There is not doubt that some even earlier H-44 lenses were “upgraded” with a better faceplate to make them easier to sell or worth more on the western market.īut the jury cannot tell whether there was or was not a certain amount of genuine 44M-7 lenses ex-factory before the adoption of this process as an official industry policy for all the several factories that made this particular lens type. So why cannot earlier badged 44M-7 lenses also be genuine? I don’t know but I can cling to the hope that the informal policy of labelling better resolving earlier 44M-* lenses with a higher designation was indeed used before it was officially made into a formal process. But later made genuine 44M-5 lenses look identical to the genuine later made 44M-7 lenses. So earlier made 44M-7 are always determined as “fakes” because they don’t have the subtle build changes that the later made “genuine” 44M-7 lenses had. This was a tested resolution test based on QC principles only. Western based thought looks hard for physical differences to indicate different models but these don’t exist. The 44M-5 was equal to the 44M-4 in resolution and the 44M-6 and 44M-7 were better in steps - apart from the selected glass and the faceplate all these lenses were identical at the time. In any case (my theory only) that an enterprising manager invented some Helios badge engineering based on the facts of variances in lens grinding tolerances (the machines were getting quite old and had already ground millions of lenses). Something that had not escaped the British car industry (at least) and was famously known as “badge engineering”. Someone bright in sales suggested that lenses that passed certain resolution tests between manufacture and then warehousing “forever” were given special faceplates to make them more readily saleable at a better price. Methinks a marketing trick was instigated as the Russian lens industry was suffering from Japanese competition (like the rest of the industry of course). Nice images - but even a good 44M-4 is quite capable. If it is late production you have an even-stevens chance - if an earlier production - then I think that the jury will never come back with a definitive answer. Now follows the dialogue on when (if ever) the 44M-7 is ever really a 44M-7 Two more, with one sample at the extremes (f2 vs f16)į2 Front and back bokeh - has some cropping to recompose SO be sure to click on links for the real samples. The thumbnail is not even a weak pale version of the files and in looking at a lens, the thumbnail isn't even telling much. Also, as I often said, the only good way to see these is to look at the detail.
Hope to see some samples from those owning this great lens. Maybe the background gains vivbrance and the subject in focus is less contrasty relatively. Some of these have extremely sharp detail and creamy background, and still things could pop more and blend less with the background. Since a lot of the color is very much affected by RAW PP (even defaul, like in all these cases), don't just by these samples color.Īgain, a bit unrelated to the lens, I find less sharp, SOnnar constructions to have a more 3Dish look. It's by no means perfect, but definitely has marked very strong points as well as weaknesses (corners wide open, violet sensor reflections under sun in frame, colors are different than other lenses). I hadn't used the lens that much to be fair, and I enjoyed it. This was all from a 20 min session today, not a selection of best images. And while not a gem or collectible, I find it a pleasure to use. It's mechanically sound, robust, quite nice a lens. It's still a rather cheap lens, from $30 to $60, widely available, and a proven formula. If you have it, post you best photos with it. It also has a lot of astigmatism near the edges wide open, in part because it seems extremely well corrected in the center. It's like a tiny aftertaste that I can't define that doesn't make me love it.
The color rendition doesn't tick as much as other lenses. I think it's a lens that is wonderful even if not my favorite. This thread is to invite to post samples of 44M-7, but also welcomes 44M-6, 5 and 4.
Most of it, about the swirl, the (non) differences between M44, 44M-4/5/6/7, the manufacturing dates, the plants used, the sample variation.the fakes? A lot. I think a lot have been sayd about the Helios lenses.
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