| Author: | | Site Supporter Registered: February, 2017 Posts: 2,034 | | Review Date: May 20, 2023 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Cheap. Decent but different IQ. Decent build quality for the price | | Cons: | manual focus and manual only exposure on DSLRs. Flare and lack of contrast wide open | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 10
Camera Used: Film SLR's, K1 ii, K3
| |
This is only an initial review which I will update once further testing has gone on and is only based on initial impressions.
I originally got this for about £25 complete with a non-working Zenit Automat. I wanted a 58mm in K mount which would not break the bank for my film SLRs as I really like the FOV provided on 35mm. This was about 5 years ago. I have not managed to find the time to use it on my KX! However I did try it out on my K3 and apart from not liking the field of view on APSC I thought it a decent if not great performer. A little behind my K 55mm f1.8 or one of my 50mm primes. It has sat on a shelf since unitl I re-discovered it a week or two ago.
I purchased a K1 ii in October 2021 and since then, having discovered that some lenses perform differently on FF than they do on APSC (some better and some worse) I have been slowly revisiting my lens collection with the K1 ii. It is now the Helio's turn. Well, I am actually pleasantly surprised in terms of IQ. It appears quite a bit sharper than it does on my K3. Highlights do produce a bit of glow at the wider apertures, which you either love or hate. The colour cast tends towards the blue which is nothing like a typical Pentax lens, but again you either love it or hate it, or just embrace it if you want a different look to your images. I consider this glow to be one of the reasons some have found the sharpness wanting. The other reason is that it is a 58mm and not a 50mm. The depth of field at wider apertures is significantly less than one is used to for a "normal" lens so focusing needs to be spot on and even then lack of D of F will make images appear a tad soft outside of the narrow band of focus. F2 is a bit soft though but not horribly so, stop down to f2.8 and things are quite nice indeed. B&W images exhibit great contrast.
Build and handling are OK but not great for a lens of this age, but still it's pretty decent and comparable to some of the cheap Chinese MF glass you can get for mirrorless these days. Oh and it needs a hood to protect against flare.
As I say, I have only really just started playing around with the lens, but hopefully with some decent lighting conditions I can give it a proper run. I do like the narrower FOV compared to a traditional 50mm especially where I live now, as it cuts out a lot of distracting fore ground clutter of my local canals' towpaths. I also think it will be good to find some colourful subjects and really crank up the saturation and contrast in camera for some funky effects. That I think is one of its main strengths - it will give you something different and fun, without being cheesy like some special effect lenses.
For the money I can see no reason not to have one. Apart from value for money (10) I have rated this lens at an 8 or less in every characteristic but give it an overall rating of 9. This is one of those items in which its performance is greater than the sum of its parts.
| | | | | | | Junior Member Registered: June, 2018 Location: Lyon / Rennes Posts: 39 | | Review Date: December 7, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Cheap, Sharp, Gorgeous bokeh, solid, native K mount. | | Cons: | Diaphragm ring is quite stiff on mine. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K30
| |
Here again, not much to say... Very good lens, solid, built in KMZ, sharp (48/21), legendary bokeh, very inexpensive... (20$ for mine)
A true soviet lens !
Note : I have the non-MC version and I believe it to be sharper, yet way less resistant to flare (which is quite obvious) ; so personnally I prefer non-MC versions.
| | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2014 Location: Sydney Posts: 15
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 12, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $75.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, handling, build quality, compactness | | Cons: | None (yet) | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K-7
| |
I bought this lens from Moscow Photo around three months ago and have only recently started to use it. Very impressive build quality (like a Russian tank) and easy handling combined with my camera's focus confirmation/catch-in focus feature means that I get a lot of "keepers" (despite weakened eyesight in my right eye). This lens is fantastic (mine must be NOS from the mid 1990's), has no handling quirks (such as wobbly focus or aperture rings) and I always use a lens hood (mainly due to the harshness of the Australian sun) so haven't experienced any ghosting or flare. Colours are punchy and the jpegs from the lens compare favourably to my 35mm DA Limited f/2.8 (no kidding!). And there is the bokeh! Will post some photos to the forum as soon as I can.
*** Belatedly posting photos taken with this lens, all I can recall is tat they were taken @ f/2 ***  | | | | | Junior Member Registered: December, 2009 Posts: 25
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 16, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Bokeh, price | | Cons: | flare, build | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: pentax K-50
| |
Mine is an exceptional copy, I paid top price for it.
Better at all f stops than my Asahi/Pentax 55mm f/1.8 PK mount. It can be tricky with metering in strong sunlight, especially wide open, something that can quickly be corrected with a faster speed. I bought this lens for the swirly bokeh but I use it for all kind of urban shots and street photography. I love the way it performs during my night walks around the city. I recommend it.
