>>2585144Well, on one hand, Helios 44s are pretty good for what you generally pay for them, but they aren't that great either.
I often see people rave about how sharp they are wide open but I just don't see it, and I own a Helios 44-2 with a serial number starting with a single zero ("reserved for factory syndicate leaders"), which is supposed to be about as good as they get.
IMO there are a lot of better deals you can do.
For example, here's a picture taken with a Konica Hexanon AR 50/1.7 I got for €14 (attached to an Autoreflex T4), wide open, 0% sharpened.
100% crop follows.
