IronGlass MKII Review - Are these the best vintage lenses in the world?

[@solus200]

Very informative presentation - covers everything you’d need to know if considering purchase or renting these lenses. Thank you.

[@DamianKleiman]

It's nice to see old lenses given new life!

[@richarddzisiewski7197]

Have the mk1 lenses and just this morning placed an order to upgrade to the mk2…can’t wait to get my hands on them

[@dm.b7560]

Nothing like being rich

[@richarddzisiewski7197]

@@dm.b7560 I look at it as an investment. Good glass lasts forever…

[@BoyGeorgiaX]

@@dm.b7560get your bread up

[@RobbieMcKane]

Great breakdown Alex, kudos for putting this out there.

[@RobbieMcKane]

Do you happen to know if the mk II versions mount on the Ronin 4D? (Aside from the 135mm which will be too heavy for the payload). I know the mk I versions mount but not sure if the larger diameter of the mk IIs will fit the lidar bracket.

[@isabelladavis1363]

Wow how amazing…love the concept !!!

[@BrupaMu]

Wonderful images!!

[@ochiuldesticla]

That test footage was something elese, I want to be this good!

[@Owlbot]

Fantastic video brotha, well done once again!

[@nebukadnezzar3578]

Amazing video!! So much knowledge here beyond the lenses mentioned!!

[@BizarreBear]

Damn. I am jealous of that BeLOMO Zebra in the beginning.

[@SouthPhilly28th]

Excellent video!!!!! 📷

[@gabrielebradley]

Great review!

[@alexeyvishnyakov8132]

amazing review! bought my helios lens with zenit film camera in ukraine in 2020 for about 20 bucks at that time. cool to know that dune part 2 was shot with practically the same, but upgraded glass.

[@alex-stone]

Not upgraded glass, the same glass! Upgraded mechanics

[@alexeyvishnyakov8132]

@@alex-stone yes! thanks for correcting

[@ODHunte]

Fabulous review 👍🏿👍🏿

[@FlyingLapMedia]

Here's a question - did you send in your own lenses? Did you test them first? Or did you let Iron Glass choose the donor lens? Really itching to get a 44-2 in a rehoused version. Which version of the Helios did you rehouse? There's so many variations.

[@alex-stone]

I opted for IronGlass supply the donor lenses. It was worth the extra cost to me - yes, I could have found them cheaper had I picked them myself, but it saved the time and effort plus all the lenses IG supply are perfect condition. The Helios 44-2 is the 'classic' Helios 58mm, with 44-M and so on being the variants with any notable difference. It shouldn't matter which 44-2 you supply, optically they're all the same but with perhaps only very minor tweaks to the coating over the years. The exception to IronGlass supplying donor lenses was the 40-2, which I sourced myself. At the time of announcement this was necessary, however I believe they are now offering to supply these themselves too.

[@NicolasWaldvogel]

great video, thanks for the valuable insights!

[@kmshairstay]

I’m assuming you can’t do the anamorphic adapter on the mk2?

[@alex-stone]

Which anamorphic adapter would that be? I believe the anamorfake inserts are still an option if that's what you mean

[@peterdanks6610]

Oh man, I hope they expand and start offering Leica R, contax Zeiss, FD’s etc

[@alex-stone]

They're currently working on Zeiss Jenas

[@jerryrichards8172]

Considering I'm a minolta head and love the look of that minolta classic color in cinima and photography. what's the best way to remount the old minolta glass ? I would like to have the bayonet mount replaced from alpha a to sony E mount? So I can bypass the adapter ?

[@alex-stone]

I'm guessing you already use the Metabones Alpha to E adapter? Leitax in Spain or Simmod in Canada make replacement mounts for various formats, though I don't think they do Alpha to E. It would be mechanically possible though it's whether there's enough demand for them to produce them - I suggest enquiring.

[@damiendehorn6350]

Well looks like both Alex Stone and Mark Holtz got their hands on some proper soviet glass. Just wondering, how well they colour match between the entire range? And How do they match up to your Contax range?

[@alex-stone]

We got the first two sets so I guess it follows that we made the first two videso about them. I haven't done any thorough colour tests, however given that the lenses are from three different families from over fifty years ago and were never designed to colour match, I think they're all a good fit. None stand out as being significantly different in terms of colour. The styles of flare are the most noticeable difference. They don't match the Contax lenses and the images they make are very different. I would choose one set or the other depending on the look I'm going for.

[@omnymisa]

Very high quality crafting in my opinion!

[@kevin-haggerty]

Freaking awesome!! I am looking to get into filming with vintage glass

[@simplexj4298]

I'm not into videography, I'm a hobby photographer. But in spite of the fact I may be not part of the intended target group of this video as well as the Iron Glass products featured, I was watching till the end with a dose of fascination. I love to put vintage lenses to use on my Nikon F DSLR, and the fact that a Ukrainian company upgrades / updates these vintage lenses only adds to the fascination. I just love it! 🇺🇦 Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦

[@zak_ray]

Do you have the actual image circle numbers? Would be very helpful!

