>>3820935I got into shooting films with old Soviet lenses because I was broke, they were cheap, and I liked the look. I can now buy any lens I want and I still choose to shoot pretty much exclusively with these. Started with a Helios 44-2 and expanded from there. I've tried out other Helios lenses since then, a lot of the Mir lenses, some Jupiter, the Kiev-16U trio, etc. The set I work with right now is:
>35mm Helios 33. My favorite. Old 35mm cinema lens for half frame cameras. I use it on the Pocket 4K so it's basically a 45mm lens. 2.0 aperture, but needs to be used mindfully since using it wide open turns whatever isn't in focus around the edges into clouds.>58mm Helios 44-2. The memes are real. >20mm Mir-20M. Good wide lens. Interesting flares. Kickass focusing distance, practically macro for a wide. Too soft to be usable if you crop in at all, but excellent if you work with that in mind.The Mir 1-B would be there too, but the focusing distance was a recurring problem for me, so I cycled it out.
I don't recommend getting into old lenses in general if you're a gearfag who worships sharpness, but that goes double for Soviets. They can look fantastic and they're honestly just fun to collect and shoot with. Ignore joyless retards. Like they say with handguns, the best one for you is whichever one you do best with.