I suspect that many photographer wrinkles on the nose when I tell of my Helios-lens, manufactured in BeLOMO, Minsk in the early 80′s 90′s. Surely it can’t be any good?

Helios 44-3 front

The states of former Soviet union actually made a lot of good camera equipment, and what I’m going to write about now is a copy from a Carl Zeiss-factory that ended up in the Eastern block after the war and “moved” to russia. Helios is a Carl Zeiss Biotar-copy. Lets see how it handles…
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A Zeiss-lens, extension-rings and shipping for about 25$? No it’s not a fairytale, I actually got this bargain from swedish ebay Tradera. It all started when I saw an ad with unknown lens marked “aus Jena”…

Carl Zeiss Jena S 135mm/3.5

My purchase
I could not believe my luck. Was I the only one connecting the mark “aus Jena” to Carl Zeiss? Actually, someone else competed with me about the final bid, but I still got this 135mm lens for only 140 swedish kronor (about 20$). When it arrived in the mail, I put it to good use immediately!

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This was my first manual focus lens. It might not be the greatest, but it is my eyeopener to old gear.

Pentacon 29mm with camera Praktica EE2

My purchase
I bought this lens attached to a camera on Tradera (swedish ebay). It was about 20$, with the camera. A lot of old stuff is cheaper in Sweden then on international ebay, there are not so many buyers. Did I make a bargain? Well, lets find out…
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