the actual image quality itself is really sweet for such an old lens, even with off camera flash with no modifiers whatsoever.




another image, no flash this time, and below, some raindrops.