Recently picked up a new lens from the lovely people at Retro Foto House. I’ve actually owned another copy of this lens, which somehow was lost or hidden in an attic during our many moves between Dublin and Berlin. It’s a classic Russian lens, declicked and cine-modded by Roman at Retro. And what a lens, deep rich post colours are enabled by an extremely low contrast image. Light sensitivity is off the charts (this lens basically necessitates a matte box), with complete coverage of the FX6 full frame sensor. Skin tones and highlight roll off are both magnificent. You could shoot a whole feature on this lens, and indeed a copy from lens rehousers Iron Glass was used recently for certain shots on Dune 2 (as part of a set of various non-matching, rehoused Russian Glass). Like many classic Russian lenses the Helios 44 is based on pre-war designs, copied from East German factories in occupied post war Germany. In this case the Carl Zeiss Biotar, so they match very well with my Zeiss Contax Planer and Distagon glass.