Robert Chadwick , Jan 28, 2012; 02:42 p.m.
Hi all, I just thought I would post this quite rough unscientific lens comparison as a matter of interest, between a Carl Zeiss T*1.7, a Russian Helios 44M-4 2.0 and an M42 Pentax 55mm 2.0 distance was 2ft on a tripod using self timer window light with an additional ceiling light. Camera was a Contax 137MA Film was Fuji. I used an adapter with the M42 Pentax and Helios....
Pentax Takumar Wide Open f2.0
Robert Chadwick , Jan 28, 2012; 02:44 p.m.
Pentax Takumar Stopped down to f4
Robert Chadwick , Jan 28, 2012; 02:46 p.m.
Now Helios 44M-4 Wide Open f2
Helios 44M-4 Wide Open f2
Robert Chadwick , Jan 28, 2012; 02:48 p.m.
Next one Helios 44M-4 Stopped down to f4
Helios 44M-4 Stopped down to f4
Robert Chadwick , Jan 28, 2012; 02:49 p.m.
Now for the Carl Zeiss T* 1.7 Planar
Carl Zeiss Planar 1.7 Wide Open 1.7
Robert Chadwick , Jan 28, 2012; 02:51 p.m.
Now Car Zeiss Planar at f4
Carl Zeiss Planar stopped down to f4
Robert Chadwick , Jan 28, 2012; 02:56 p.m.
To my eyes I think the Pentax just takes the laurels, but I reckon it just shows how good the Russian Helios is compareing costs to the others, I did do a few shots at Infinity with all three but you couldnt really tell the difference between them, just slight colour rendition.
Rick Drawbridge 
, Jan 28, 2012; 04:37 p.m.
Sshhhh!!! They'll all want one....The Helios is as good a value as one could hope to find, in my humble opinion. Out in the field, many other factors obviously come into play, but when it come to producing a sharp, punchy image, the Helios is hard to beat. You're a brave man, Robert, publishing what you've achieved, but thanks for an interesting experiment.
Tony Lockerbie 
, Jan 28, 2012; 06:00 p.m.
Always interesting to see these! The Helios seems to have some chromatic abberations at the edges wide open, can't see that on the other two. Still sharp at the centre though, and what a difference F4 makes to all of them!
As Rick says, don't force up the price of those Helios lenses, everyone will want one. Hmm, must do a comparison between the Helios and the Biotar....
Jeff Adler , Jan 28, 2012; 09:53 p.m.
It does not look like the film/sensor plane was parallel to the subject or that the subject was perfectly flat. The two test shots with the Pentax lens show some kind of hot spot. I don't have the Zeiss lens but I have more than one example of the Pentax lens. My examples do not show any hot spot and are very sharp. What about the Helios? I had one with a Zenith E and I was not impressed with it. I don't think I would want to use the Helios again if someone gave it to me. If you want a very high qiality standard lens at a low price, any of the 50/1.7 Minolta manual focus lenses will do the job.
