helios 103-a terrific lens

[mravigna]

When I think that I only paid 10usd for this lens. I picked up a processed color film (fuji 200) today and I am impressed by the quality of this lens. The colors are warm and saturated and the lens is very sharp. Quite a bargain for only 10 dollars. I had initially paid more but the seller on ebay reimbursed 10 dollars because my lens doesn't fit on my kiev cameras. It only fits on my Contax II and III (for some odd reason). These lenses are being sold by the hundreds on ebay. For some strange reason, they must have overproduced this lens in the 80's. There are a few Menopta's for sale as well which look almost the same, but I cannot see how this lens or any other could be any better than the Helios 103. Quite impressive.

 

[raid]

The Menopta is just the export version of the Helios 103. It is an excellent lens indeed.

 

[gregg]

I have one of these on my Kiev 4AM - simply a beautiful lens.

Until I blew out the rangefinder in my Kiev trying to adjust it, this combo was my carry-around kit.

Note to Self: send Kiev to Oleg for repair...

 

[windraider]

Yes was impressed by the character of this lens.
Photos made by this lens really stood out - subject would be sharp & contrasty whereas background would be a shade less contrasty and subtlely smooth. As if the background was seperated by a layer of rice-paper.

Unfortunately both my Kiev 4s were consistently unreliable (breaking down on every roll) even after sending ot back to the Ukraine for servicing. They finally died and I didn't replace them.

 

[varjag]

Yep, it's a nice lens. Too bad there's no conversion to LTM..

 

[darkkavenger]

The menopta is a rebadged, re-engraved Helios-103. I don't know who did this and for what reason, but on mine, a 8- starting serial number can be seen underneath the black paint, as well as a russian 'b' letter (not the B that means V in latin language, the b with a bar on top of it).

Whoever did the rebadging/renaming and for what reasons is odd to me. Maybe that's one of the most brilliant marketing ideas after the Lomo farce. 😉

 

[Joao]

The menopta is a rebadged, re-engraved Helios-103. I don't know who did this and for what reason, but on mine, a 8- starting serial number can be seen underneath the black paint, as well as a russian 'b' letter (not the B that means V in latin language, the b with a bar on top of it).

Whoever did the rebadging/renaming and for what reasons is odd to me. Maybe that's one of the most brilliant marketing ideas after the Lomo farce. 😉

I also am puzzled with the origin of this great lens. Interestingly, JL Princelle (2nd edition, pg 212) places the Menopta together with the Helios-94...
This lens performs great in tricky light conditions, I had recently a great experience with it (can be seen at http://kiev4AMenopta.notlong.com )
Best regards
Joao

 

[M. Valdemar]

According to Peter Henning the Helios 103 is almost identical to the early Summicron formula rather than the Sonnar formula which is used in the Jupiter-3.

The Heilos 103 performs very well with a Chinese Contax-Leica bayonet mount adapter on the R-D1.

 

[mravigna]

I wonder why they made so many in the 80's

I wonder why they made so many in the 80's

There are many for sale on ebay. Why did they make so many? I took some scenic shots (Fall colors) and I am impressed. The colors are painterly like but the details are all there. The colors remind me of another lens (M42) that I use for macro work with an adapter on my Olympus E-1. This lens is called the Volna 9 made by LZOS in Russia. The colors are very 'old world' warm and not as cold as with Japenese lenses. I haven't yet scanned any negatives from the Helios 103, but will doing so in the next couple of weeks, and will likely be printing a few. The Jupiters 8 lenses also produce warm colors but not with that sort of milky pastel background.

 

[xayraa33]

why so many?
probably Soviet production planning methods, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, and it kept people employed.
around the time of this lens in the early 1980s, many Kiev 4M and AM bodies were scraped because of extra poor quality parts in these cameras.
the lenses were not so bad ,so they are still around.
Leon seems to have gotten the largest batch of this optic.

 

[raid]

I also am puzzled with the origin of this great lens. Interestingly, JL Princelle (2nd edition, pg 212) places the Menopta together with the Helios-94...
This lens performs great in tricky light conditions, I had recently a great experience with it (can be seen at http://kiev4AMenopta.notlong.com )
Best regards
Joao

Hello my friend,
What can you tell me about the Helios-94?
You seem to be doing research on such stuff.

Regards,