[@alex-stone]

I don't have exact measurements however given their coverage they will be the following: 20mm ~44.7 (just covers Alexa LF OG) 28mm >46 (clears Monstro 8K) 37mm >48.5 (clears Alexa 65 5.1K) 58mm ~60 (just covers Alexa 65 OG) 85mm >60 (clears Alexa 65 OG) 135mm >60 (clears Alexa 65 OG)

[@zak_ray]

@@alex-stone Awesome! I don't suppose you also tested the Jupiter 9's coverage?

[@alex-stone]

@@zak_ray Unfortunately no, My Jupiter 9 stayed in Ukraine when it was sent back for the upgrade.

[@jerryrichards8172]

Can these lenses be purchased for sony a-mount ?

[@alex-stone]

Unfortunately not, PL and EF are the only available options.

[@visualesdesdeelabismo]

Thanks for the great review, Alex! I recently ordered my 58mm MKII and want to add the 85mm 40-2 and a wide option to complete a 3-lens set. Thinking of the 37mm simply because the swirly bokeh seems stronger on this one and could match the Helios better. I also wanted to ask if you know of 82mm circular filters causing vignettes on any of these lenses. I love HBM 1/4 but would love to use my circular one to keep weight down. I know I would need a step-down ring or a SIMtray.

[@alex-stone]

They don't have filter threads so you would need to use a SIMtray or similar. I don't have one myself so couldn't test, however I would suspect that the longer focal lengths would be fine and it would be the wider lenses that might vignette - certainly on the 20mm though on the 37 you might just get away with it if the filter is close enough to the lens. It also depends on the format you're shooting. If Super35 then I would guess you'd be okay. I'll have some affiliate links soon so if you do decide to add the extra focal lengths, I would really appreciate the click through! Check back on the video description in a few days ;)

[@visualesdesdeelabismo]

@@alex-stone Will do! Thanks for the info!

[@onlinetraderucom]

Helios 40-2, by the way, is not intended for shooting video, as it has pronounced venetting at the edges of the frame. That is, the object being removed must be placed in the center, otherwise it will be twisted. In other Soviet lenses, this is not so pronounced. I don't see the point of converting it to a movie lens.

[@kenyakking]

$2500 each 😮 They look nice though.

[@onlinetraderucom]

Hmmm... Helios for 2500$ (25$) vs Dulens T2.4 1000$..... Hahaha 😂🤣

[@mrb8467]

Hahahaha you're only negative comment about the lens is the plastic cap. Get outta here dude

[@bryanoliveira9513]

ya like jazz?

[@dm.b7560]

Nothing like being rich

[@bluecollar8525]

Approaching $3k? Why not just buy modern glass at that price?

[@alex-stone]

Because modern glass doesn't produce images like these do...

[@paulmrodriguez]

Modern glass at 3k?! No thanks. That is an amateur lens.

[@matarsaallan5246]

USSR Lens

[@matthopkins217]

Your footage is way over exposed dude. Not a very good test.

[@ReflexVE]

He literally stated this was a test wide open. He was showing you what you can expect at max aperture.

[@odyssey.studios]

Stylistic choice. The highlights aren’t clipped so no sin here.

[@RobbieMcKane]

He’s exposing perfectly for how you would typically shoot on a professional set, putting as much light on the sensor as possible at a low iso without clipping, once you bring it down in the grade you get a very clean image.

[@Aspire.]

@@ReflexVE you put on an nd filter and expose the shot or lower aperture lol

[@ReflexVE]

@@Aspire. How would that help someone visualize the range? You are telling him how to shoot, something he already knows. He's doing a review, not a shoot.

[@hohhan1978]

When you need a russian engineering and optics to make ukrainian lens... Ironic.

[@kerder8660]

Soviets at that time ukraine was part of it ..hehehe pls people don't mix apples & oranges ... lots different ethnicities work together in soviet times on many designs so basically can't be specific to that certain country ...

[@ep7121]

@hohhan1978 I think what you meant is German engineering and optics. Which is even more “ironic”

[@hohhan1978]

@@kerder8660 So we should consider ukrainians and russians as the same thing as far as they completely mixed by population. You can't distinguished soviets nationality by place as everyone was cros migrating a lot and most engineers in east europe part was from center russia.

[@hohhan1978]

@@ep7121 True but only partially. lens design and lens scheme isn't the same thing. As far as final desing was only inspired buy initial scheme its still should be recalculated and redesigned in order to be produced out of different glass and coating materials. So final product looks alike from scheme perspective but there only resemblance left of it. If you will try to reproduce original german design with same materials as was used by soviet it wouldnt even focus properly.