Only negative the stiffness of the focusing ring, in comparison the 55mm Asahi f/1.8 is buttery smooth.
flickr album: [ ~ https://flic.kr/s/aHskxc16Lt ]
--
 | | | | | | | amateur dirt farmer Registered: December, 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Posts: 41,797
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 14, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $19.99
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharpness, bokeh, color rendition | | Cons: | build quality a little questionable, flare, aberrations | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 5
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-3 and K-50
| |
my review of the KMZ (Zenit) MC Helios 44K-4:
I purchased this lens for fun - I spent $19.99 on eBay for it, from a seller in Canada rather than Eastern Europe or Russia and honestly did not expect much from it...
I was wrong...
this is fully-manual lens, with no 'A' contacts at all, so all metering is done either by you or green-button metering in the camera, but when you get a feel for the lens, you can guess what it'll do under certain circumstances...
this is a 58mm f2 lens, so an odd focal length, reasonably fast aperture, and the focus ring spins the opposite direction of Pentax lenses... btw, it's over-built - weighs more than my K55/2 and feels very solid in your hand and on the camera...
the bad first:
the 'MC' in the lens' title is assumed to mean 'multi-coated', but who knows what with..... because the coatings here do not in anyway help with sunlight or other strong sources of light - point this lens at the sun and be prepared for an amazing array of aberrations, flare, and even reflections from the aperture blades (they appear to be bare metal rather than flat-anodized in other lenses).. you can use this to your advantage of course, but even a lens hood can only help so much...
the good:
first and foremost - you buy this lens for the bokeh: wide open at either f2 or f2.8 and you can expect swirling bokeh under the right conditions; it does not swirl as much as earlier M42 mount Helios 44's, but this still has the swirl...
additionally, I was surprised by how sharp this lens is stopped down - it's impressively sharp by f4 and even better by f8....
color rendition is a little cool compared to the normal Pentax colors, but easily adjusted in post...
if you can find a 44K in good condition and for a decent price, buy it, even just for the bokeh - but prepared to be surprised when you actually find out how competent the lens really is...
and the pics...
the bad:
 artifacts - please note the aperture blades... by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr channeling my inner Instamatic... by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
the bokeh:
 fortune for two... by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 ribbons & bokeh... by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 Santa's bokeh... by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
and the good:
 m&m's at 58mm by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 fall colors by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 jeans and pegs by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
here is my flickr album for this lens:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pepperberryfarm/albums/72157671317320723/page1 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: July, 2016 Location: Southern Indiana Posts: 39 | | Review Date: September 28, 2016 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Solid build, great bokeh, cheap, sharp enough | | Cons: | soft edges | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: Pentax K-5
| |
This is a great daytime and twilight lens, produces gorgeous photos from wide open, though not suited for astrophotography even with O-GPS1 (sharp center, but softens quickly even stopped down). Apparent vignetting caused by the sun rising from the bottom left corner.
Correctly used you can get great results.
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2014 Posts: 625
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 24, 2016 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, bokeh | | Cons: | Apertureblade induced flares on my copy | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K-1
| |
First off I might add that I do not own any electronic/autofocus lenses except for the K-50 kitlens and learnt most on manual lenses, thus I may not have the exact same standpoint as you might have.
I need to add that all images are simply converted from RAW with no PP or sharpening. Settings in camera are also without any added sharpening and I'm using the neutral colour setting.
General thoughts:
I bought this lens back in 2014 and was never really let down by it, you just need to know when and how you can use it when when not:
Use of a hood, or a hand if you're ghetto, is advised unless you want contrast loss or flares.
My copy seems to have silver aperture blades which can induce flares when stopped down. I don't know if this is common or not but this sure is the only real big negative point to it, though it doesn't bother me much, you learn to use/avoid it.
Flare test:
f2
large
f4
large
f8
large
f11
large
Centre sharpness and Bokeh:
f2
original
f2.8
original
f4
original
f5.6
original
f8
original
f11
original
All images have been focused with live view magnification.
Conclusion:
All in all I find this a great lens, especially for the money you can pick it up for.
The flaring can be annoying but also can give an artistic look when used properly.
It is however easily solved with a hood, whereas I must say getting a hood that shields the light perfectly without inducing vignetting on fullframe is tricky, but in APSC it's not an issue at all.
I'm happy with the sharpness too when stopped down especially, but I find it useful enough wide open too.
The bokeh speaks for itself.
It's better not to talk about corner sharpness though, so if you need good corner sharpness I wouldn't recommend this lens for you.
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2014 Posts: 1
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 6, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, nice focal length even for Crop | | Cons: | maybe too tight focusing ring | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax k-500
| |
This is one of my favorite lens ever
| | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2012 Location: Pune Posts: 16
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 23, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Nice Bokeh, Solid Build | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 8
| |
Got this lens recently from ebay and am very happy with its performance. Bokeh is nice and the images are sharp.
Recent Image using this lens -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickan/12711101435/ | | | | | New Member Registered: August, 2013 Posts: 8
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 11, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | good lens | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 8
| |
 | | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2013 Posts: 13
1 user found this helpful
| | |
;)
;)
