Can the Helios 44 be used on rangefinders with suitable adaptor?

<p>Hi, I've recently acquired a Canon P body and am now looking into rather cheap M39 mount lenses. Ideally around 50mm and f/2. The Jupiter 8 fits the bill. However whilst searching for "M39 lenses" I came across the Helios 44 58mm f/2 and really, really like the results it seems to give. I then realised it is a SLR lens.<br>

My question is: is there an adaptor than can be used to use the Helios on a rangefinder like the Canon P?<br>

Sorry if this is a silly question, this is my first rangefinder... Many thanks in advance.</p>

<p>Trying to use most slr lenses on rf camera bodies is a losing proposition for a couple of reasons...first and foremost is the fact that you lose the use of your rangefinder as the lenses won't couple to the rf cam in the body, so you can only zone focus; this is much easier when you are using an extremely wide angle lens, such as a 15-21mm lens, where your depth of field will usually save your bacon, but almost impossible with lenses in the 35mm & up range. However there are several ways to do this.....you can find a discontinued Canon P converter which allows you to use a Canon FD mount SLR lens on a Leica screwmouunt (LTM) body or on a Leica M body with an additional LTM->M adapter. Again, the only place this makes sense is with very wide angle lenses - again by zone focus, no rangefinder coupling. An advantage of this system is that because the Canon FD register distance was so short, that adapters were made to use Nikon lenses on FD camera bodies....so by coupling a Nikon -> FD adapter to the Canon P Converter you could use Nikon lenses on an LTM body. Same goes for Tamron Adaptall and M42 lenses. As far as the Helios, you might search for one in a LTM mount rather than the SLR version. I know the Industar lenses were often produced in both an SLR and M39 mounts, but they weren't interchangeable/cross adaptable.</p>

<p>If you want to use the Helios a better plan might be to get hold of a cheap M42 SLR, for example a Praktica or Zenit, which can be had for next to nothing nowadays.</p>

<p>Helios 58mm in 39mm fits the Zenit - Zenit 3M SLR's with a 39mm mount, in many ways all a Leica II with a pentaprism mounted on top. Later Zenits were Praktica/Pentax mount.</p>

<p>In addition to the RF coupling issue, you might want a separate viewfinder for the slightly narrower view of the 58 vs the nominal 50 that your Canon P is built for. I don't know if anyone ever made one of these, so I suspect it would be hard to find and expensive.</p>

<p>I totally agree with <em><strong>Stephen L.</strong></em><br /> <br /> In fact, I would seriously consider the purchase of a <strong>digital film back</strong> that will take most <strong>ANY</strong> lens ever produced.<br /> For less than $265, you can own a warrantied tiny 16 megapixel camera body (Smaller than the Canon P).<br /> This would be a pre-owned Sony NEX6 that has the most lens adapters ever created for a single camera system.<br /> <strong>i.e.</strong> <em>NEX to LTM adapter</em> for less than $10.</p>

<p>With this, one can have fun checking out 'old school' lenses in the easiest way possible <strong>without limitations</strong> of:<br />Mount, focus, focus device, focus shift, aperture coupling, viewfinder view or film plane distance...</p>

You would be better off with the Jupiter-8; but be advised that the Russian lenses often need to be adjusted to work on a

Canon rangefinder. The Russian lenses are built to the Zeiss specification. A Canon 50/1.8 Rangefinder lens or Nikon 5cm

F2 would be worth considering as well.

<p>There are some Industars in 39mm that were made for the very early Zenits. Although the diameter<br>

is right, the <em>thread</em> <em>pitch</em> is different from the Leica thread mount and won't seat properly. </p>

<p>Zenit 39mm Pitch thread is fine; interchangeable with Leica. Lenses and accessories like the Zenit bellows work fine with Leica reflex housing/ visoflex</p>

The very early, collector item Feds, have a different pitch to them- might have problems. The very early Jupiter-12's in

Leica thread Mount also have issues with the Cam of the lens jamming on a Leica Roller. Anything made 1952 and later

should be fine, 1950 and before - my direct experience with several- they need to be worked on to get them onto the

camera and to focus properly. I have one 1950 J-3 made using 1945 Zeiss elements that was held together using sewing

thread and could not focus until putting a 1mm spacer between back and front groups.

<p>"Zenit 39mm Pitch thread is fine; interchangeable with Leica."<br>

That's true but do not ignore the fact that the Zenit lenses were made for a completely different lens register (distance from lens to film plane). You will not get anything even close to sharpness when screwing such a lens to your camera. </p>

<p>However, I also would not recommend using a SLR lens on a arangefinder except for special needs. Since 28mm lenses for LTM are a bit hard to find and costly, I bought a 28mm Vivitar lens with M42 mount dirt cheap and found a matching thread adaptor and distance ring in a local dealer's grabbox. Works fine, depth of field is so wide even at f/2.8 that there are no "guesstimate" focussing problems. </p>

<p>The Canon Lensmount converter P is for using M42/Pentax screwmount lenses on the Canon FD bodies. The converter for using FD lenses on M39 (Leica screwmount bodies) is the "B" mount. Canon made several converters for using other brands of lenses on the FD bodies. "N" for Nikon, "E" for exakta, "A" for using M39/Leica thread lenses (enlarging lenses) on FD bodies. </p>

<p>They made T mount adaptors for 39mm zenith SLR's and for Leica RF (Canon, Zorki etc) so one could use pre set lenses. With wide lenses, these were often quite good in the centre but pretty ordinary in the corners.<br>

This doesn't help with the Helios 44, does it. It was a great lens for the price</p>

<p>" I have one 1950 J-3 made using 1945 Zeiss elements that was held together using sewing thread and could not focus until putting a 1mm spacer between back and front groups."<br>

I do not deny bad workmanship on many russian goods. But sometimes the items that appear on the market suffer from failed repair attempts. I once received a Moskva5 (supposed to have a 105mm lens) which was equipped with a front lens element obviously cannibalized from a Moskva4 with a 110mm lens. Also, I once received a Sokol rangefinder camera where the light meter had been removed and all wires leading to it were properly isolated, I still have doubts whether it was manufactured like that or whether someone removed the broken light meter completely. <br>

</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18220333-md.jpg" alt="Narciss w Helio-44 58 F2.JPG" /><br>

Helios 44 58mm/2 lens on Narciss SLR with a M24-M39 adapter</p>