Bashar Alaeddin

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The Charm of the Helios Lens

Using the Helios 44-2 lens on a Song a7III.

For a while now I had the Helios 44-2 lens (for those who may not now it’s an old Russian-made lens from the 80’s, you can find more information about it here). The lens itself is actually stuck on f/2, the aperture ring is locked somehow from dust or something and I can’t change it without having to do some disassembling. Nevertheless I got an adaptor for it and put it on my Sony a7III and went roaming around my neighbourhood in Marina, Dubai. While testing out the focus distance, I suddenly saw the fusion of the lights in the viewfinder and I fell in love. I have spent the last few months in a blah of a creative zone. I had no interest in picking up the camera, I was only just barely using my iPhone for random pictures and there was nothing inspiring for me. My creative will was on life-support since over a year probably and was dying ever slower with the weeks and months passing. Suddenly, from being so used to sharp and crisp, perfectly technical lighting, to intentional out-of-focus personal subjective art, I felt a little jolt come back into my mummified photography soul. Hopefully, after an almost 6year hiatus from this blog, I will be able to sting more life back into my work and will be sharing much more of my photography and thoughts with you on a regular basis.