Lens Reviews

Our favorite weird lens guru Mathieu Stern has found and used one of his rarest lenses yet: the Helios-65. This lens is so rare that there are no available mounts on the market to adapt it for use on an existing camera.

Stern was anxious to try out the ultra-rare prototype Helios-65 – which was made in 1965 in Kiev, Ukraine – so he had to do some sleuthing on the Internet.

“One smart guy made a DIY version of an adapter that he sells on eBay for almost $200,” Stern says. “That’s way too expensive for me, so after some long research, I found this amazing man who made a 3D model of the Kiev 10-15 mount that I’d need for mounting on my mirrorless camera. I downloaded, for free, the 3D model and 3D printed it. And it worked perfectly."

According to Stern, the Soviet-era Helios-65 is a smaller version of the Helios 44-2, which is famous for its swirly bokeh, aka background blur. Stern says though that the Helios-65 performs even better.

“The swirls are so strong and the center of the image is so sharp,” he notes. “Finding this lens is like finding a treasure.”

Check out the video below to see more of his results. You can view more of Stern’s videos on his YouTube channel.