[MJSteele]

Nice Bags own a few Lowepros myself

[BigMackCam]

It's been a little while since I added anything of note to my Soviet lens collection, so it was nice to receive this yesterday... A "00" serial number 13 blade KMZ Helios-44 (M39 mount, of course). I've been after one of these for a little while, and this one came up at a really good price (and from a UK seller, no less). It looks very original, but may have been sympathetically cleaned and lightly polished at some point. Either way, all the markings and edges are still crisp, and it's not completely mirror-finished. I don't know, it could be the original finish... It has a couple of small "bubble" inclusions in the front element (not unusual), some very light cleaning marks, and it's quite dusty inside, but overall it's in great shape for its age. All in all, I'm pleased with it - especially considering the price

[Simen1]

The crossover point in net CO2 Emissions including manufacturing of the vehicle, producing the therms + consuming the therms (oil vs. electric vehicle) is highly dependent on the coal/oil/gas/hydro/nuclear mix of each region in grid electric power production. Canada and northern EU are at the ‘clean’ end - an ICE is cleaner above 70mpg. USA is in the middle - ICE is cleaner above 35mpg. China is really dirty - ICE is cleaner above 20 mpg.

Did you get the numbers from here? Yes, those are US number, but I live in Norway, not USA. Norway have way cleaner power production then even Alaska. 95% is clean water power. 2% from a coal power plant at a remote Island, Svalbard, that has a separate electric grid. The last 3% is from two controversial gas power plants. Controversial because they are heavily subsidised for implementing a fiasco CO2 extraction plant. I live in the north, more then 1500 km away from those gas plants so the electric energy I use in my Tesla is practically CO2 free. Anyway, Alaska and the North west in USA doesnt come close to norways low CO2 emissions from electric power production. And I must repeat, even EVs running on pure coal power is cleaner on CO2 then most gasoline cars.

You Tube

You Tube

Regarding raw materials, the most controversial of them are cobolt from DRC. Tesla does not source its cobolt from there. In comparison, Apple iPhones use 6 times as much cobolt per Wh of battery, and they do source their cobolt from DRC.

Yes, the driving is highly subjective, I never felt as home and comfortable in any car before. I prefer music over noise, and clean air over exhaust, but its highly subjective of course.

At last I need an alibi for posting in this thread, I just got a Pentax 3-8mm f/1,0 CS-mount for my Q. It cost me just 5$ + 5$ shipping. The build quality feels like the price.

[monochrome]

It all depends on where you are and how many mpg a gasoline powered car gets and what your religion is.

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Last edited by monochrome; 12-16-2017 at 03:03 PM.

[Simen1]

My region is Northern Norway, a region with close to 100% pure hydroelectric power. My last car was a diesel car that used 0,7 liters per 10 km.

It also depends on how much I will drive. Next summer I will drive the Tesla on my vacation in stead of flying (about 2000 km each way), since its so much more fun to drive compared to the old diesel car, more conveniant when I arrive, and I can have much more lugguage and enjoy the landscape much better then flying. Also I cant stand the discomfort at airports and crammed airplanes. My car had 120 000 km when I bought it in july, and now its 130 000 km. I guess I will drive ca 20 000 km each year, compared to ca 14 000 km a year with the diesel car. And ca 4 000 km less flying.

[monochrome]

OEM fitting black and chrome metal hood for the AoC Takumar 58/2.4 on the Asahiflex.

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[MikeyBugs95]

I also just received a Tamron 18-200mm XR. Lens is used, a bit dirty, the zoom ring is stiff at points and the focus ring is stiff and gravely but it seems like nice lens.

[ChrisPlatt]

Domke F-10 Ruggedwear from Amazon Warehouse Deals

I need another camera bag like I need a hole in the head...

Chris

[Marcus Rowland]

It turns out that the last car boot fairs of the year were this weekend (with one more to come next Saturday but probably not going to get to it), and I got a fairly good haul, some OK and some crap - basically, I took everything a seller had at a lot less than he was initially asking, I think that he was in a hurry to pack up and go home. It was a bit of a gamble, but I think I'll make a profit overall

• Sigma 28-200 for Pentax AF - Crap, unfortunately, AF doesn't work, possibly because it's misty and probably has fungus. Also has a badly scratched front element, I'll be selling it for spares/repairs. I knew it was bad, and omitted it when I was working out what to offer.
• That came with a Pentax MZ-50 body that seems OK, I won't be able to test it properly until I can get an AF lens that works.
• Minolta 505si - good
• Minolta AF 28-80 lens - good
• Yashica MG1 rangefinder camera - something's loose inside the viewfinder but I think it's working otherwise.
• Fujica STX-1 SLR and 50/1.9 - working well but the camera has some dents
• Prinz Galaxy 500mm f8 lens - optically very good, but it's missing the rear part of the tube that mounts it on the camera. The missing part is just a metal tube with a T-mount, so I may be able to rig something to replace it, or mount it as a bellows lens like a Photosniper.
• Konica T4 body - meter working but shutter fault
• Vivitar 24/2.8 with interchangeable T4 (I think) Konica and Canon FD mounts - won't stop down, probably fixable.
• 2 wide angle converters, nothing particularly special but they work.
• Sigma 28 /2.8 for Minolta MD - dented filter ring otherwise pretty good.
• 62mm Hoya polarizer

Got the lot for £46 so should make some money.


