I love using vintage lenses on my Fujifilm cameras. I have a bunch of them, mostly ones I picked up for cheap. Over the last couple of days, I wanted to use three specific M42 mount telephoto lenses: Helios 44-2, Vivitar 135mm f/2.8, and Cavalier 200mm f/3.5. I picked up the M42-FX adapter from eBay 10 years ago for under $20. The photos below were created over the last week or so—mostly just yesterday and the day before—using these three lenses.

The Helios 44-2 is a legendary Soviet-era 58mm f/2 lens, renown for its character, particularly the lens flare and swirly bokeh. Millions of these lenses were made between the late 1950’s and early 1990’s (mine was made in 1971). Essentially, it’s a Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f/2, but mass produced with inconsistent construction and quality. Most (but not all) are M42 screw mount. It has two aperture rings: one with clicks, and the other without. On Fujifilm X-series cameras, the 58mm focal length is 87mm full-frame equivalent. I’ve also used this lens on my GFX100S II, and it mostly covers the sensor, with only minor corner vignetting that’s easily cropped out. My Helios 44-2 was a Christmas gift from my wife a decade ago, and came attached to a Zenit-E camera, which she picked up for about $50. It remains one of my absolute favorite lenses.

All photos above: Fujifilm X-T4 & Helios 44-2. Recipes, clockwise from top-left: Pacific Blues x2, FRGMT B&W, Kodak Tri-X 400, Kodak Vision3 250D, Superia Xtra 400 x2.

I picked up my Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 lens four years ago at an antique store in Texas for $15. The front element is a little scratched, so it can be a bit hazy when shot directly into a bright light source; otherwise it’s in pretty good shape. Vivitar sold lenses made by other manufacturers, and this particular copy was made by Komine in Japan in 1978. This was considered a pretty competent portrait lens back in the day. It doesn’t have quite as much character as the Helios, but there’s still a lot to like about how it renders pictures. It’s fairly compact for how telephoto it is, and even with the adapter, it’s a tad smaller than the Fujinon 90mm f/2. On X-series cameras, the 135mm focal length is 202mm full-frame equivalent.

All photos above: Fujifilm X-T4 & Vivitar 135mm f/2.8. Recipes, clockwise from top-left: Vivid Velvia, Kodak Portra 400 v2 x2, Pacific Blues, Vivid Velvia.

I found the Cavalier 200mm f/3.5 in the discount bin of a camera store a couple months back. When I asked the employee how much it was, he told me to just take it—nobody wanted it, so it’s free. Cavalier was an importer, and (like Vivitar) didn’t actually make their lenses. Digging into it, my lens was made by Uriu Seiki (better known for Cinemax Super 8 cameras) in 1974 for Willoughby-Peerless, which was a large camera store chain in New York City (but is now just one location called Willoughby’s Camera Emporium). Back then it was a low-budget option, and is considered a bit obscure nowadays. The image quality from this lens is so-so at best, but it was a lot of fun to use the 300mm full-frame equivalent focal length.

All photos above: Fujifilm X-T4 & Cavalier 200mm f/3.5. Recipes, clockwise from top-left: Kodachrome 64 x3, Vivid Velvia (except D-Range Priority Strong; one is an in-camera triple exposure) x2.