Menopta 50/1.8

[fidget]

There are a bunch of these for sale "new" on feebay at a bargain price, seemed a shame to pass on it, so I've bought one. Just waiting for it to arrive.
A search here shows opinion divided between those who believe it to be a better version of the Helios 103, or a tweaked H103 and those who believe it's as simple as a rebadged H103. From the photo shown it looks exactly like a H103. Anybody else experienced these?

Oh, and H103's are for sale at the same price. Got one of these months ago, certainly are new!
Dave

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lens-Menopta-...ryZ30062QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Mark Wood]

(This isn't much help but!) I have both the Menopta (from Moscowphoto) and Helios 103 lenses and putting the two side by side confirms that any cosmetic differences are very subtle indeed. The Menopta was £10 plus postage when I bought it - certainly worth investigating at that price. I haven't had a chance to try the Menopta yet but my Helios is remarkably sharp and contrasty.

 

[JohnM]

I have both and Mark is right - they are almost identical with a few subtle cosmetic differences. There are some haptic differences between the lenses - the menopta has a wider ring for focusing and the aperture ring is a little smoother.

Even though those are listed as "Brand New", I'm guessing that they are new 'old stock' -- the serial number on the pictured lens is very close to mine and mine is more than a couple years old.

I've heard that the Menoptas were a better version of the Helios as well - a Russian camera tech told me that he thought they were from a small pre-production run of lenses that were eventually intended for the export market.

In reality, staring at the results side by side, I don't know if I see any difference - but I do like the feel of the Menopta better than my Helios, so I use it. (The Helios is now a rather cool paperweight.)

One lesson I have learned with both - watch out for flare. I always use a collapsible rubber hood and no filter if I have the lens outdoors.

 

[santino]

did any of you experience any problems in shipping from russia? once I bought a mint j9 in LTM from moscowphoto and the customs clearance didn't let it pass. I had to send them my eb*y billing and had to pay lots because the j9 was over 45€ and they broke my bakelit box and lost the lens passport. I was really angry but it wasn't moscowphoto's fault, it was austrian authority. The Helios is really tempting but again, I'm a bit scared of shipping (there are so many problems involved).

 

[Mark Wood]

My Menopta only took 5 days to arrive in the UK from Moscowphoto. It came in a padded envelope so I was dreading opening the package but it was fine with no damage.

 

[fidget]

My Menopta only took 5 days to arrive in the UK from Moscowphoto. It came in a padded envelope so I was dreading opening the package but it was fine with no damage.

Ah! you opted for the professionally packaged version? Wot, no Yak string?
Have you had a chance to compare it to the J8 or H103?

Dave

 

[Mark Wood]

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to try the Menopta yet. If it's of any interest, I've tried the Helios 103 against a pre-war, uncoated 50/2 collapsible Sonnar. This was on colour print film with a Kiev 4a that let as much light in through other gaps as it did the lens but of the frames that were OK, the results were interesting although probably just as you'd expect. I thought at first that the Sonnar pictures were blurred but on close examination, they were actually pin sharp but severely lacking in contrast. The Helios went to the other extreme and appeared razor sharp, greatly helped by what seemed to be very high contrast.

 

[Bill58]

Does anybody have an email address for Moscowphoto?

Thanks,

Bill

 

[fidget]

Bill, there's the email address given in the feEbay listing,
moscowphoto@aport2000.ru

 

[Bill58]

Hey--thanks!

Bill

 

[lubitel]

santino,

items under 35 euros (including shipping) will not be taxed (at least in germany), but they might hold it for a week or so and let you pick it up in person. thats my experience.

 

[santino]

I see, here it is under 45€ but I don't want to pick it up personally because that would be in Vienna and I would have to drive 200Km 😀

The Leningrad I got from moscowphoto passed everything and there were no problems (it was 100€). I called the customer service in Vienna and the guy told me that they pick random packages and inspect them. I was just lucky with my Leningrad and had bad luck with the J9. Again, they damaged my bakelit box and lost the passport (and that is not ok).

 

[JohnM]

I have a feeling that there aren't that many Menoptas out there - I asked Yuri from Fedka about it and he knows of them, but has not seen one. Then, I checked the serial number of mine against the one in the ad Fidget bought - my lens, made more than a few years ago, is 940015. The one advertised as new is 940044.

I also compared it to a Helios - they are even more similar than I remembered. The aesthetic differences are minute.

 

[fidget]

Well, it arrived. Just as Mark's it came in a jiffy bag. Serial no 940184 complete with loose aperture ring and a tight section as the aperture ring passes the middle of the range. Doesn't seem to be due to the post. Looks identical to my 84 Helios 103 except that at f22 the aperture is clearly smaller on the Menopta. They match when the Helios is at f22 and the Menopta is half a stop more open. Poorly adjusted...I can see that when wide open the Menopta isn't quite as fully open as the Helios. Still, not to bad for the price if I can correct it, I guess.

 

[fidget]

I looked at my Menopta lens a little more. I decided that I couldn't accept the faults on what was supposed to be a NEW (NOS) lens. The aperture ring was very loose (easy to rectify) the ring had a tight spot when turned, and the clincher: the aperture at say, f22 was clearly bigger than that on my identical Helios. This last point was worrying as I couldn't easily see a way to adjust this....so I contacted the seller, moscowphoto. He replied that it could be replaced, so I sent it back. All credit to Moscowphoto, I guess.
Today the replacement arrived, sn same as the one I sent back +1. This one is better, the aperture now looks the same as my Helios and the aperture ring has no tight spot and is not loose. It has, however, a very dry feeling to the aperture ring, when turned it feels like it is scraping on something, so much so that the indents are difficult to locate. Otherwise it looks like it will work and I am looking forward to trying it, when I've fixed the light leaks on my Kiev.
This lens was very cheap, so I would think that Moscowphoto didn't make much as they paid the return postage and did so without hesitation or argument, so some cred is due to them.