This amazing lens costs less than £50 - Helios 44-2

I've begun a series of videos about 'legendary lenses' - unique, rare or otherwise iconic optics. They're not reviews, but discussions between myself and other lens geeks and gurus - think of them as a talk show about lenses! This is the first episode - naturally it had to be about the ultimate vintage lens, the Helios 44-2.

I was fortunate to be joined by Alan Besedin of Vintage Lenses For Video (www.vintagelensesforvideo.com), the web's ultimate resource and community for old lenses. His wealth of knowledge and experience, particularly with the Helios family is possibly unrivalled. He shares some fascinating insights and anecdotes about the lens as we discuss the history, mechanics, optics, limitations, modifications and even rehousings for the lens. We geeked out for almost two hours but I've refined our ramblings down to a sub-30 minute video for easier digestion.

I have a number of other lenses and guests lined up to chat about other legendary lenses, but please let me know your thoughts on the format so that I can improve for future episodes. And do comment which lenses you would like to see discussed and I'll see if I can get hold of them!

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