[chardie]

i been looking at a helios 44 or jupiter 9 perhaps.
i have a question, i notice a few are advertised as modded for extra bokeh anyone know how that is achieved ? is it more of a gimmick or actually beneficial ? i guess it depends on the end result your after as well . i am guessing it could also affect resale value perhaps not that i sell my lenses much . thanks for your time and imput

[Na Horuk]

I don't know how the person you are talking about modified the lens. But the normal, nonmodified lenses already have quite enough bokeh. The thing with these lenses is that often people make Frankensteins - they take two or three broken ones and make one or two that kind of works and sell the rest "as is, for parts". The ones that are functional are still not on the same standard as a mint normal one would be. I might be too skeptical, but I think any lens that is advertised as "extra bokeh" is probably just soft with maybe some odd internal reflections.
Just get a nice copy of the Helios 44. 44-2 is most famous for the odd bokeh, but the bokeh is fickle. Sometimes you will want it, but it won't show up. Other times you don't want it, but it will show up. Its a complicated mechanism. The later Helios variants (some even made in K mount) are optically better, but will have more stable bokeh. The odd, swirling bokeh is mostly due to mistakes.

[chardie]

don't worry i can be cynical too haha . i never considered it could be a fixer upper thanks for the heads up. i guess i would prefer a standard mint one