Helios-103, 53/1.8 Your impressions?

B

Brad Bireley

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Hi, What your impressions about the Helios-103, 53/1.8?
I see on fedka.com he has them "brand new" for $22.50. I'm new to this Russian camera stuff so I need some help please.
Thanks,
Brad
 
Go for Fedka, be polite, and in case of trouble he will work it with you.
 
I once spent a whole film taking comparison shots with my favourite Jupiter 8M and the Helios one after the other for 36 shots and my final opinion was..... they were too close to seperate. I eventually took the Jupiter route as it seemed slightly warmer than the Helios but it is also a very impressive lens, at least to me! The usual caveats about soviet product variance still apply but I have generally found their lenses seem to vary less than their cameras!

Not sure if there is a 'golden age' for these anyone? But there might not be a great benefit from buying a new one.
 
The Helios is an excellent lens, even wide open: happens to be my most used lens in fact. But keep a hood always on.
 
The Helios is my second favorite russian lens, after the Jupiter 3. Its a great lens, I also like the Industar 22/50.
 
Go for it. I recently bought a "new" 103 from a seller in the Ukraine. It was as new, perfect glass, nice smooth aperture control. There seem to be a lot of these about at the moment. Still assessing the photos from mine.
 
I use that lens on kiev 4am and is very satisfied with the sharpness. the pictures I taken with it seems are equal or even sharper than the ones from my expensive Canon SLR system. (maybe this is more in the focussing system than in the glass, I don't know).
However, it is not as well coated and flares and get low contrast when directed towards the light. But as i heard this is common formany russian lenses.
 
There is no Soviet favourite lens I trust, neither with Helios from which I have a bad performer. But I trust sellers who either sell good stuff or are open minded to exchanges.
 
Fedka can't be beat as far as customer relations goes. I bought a Kiev 4a from him. In the process, he emailed me that the lens on the camera had "slight cleaning marks", so he was sendng a Helios 103. The camera arrived with BOTH lenses, the original one being a Jupiter 8M. So I got the camera with two lenses included. So Yuri is known for trying to do the best for his customers. His prices are a little higher than run-of-the-mill ebay stuff, but it's worth it for knowing you'll get your money's worth. And the shipping time is notably shorter than from the (former) USSR.
 
I've been dealing with Fedka since I caught the FSU rangefinder bug, and he's been great to deal with. I have a Jupiter 8M and a Helios 103 from him for my Kievs, and the only difference I can see is that the Jupiter mounts a bit flatter on the camera. in my experience, Yuri's ratings are on the conservative side, so if he rates someting 'exc', you'll be hard pressed to find anything wrong with it.
 
I've bought from Yuri on-line but I also met Yuri and his wife many times at shows in the NYC area; he is everything said about him and more. The more is that he really loves these cameras and is very knowledgeable. He doesn’t waste his time importing junk.

Michael
 
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