Helios 44-2 58mm Matching Wide Lens?

I'm the owner of 58mm and 38mm DSO lenses (the basic lenses used in Richard's TRUMP lenses are Helios 44-2).

 

I've experienced a lot of itching because I enjoy something as close to this view as possible, but much wider - ideally about 20mm or so - that enters (or can be converted into) a PL or EF mount.

 

Do you have any recommendations? Thank you.

For those who, like me, were totally puzzled by this beginner's question, see LINK Dog Schidt Optiks "Trump" Lens Review - Rehoused Russian PL Glass | cinema5D

 

Apparently this Trump has no connection with the present denizen of the White House.

 

 

For the real world outside "Richard's" ken, the Soviet lens industry was not highly developed before WWII, but the need for things like sniper optics and camera lenses for the rapidly developing camera industry in the USSR meant that Zeiss, Leica, and other German lenses were first copied, and in some cases actually improved in Soviet really mass production. The Helios is a Biotar copy to start with, These double-Gauss lenses were widely developed all over the world. The rangefinder lenses made by Canon were nearly all double-gauss. I would guess that whatever you are wanting might be found there, since pre-war and early postwar wide angle lenses were developed only slowly - mostly as retrofocus designs.

Well, the 'wide' counterpart to the Helios-44 is the Mir-1 37mm, but it sounds like you've got that, or something similar already.

 

What sensor format are you shooting? Knowing this might help people make suggestions.

 

Can you cope with rear elements that protrude into the mount? Some non-retrofocus wides from that era almost touch the film plane...

In Leica (FED/Zorki) mount, there are the Orion 15 28mm f/6 and the Russar MR-2 20mm f/5.6. You don't see either of them much. Fedka (fedka.com) in New York shows both at his web shop at the moment.

IMO the old CZ Jena Flektogons - 20 or 24mm - would fit the bill.

They're fundamentally sharp, but the contrast and colour are muted compared to modern coated lenses. There's a fair bit of flare too.

I'm the owner of 58mm and 38mm DSO lenses (the basic lenses used in Richard's TRUMP lenses are Helios 44-2).

 

I've experienced a lot of itching because I enjoy something as close to this view as possible, but much wider - ideally about 20mm or so - that enters (or can be converted into) a PL or EF mount.

 

Do you have any recommendations? Thank you.

 

Best bet is a zeiss jenna 20mm 2.8 flecktogon. Shouldn't be too hard to convert to PL. There is also the Mir 37mm, but that's not that wide. There is the mir-20, which will match the look pretty well, but it's just a copy of the flektogon.

 

I've been working on doing rehousing of the jupiter-9 85mm, the helios 58mm, the mir-37 and the 20.