Helios 44-2

When I bought my Fujifilm X-E2 I wanted to try shooting a wider lens as my standard. On my old Canon I shot a 50mm, which gave about an 85mm field of view after factoring in the 1.6 crop of that sensor. After that I almost exclusively shot a 50mm on my Olympus OM-2n. That 50mm seems to be my strongest, probably because I've shot it for years. So, like I was saying, I wanted to try shooting a wider lens. I ended up with the 18mm f/2, which is a nice lens that I'm getting used to using more and more every day. I'm finding though, that I miss that ~50mm focal length and the BOKEH that comes with a bit longer lens. I'd thought about buying the Fujinon 35/1.4, which would give me ~50mm with the crop factor, but I never saw a good enough sale and I wasn't that desperate since I had an adapter for my Zuiko 50/1.8. After shooting this for a little while though I decided I needed a dedicated lens for my Fuji (didn't want to take the Zuiko away from my Olympus!).

Enter, a classic Helios 44-2. This is sort of an infamous lens I guess, because of it's unique bokeh features; a swirly bokeh effect that I absolutely LOVE. I knew buying the lens that the swirl might not be prominent with the 1.5 crop of the X-E2, but I wanted to give it a shot. After shooting around the night I got it, I decided I needed a "speed booster" to get the fuller frame, closer to 58mm view. For my birthday, I got a Zhongyi Mitakon Turbo II. This little adapter not only adapts the M42 mount lens to my camera, it also reduces the crop factor to be closer to a true 58mm, as if it were on a full frame camera. The results are just awesome.

I bought the lens on eBay and the Ukrainian seller was kind enough to thrown in some authentic Ukrainian chocolate with the lens, which I thought was a nice personal touch! Here are some selections from my first few times out with this lens. Some are using the Mitakon adapter and some aren't. Since getting the adapter though, the lens has been paired with it 100% of the time, though I figure keeping the standard adapter with me will give me the option to turn this lens into more of an 85mm.

Cloudy Beach Day

Here's what you do when you're on the beach, it's cloudy, a windy, and not blisteringly hot. You grab your camera, grab your kindle, grab a lounger under a thatched roof hut, grab a piña colada, and enjoy your day. Don't forget to get a picture of yourself with some serious beach hair!

Bowling for Kids

We did Big Brother's Big Sister's of KC's Summer Bowl for Kids Sake again this year. After doing a bit of fundraising, we bowl, eat lots of free pizza, pass on free but horrible beer, and have lots of fun. I even shot with 3 different lenses, including my newest aquisition, the Helios 44-2 58/2, WITH a speedbooster! Unfortunately, this setting wasn't super conducive to show off the gorgeous swirly bokeh, but I have some of those to share eventually. It was so dark in this place I had to shoot at an ungodly high ISO the whole time, even shooting all my lenses wide open. I'll let you judge for yourself, but I think the noise is fantastic for shooting at ISO 5000 and even up to 6400! If anything it adds a bit of a film-esque grain to the shots.

Wedding Reception

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it much yet on here or on Flickr, but I got married recently! We got married in the Dominican Republic in May, and a couple weekends ago had a reception back in Kansas City for all of our friends and family who couldn't make it. Between helping getting everything set up and getting ready for the reception I managed to snap a few photos. My cousin was nice enough to shoot photos throughout the reception, so he got the good candid shots, but here are what I managed!

















Apparently I thought this was the perfect angle/photo to photograph

Castillo San Cristóbal

Castillo San Cristóbal is a fort in San Juan that I've had the chance to visit twice now. Yeah yeah, big deal, you've heard that already. Interestingly, while I did see a few of the same areas, we actually explored a previously unknown (to me) area of the fort on my second visit. A few of the areas I'd visited in 2011 gave me some memorable photos, so for a couple of them I actually shot a similar photo as a fun then and now.














Cannon balls are still there!
2011:


2014:






At first I thought that these coats hadn't moved an inch, but upon closer comparison they have! (BTW, 2011 photo totally wins)
2011:


2014:










2011:


2014:



I love photographing these things, in case you haven't already noticed...





I didn't photograph this again, but it's still there, I did see it!
2011:

June 19, 2015 | Old San Juan

My first trip through San Juan was in 2011, at the tail end of my first cruise. It was a cool visit, but it was done in sort of a whirlwind of a tour. When I went back last November, I realized how close together everything we toured was the first time. I had no idea we could have pretty much walked between all the spots we stopped on the first tour (because we did walk between them all, and from the ship, in November). I really liked seeing some of the same places, but with a little different perspective this time. Here's part one of my photo tour of Old San Juan, comparing my 2011 shots to my 2014.


Plaza de Colón
In 2011, this plaza was deserted, and there were a lot of pigeons. In 2014 there was a sort of craft market all around the perimeter, and there were people everywhere. Still lots of pigeons.
2011:


2014:







Old San Juan Food Court
I had no idea what this place was called, and was so thrilled to stumble on it again in 2014. Let's see how it's changed.. Well, the fan is surprisingly the same. The weather was still hot. The beer is still cheap, but we went for the Piña coladas (advertised as the best in the universe), which were delicious (best in the universe is debatable though)!

2011:


2014:





Street
Between the food court and the Plaza was a road. I took a couple shots there both times, including an attempt at recreating the sewer drain shot of 2011. Honestly, I like the 2011 photo better.


2011:


2014: