I am generally bored with lens reviews; I think it’s because the optics have become so good that I cannot tell them apart. However, there is one lens that I return to, as it gives me a wonderfully dreamy and romantic impression along with a swirly bokeh. I am, of course, referring to the true king of bokeh, the legendary Helios 85mm F1.5 lens.

Selecting a piece of heavy, manual glass like this comes with certain cautions; it takes some time to become acquainted with it. When shooting with this lens fully open—which I do on purpose—it becomes evident that it is not a crisp lens. The image is only useful in its centre; if you crop it out of alignment, the result is a deformed and hazy image.

Now, since we’re talking about things to be mindful of, this lens is the king of flaring as well as of bokeh, but the flaring can be used with advantage, as it can give these dreamy flat impressions. Its tendency to flair makes it challenging to shoot straight up in the sun with this optic, as the scene easily gets washed out. So to bring out the magic swirly look, I try to find backgrounds with strong specular lighting, as that plays to the quirks of the optics. Strong colours or light coming through the branches of a tree are all scenes strongly contributing; then combine this with your main subject lit directly by natural light coming from the sun.

Using natural light to illuminate the photograph, here’s another example of shooting in the shade. Lui, my puppy, had to endure the agony of being exposed to social media once more; I suppose he is growing accustomed to it. Even if the image’s right side is a little disorganized with cables, I think the footage effectively conveys the fantastic organic feeling of dreamy light this lens produces; it is something unique and can at best be described as a perfect illustration of a vivid memory.

As I previously indicated, taking backlit photographs makes this already challenging setting even tougher. This optic is incredibly hard to bring into focus. The razor-thin DOF we work with when shooting fully open makes the long focus strive and the weight of the optics an additional challenge. Taking these optics to the street has to be done with a great deal of dedication, and achieving good eye focus is very challenging when shooting at random motives. Opting for automatic focus mechanisms like the TEChart is not going to do you any good; it may help get focus closer, but nailing it—forget about it.

All that being said, this optic has become my go-to option. It is fun to use, yes, and difficult, yes, but the results are arguably worth it.

Part 2