Dissembling , Lubricating , reassembling and testing the vintage soviet lens Helios 58mm 44m
It's amazing how each lens bring its own aesthetic on an image .
Some days ago I got a soviet helios 44m for a really nice deal through thrifting on the internet . The problem, was that I had a really bad surprise when it arrived .
The lens focus focus ring was really stiff, due really old grease stuck on it, and it was almost impossible to focus.
![](https://pro2-bar-s3-cdn-cf4.myportfolio.com/875d571b-c039-45ce-9a7c-d90f535aa90d/f1f1cdf3-bbf6-4417-899f-7a3856aecb85_rw_1200.png?h=772c9d487d532a4c46fa2602997410c3)
After hours searching on the internet on how to fix this problem , I ended up finding some articles of people who had dissembled , lubricated and reassembled it (or had tried to do so).
So I thought "why not".
![](https://pro2-bar-s3-cdn-cf1.myportfolio.com/875d571b-c039-45ce-9a7c-d90f535aa90d/94008131-9c6e-41ee-9e36-ccec6198a92d_rw_1200.jpeg?h=cf17cf1a9c6285092d4f4f21fe0875d1)
It took me 4 hours or so to do it , and guess what ? It was worth every minute . The lens itself is incredible , the body feels really durable and the focus ring was really soft .
This version in particular is the eight-blade one.
It was time to go out and test this thing.
For my camera in particular (canon 6d), I used a M42 to EOS adapter (which is really cheap by the way) and went out shooting .
![125 f2.0](https://pro2-bar-s3-cdn-cf3.myportfolio.com/875d571b-c039-45ce-9a7c-d90f535aa90d/4ba65aaa-7f97-4d3d-9e02-76f14de492b1_rw_1920.jpg?h=45d2c941e37acccb0300dd20d57bd7c5)
125 f2.0
![2500 f2.8](https://pro2-bar-s3-cdn-cf1.myportfolio.com/875d571b-c039-45ce-9a7c-d90f535aa90d/c696e089-e3d2-4b8b-87ca-dcac8e2380dd_rw_1920.jpg?h=726649bc7d1c043229138ae8de477f96)
2500 f2.8
![350 f4.0](https://pro2-bar-s3-cdn-cf3.myportfolio.com/875d571b-c039-45ce-9a7c-d90f535aa90d/47f99e37-c874-4327-a985-1aee544a63b5_rw_1920.jpg?h=0f70e68c7a11c9b2d4796fc4774a02be)
350 f4.0
It's really beautiful how this lens delivers bokeh and how light is defused , making it a really nice budget lens for people who are tired of the "digital look" but still want to use digital cameras