Vintage London

I did the tourist thing the other day and grabbed my 5D3 with a few old communist lenses…Helios 44-2 2/58, Zeiss Jena Flektogon 4/20 and Biometar 2.8/120. I intended to shoot some video but ended up enjoying the new focus screen so much I stuck to stills. The Helios remains my all round favourite due to size and vintage look. The Flektogon has amazingly little distortion compared to my Canon 17-40 (check out the straight lines on the image of Buckingham Palace). It’s a bit soft around the edges but that’s its character. The Biometar 2.8/120 is a disappointment and for some reason won’t allow for infinity focus. It’s just a little out at infinity and my guess is one of the elements has been flipped around during servicing at some point. My copy of the 2.8/80 of this same lens does not have this issue and it’s a shame because I really like the extra reach of the 120 and it’s so much lighter and easier to handle than the Sonnar 180. It will still make for a good portrait lens but I might just keep my eye out for another copy.