The 58mm Helios lens is one of those pieces of old glass that was made in the millions over numerous decades in shady factories in Soviet-era Russia. Rumour has it that quality control varied greatly, partly due to the unique properties of authoritarian communism and loads of freely available Vodka. What I do know is that they’re fun lenses to use, if you get a good one that hasn’t seized up due to cheap lubricating grease. Luckily, they’re also fairly easy to dismantle and clean up. In this sense, they have a certain utilitarian charm.
The Helios is already known for chromatic aberrations that result in swirly bokeh with cat’s eye shaped out of focus highlights at the edges of the frame. You’ll get that mostly on larger sensors, but on my Olympus Micro Four Thirds the effect is not as noticeable. However, if you remove the front element and reverse it, the result is what you see above in the photo – softness, ghosting, and dramatic swirlies!
It’s also possible to reverse the front element in a Zenitar 50mm f2 lens, so I hear, but I don’t have one myself. The reversed lens Helios produces a look that suits colourful subjects, like flowers and botanicals, so it’s pointless if you want to preserve detail.
As you can see in the photo above, the swirl can be dramatic and really bring attention to a central subject. I admit that I haven’t used it for a while, so it might be time to try it out again.
The Rusty Ruin Journal 