At Cine Gear 2022, we had the chance to put our hands on an upgraded edition of the Helios 44-2 MKII rehousing by IronGlass. Compared to the original version, the lens barrel now features a better overall build quality, an internal focusing system, and smoother rings. The IronGlass MKII Upgrade Program is currently available for existing customers. A few years ago, we reported about a re-housed version of the Helios 44-2, a vintage lens from the Soviet era. The company behind this cine-mod is IronGlass, a vintage lens rehousing company from Ukraine, that has recently been working on a Mark II version of this rehousing. At Cine Gear 2022, my colleague Graham bumped into Peter Choi, a vintage lens enthusiast who happened to be testing the first final prototype of this rehousing to reach the US soil. Although Peter does not work for IronGlass, he’s a kind-hearted customer willing to help out the company during these difficult times of conflict. Let’s take a look. Image credit: CineD IronGlass Helios 44-2 MKII rehousing: improvements Despite the deceptive name, the Helios 44-2 is a 58mm f/2 full-frame vintage lens that comes with a native M42 mount. The lens is known for producing a peculiar swirly-style bokeh. However, its original design is not really suitable for video shooting, thus a rehousing can come in handy. Image credit: CineD We sat down with Peter to learn more about the advancements over the original version. According to him, the overall build quality has been improved...
Published By: CineD - Friday, 24 June, 2022