Zenit MC Helios-44K-4 58mm f/2 Lens Review

John Riley reviews the K mount version of the Zenit MC Helios 58mm f/2 lens, a vintage optic based on the Zeiss Biotar lens design that is ideal for portrait photography. John provides sample photos, MTF & CA test charts along with his verdict.

Posted: 19/08/2024 - 13:41

Handling and Features
Performance
Verdict
Specification

If we rewind time to our distant youth, many photographers who discovered photography in the 1960s or 1970s may well have started with a Zenith SLR camera, courtesy of low-cost factories in the former USSR. Manual focus, maybe not even with a built-in meter, fully manual exposure being calculated by the table printed inside film cartons or perhaps with a small handheld exposure meter. The basic lens was the 50mm f/3.5, but a little further up the scale was the 58mm f/2, based on the Zeiss Biotar design and offering what was considered a very classy optic. This version, the 44K-4, is in the same line, but of much later vintage, perhaps up to the mid-1980s, and is reviewed here in Pentax K mount rather than the traditional M42 screw mount (44M). It offers multi-coating, a more streamlined body and a lack of the classic aroma of machine oil that pervades many early Soviet products. Let's see how the lens fares using the 36MP Pentax K-1 DSLR.

Zenit MC Helios-44K-4 58mm f/2 Handling and Features

First off, why 58mm for a standard lens? Traditional lens designs meant that it was much easier to make fast lenses if the focal length was slightly longer. Thus many lenses would be 55mm or even the 58mm favoured by the Zenit lines. Actually, 58mm is not necessarily a bad idea as it does mean that there tends to be a tighter composition, whereas many photographers would tend to crop a 50mm image slightly anyway. In terms of this lens and the Pentax K-1, when switching on the first thing is that the camera asks us what focal length the lens is. This is for the purposes of the SR (Shake Reduction) system that is built into the body. 55mm was selected for the review, there being no 58mm setting. It is worth mentioning that if used on an APS-C cropped format camera, the “35mm equivalent” focal length becomes 87mm, definitely in the realm of a portrait optic in terms of perspective.

The lens is small and light, weighing in at a modest 258g. Construction is solid but more sophisticated than the earlier versions were. The lack of the aroma of machine oil has already been noted. The front of the lens gives us a standard 52mm filter thread. The lens cap is a soft plastic push-on design that easily falls off. Looking into the front element, we can clearly see the bright metal of the six-leaved diaphragm. Ideally, these blades should be less reflective, but they are not too different from a similarly designed Pentax lens, the 43mm f/1.9 Limited, that was on hand at the same time.

The manual focusing ring is smooth and quite firm, offering a good feel to the focusing experience. Focusing is down to 0.5m, about average for its day, a maximum magnification of about 1:10. A slight operational point is that the focusing movement operates in the opposite direction to Pentax lenses, and as this is a K mount version it would have been useful if the direction of focusing had been the same. This becomes important when using several manual focus lenses as it avoids confusion and speeds up the photography.

The focusing scale is viewed in a small cutout and this version of the lens is clearly marked in metres only. The depth of field scale is actually useful as the focusing travel is sufficiently long. There is an Infra-red focusing mark, used with IR film as the lens is not corrected to bring IR light to the same focus point as visible light. It could be equally useful on a DSLR.

There is an aperture ring, with click stops, but there is no “A” setting as the mount is entirely contact free. No electronics means that the Pentax body is used in manual mode. The procedure is straightforward enough – set the aperture to the desired value, press the green button and the camera will set the appropriate shutter speed. It's simple and works, but is obviously slower than using an AF lens. The aperture ring is click stopped, as mentioned above, but the clicks are very indistinct and “notchy”. But it serves its purpose.

Optical construction is 6 elements in 4 groups, pretty much as expected. This at one time would have been considered a complex lens compared to the simpler Triotar (3 element) and Tessar (4 element) designs that were commonly used. There is still an advantage to fewer elements in that there are fewer air/glass surfaces to create internal reflections and reduce contrast.

Zenit MC Helios-44K-4 58mm f/2 Sample Photos

The 58mm focal length is a definite advantage when it comes to manual focusing, giving a crisp, decisive point of focus. It is also useful as a short portrait lens, giving a pleasing, natural perspective to images of people. Manual focusing will never be as quick as the modern AF lens can provide, but with practice, we can learn or re-learn the appropriate skills and it becomes second nature. Of course, for slower tripod-mounted shooting there is no problem with speed.

Zenit MC Helios-44K-4 58mm f/2 Performance

Central sharpness is good at f/2, but snaps in quickly to become very good from f/2.8 all the way through to f/16. The edges start off very soft at f/2, fairly sharp at f/2.8 but then snap in to become very good from f/4 right through to f/16. This may very well be a design choice, as the two widest apertures offer an ideal combination of properties for a portrait lens. That is, the centre is sharp, falling off to a soft effect all the way around this centre core. From f/4 we click into what used to be described as “commercial sharpness” and here this is remarkable for the almost perfect evenness from edge to edge.

Zenit MC Helios-44K-4 58mm f/2 MTF Charts

CA (Chromatic Aberration) is not always expected to be low for film era lenses, but the performance here is very strong. Central CA is minimal and although the edges do show some slight CA it is hardly any worse than the centre. Any further reduction can be made in software.

Zenit MC Helios-44K-4 58mm f/2 Chromatic Aberration Charts

Distortion is almost non-existent, measuring at +0.33% pincushion. The lens is effectively rectilinear.

Bokeh, the quality of the out of focus areas in an image, is smooth, and with some shots, the background highlights take on a swirly effect, with the shape of the bokeh changing depending where it is in the image. The 6-bladed diaphragm is clearly enough to render pleasing backgrounds.

Zenit MC Helios-44K-4 58mm f/2 Aperture Range

Flare is well controlled in most situations, but against the light, we can see an overall drop in contrast. There are better contemporary lenses in this respect, but on the other hand, considering it was a low-cost lens the performance is very respectable.

Vignetting is around -1.5 stops at f/2, reducing to -1 at f/2.8 and to around half a stop from f/4. This is very much better than many current lenses.

The overall performance is actually very impressive. The soft edges at f/2 and f/2.8 are likely a design decision, creating an effective portrait lens. The evenness of sharpness is a major plus, as are the low CA and distortion. The look of the images is also very satisfactory and we have here a lens that is clearly very usable on a full-frame.

Value for Money

There is little doubt that old film era standard lenses offer terrific value for money. They are compact and sharp, have a wide variety of styles and optical designs that can give interesting, attractive images, and could cost anything from a modest £20 to maybe £70 or so at the upper end.

Zenit MC Helios-44K-4 58mm f/2 Verdict

The MC Helios-44K-4 58mm f/2 lens is yet another fascinating, high-performance optic from the days of film. The design is sound, the performance is up to scratch and it is a pleasure to use. Probably every photographer could find a use for such an inexpensive, fast lens and for some, it could be a revelation. Definitely recommended.

Members photos with related tags: helios

mi_kef mi_kef

1 posts
12 years

Posted 21/08/2024 - 13:09 Link

I bought one of these from Russia a few years back very cheaply that looked unused, but the one problem was that the focus was very stiff due to the poor lubrication that was used that had not aged well. I managed to take it apart with some instructions on YouTube and solve the problem.
I have been very pleased with it; on a crop sensor I've achieved some very nice 'swirly bokeh' with it, and sharpness has been good. For a while I owned a Pentax K 50mm f1.2 and comparing them with the same subject the colour was noticeably better on the Pentax. I think it's just worth knowing that the colour might want tweaking to get the best image.

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