Heliar S 50mm f3.5 - Really the best lens ever made in Nikon RF mount?

Here are my S-Heliar 50mm/3.5 shots
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsuominen/tags/heliar50mm35/

I usually carry a vintage Nikkor-S 5cm/1.4 also with a slow Heliar, if I need more speed. I agree that Heliar is a bit strange looking and my teenage kids say it's a funny "cone" - or "tötterö" in Finnish - lens. 😉 After I bought this lens with R2S body, I also bought UV, medium-yellow and red 27mm B+W filters. They were all specially made or back-order items, because Robert White didn't have those filters on stock. Not much demand for 27mm yellow or red filters I think... 🙂
 
Tom A said:
In 1995 I found a 50f3.5 nikkor, complete with cap attached to a home made enlarger (mostly Boing 707 parts!). It was very early version #610 something! Not a bad lens at all, very much like a postwar Elmar 50/3,5 Red Scale Elmar. I did pay Cad$ 75 for the enlarger and lens (i did not know that it was so rare at the time) - sold the lens and dome shaped cap for $5000 and the enlarger for $74 (this meant that I got the lens for $1 and I liked that profit margin!
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Tom, these revelations always make me feel left out. This never happens to me. Any tips on how to be lucky like you? joke/humour ;- )
 
Like in the fairy tales, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince or princess! The Nikkor 50mm 3.5 was one such instance - then their are all the other "junque" that clutters up my cabinets. If I am lucky it is actually worth what I paid for it, but many cases it is not. However, most everything can be used or adapted to something else as a "project". Great fun too.
 
Hi,

Just a few more comments on the topic of the Heliar 50 mm lens f/3,5. I like it - it is a great lens both in terms of sharpness and ease of use. At the same time having compared it with an old Nikon 5 cm f/1,4 lens on a number of occasions I must say I am very impressed with how close "runner up" the old Nikon lens is when it comes to quality....

For example, here is an indoor shot at approx f=3,5 with the Nikon 5 cm f/1,4:


.... and here is exactly the same with the Heliar 50 cm wide open:


I know it is difficult to judge the differences on photos adjusted for upload to the Internet but I can just say that when looking at the origibals I can see that the Heliar is sharper but not much! Film = Reala.

Jon
 
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I saw a Heliar last week and can't say its the most 'beautiful' lens I've ever seen. This discussion reminded me of the Leica 3.5/50 Anastigmat on the reissued O series, suppose to be 'the best' 50 Leitz/Leica ever made according to some. It may be, but the attacted body has limitations and the speed...

I have a couple Nikon mount lenses, the 50 millennium is just perfect in my book, and the 50s 2/50 is classic. But for a 3.5/50 and something different I'll stick with my Zeiss Tessar 3.5/50 ( which seems to work fine on the Nikon ) if I don't need speed, really beautiful looking and made, great optics - still no aperture clicks 😀
 
sirius said:
I found a nice set of photos from this lens here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsuominen/sets/72157601634391881/
It looks like an impressive performer...
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Thanks for comment. I made the set recently, so it's a bit easier to locate my Heliar 50/3.5 shots.

I'm not a good enough photographer to judge the quality and potential of Heliar lens. For that we should maybe read Erwin Puts test at http://www.imx.nl/photo/voigtlander/voigtlander_cosina_lens_hel.html . I bought the lens in order to get 'the retro feeling' while shooting. Using occasionally a slow 25 ASA b&w film increases the feeling. 🙂 I don't own the Leica 3.5/50 Anastigmat on the reissued O series, Zeiss Tessar 3.5/50 or LTM Elmar 5cm/3.5, but I think they would do the same 'effect'.

Dreamsandart, does you Zeiss Tessar 50/3.5 focus correctly at wide open on Nikon rf-body even in closer range (0.9 - 1.5 m) shots?
 
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The Tessar works just fine in the close range at 3.5, but my rule of thumb is to stop down to 5.6-8 anyway when using it in the very close range.
 
867330438_5a1b5fa4a5.jpg
 
This shot is with the Heliar 50f3.5 S lens on a S3. Film was Agfapan 250 (agfa's version of the kodak XX movie stock). The kid had spent an afternoon in the mud on the beach and was told by his mom to take a shower. It was a cold shower only!
 
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Tom,
I know you appreciate all kinds of glass,I appreciate you for that.
However,the questios is,what is the BEST lens EVER made for the Nikon Rf...you have them all,the Heliar,the Millenium Nikkor, The 10.5cm 2.5....

What is THE best?

Kiu
 
"The Best" is a fairly subjective matter in my mind. It depends entirely what you are shooting. If you spend your days (and nights) in dark and dingy places taking pictures, the Heliar is not a good choice. It would have to be the 50f1.1 or the 35f1.2.
I think as an all rounder, the 50f1.4 from the Millenium is probably my pick. I have no experience with the Rf Macro 50/3,5, but from what i have seen from it, it is one of the highest resolving lenses of that era. This does not mean that it is necessarily the best. IF i had to put together a kit as a working package that "took no prisoners", it would most likely be the VC 21/4, the 35/1,8 2005/SP, the Millenium 50f1.4, the 85/3.5 Apo Lanthar and the 105f2.5. A SP and a S3 would be the main bodies. I dont think you could blame any "missed" shots on the equipment here!
 
Thanks Kiu, My God, I am being reimbursed for answers! No wonder I like Nikon's!
In September I will be using mainly Nikon's again as friends are coming to visit us here in Vancouver and they are Nikon Rf fans and users. It will be 4-5 days of shooting, eating and drinking coffee. I am going to load up my "stash" of Nikon cassettes with either 400 Fuji Presto or Kodak Double XX for this. There could be some interesting shots coming out of this! Will post once the film is dry!
 
If I had the 1000f6.3 I would not even bother going out. I would shoot the entire Olympics from my balcony!
I only did use the Rf 21/4 for a short couple of days. This was in Sweden in 1964 and a fellow photographer had one and we traded lenses. He got to use my 21/3,4 Angulon and I his 21. If my memory serves me right, it was on a SP with a slightly dysfunctional S-36 on it. It insisted on shooting the whole roll once you hit the release! You had to "pull the plug" to get it to stop. On the other hand, my 21 was on a M2M that usually locked up at frame 24 every time you used it!
I am usually not bothered by "value" of an item, be it perceived or real, but an original 21/4 Nikkor Rf would make me nervous. It would mean that I would have to be careful when I put it in the bag, or watch for other cameras banging into it while it was hanging from my shoulder. $6K+ would keep me in a lot of film!
If I had to use an alternative to my VC 21/4, it would probably be the 21/4.5 Biogon. It is heavy and rather "clunky" to use, but it is very good though the finder is not as good as the new ZI 21 finder (but then, nothing is better than that).
 
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