Also a Psion Organizer, an early PDA that's quite collectible, for £1

[Kevriano]

That Psion should easily cover the costs! Nice find. Our boot fairs never have anything like.

[Jean Poitiers]

Light seals (x2) for this Canon which I will install soon ... and a gifted P30 + A 50/2 which all seems to work well ... it came with a roll of color film already at the end, and as per my habits, I pulled it out and trashed it. I never keep or try to develop other's images.

[Wasp]

My latest piece of gear. All analogue. It came with a roll of Ilford HP5, which I am exposing one careful shot at a time. I can develop it myself, but will have to order the chemicals needed.

I guess one has to be a certain age to know what it is.

FWIW, the picture was taken with a Pentax.

[BigMackCam]

It's been a little while since I added anything of note to my Soviet lens collection

Hmmm... seems I forgot about one I bought last month Been looking for a decent one of these for months, but the prices were always a bit higher than I was comfortable with... typically three to four times the price of a Helios-44-2, which is optically identical. But, the hole in my collection was glaring, so when this 44-3M came up at a reasonable price, I snapped it up. It's "near mint" cosmetically and optically. Focus and diaphragm nice and smooth. A tiny bit of oil on the diaphragm blades, but not enough to warrant cleaning just yet. No end caps unfortunately, but I'm sure something will turn up.

This model is a little different to other Helios-44 variants. The optical block can be easily detached from the focusing unit (apparently) and fitted to PZF bellows for macro work. Not sure how or why that proves advantageous over simply using the entire lens I'll have to read up some more

[timw4mail]

Hmmm... seems I forgot about one I bought last month Been looking for a decent one of these for months, but the prices were always a bit higher than I was comfortable with... typically three to four times the price of a Helios-44-2, which is optically identical. But, the hole in my collection was glaring, so when this 44-3M came up at a reasonable price, I snapped it up. It's "near mint" cosmetically and optically. Focus and diaphragm nice and smooth. A tiny bit of oil on the diaphragm blades, but not enough to warrant cleaning just yet. No end caps unfortunately, but I'm sure something will turn up.

This model is a little different to other Helios-44 variants. The optical block can be easily detached from the focusing unit (apparently) and fitted to PZF bellows for macro work. Not sure how or why that proves advantageous over simply using the entire lens I'll have to read up some more

So...optics-wise, does much really change across Helios-44 variants? Or is it more the mechanics of the lens that change between variants?

[BigMackCam]

So...optics-wise, does much really change across Helios-44 variants? Or is it more the mechanics of the lens that change between variants?

They all use the same optical formula - that of the CZJ Biotar 2/58. As production evolved, the diaphragm went from 13 to 8 and then 6 blades (which makes a difference on out-of-focus rendering), although some earlier models continued production at different factories for many years after newer versions were released. Different variants have different types and levels of coatings on the optical elements, which can affect contrast, colour rendition and flare resistance. Then, there are mechanical differences - some variants have manual or preset diaphragm, others a switchable auto/manual or just auto (the auto-only versions require a simple diaphragm pin modification to make them work as manual). Earlier versions came in M39 (for SLR) mount, while later models are M42. A couple of variants - the 44K-4 and 44K-7 - were produced in Zenit's version of Pentax K-mount. The M39 -44, -44-2 and M42 -44-2 don't cover the cut-outs on a Pentax M42 adapter, whereas later models do.

I've heard anecdotally that the 44M-4, 5, 6 and 7 series had incrementally better optical performance as you went through the range (44M-4 being at the lower end, and 44M-7 being the best). In use, they're all perfectly decent - not amazing by modern pixel-peeping / test-chart-obsessing standards, but very good and capable of nice results. In truth, copy variation is likely to have more impact on resolution, especially on later models where quality control was arguably less stringent.

Some people say that the later models don't produce the characteristic "bokeh swirl" - or not so much as the earlier -44 and -44-2. Again, in practice, I don't find much difference (see my side-by-side test HERE). In many situations, people don't know how to achieve that swirl, and assume it's because of their variant or copy of the lens. It's simple enough, but takes a little practice to set up a shot accordingly

They're all good lenses... I have a soft-spot for the extremely common brownish-black Helios-44-2 and the built-like-a-tank -44M