Auto Revuenon 50mm f/1.9 – First Impressions

The Lens

Initially, I wanted to buy the famous Helios 44-2. When scrolling through eBay, I noticed that there are a lot more cheapish M42 lenses available. So I expanded my search from the Helios 44-2 to all kinds of M42 lenses.

So when you are asking yourself why I bought exactly this vintage lens, well first it was one of the cheapest M42 lenses and second I missed some of the Helios auctions. I ended up with Auto Revuenon 50mm f/1.9 for around 20€.

After the package arrived a few days later I was really surprised how small this lens is. I mean it is so tiny. Especially when comparing it to the new Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8.

The Adapter

To properly mount the Auto Revuenon to my Nikon Z6 an Adapter is required. After a little bit of research, I bought an Adapter from K&F Concept (M42 Lenses to Nikon Z Mount). This is a rather inexpensive adapter (~40€) without any electronic built-in. Due to this, the camera body is not able to communicate with the lens. However, this isn’t a problem at all, since the Auto Revuenon lens is completely manual. I think this is true for most of the M42 mount lenses.

After screwing the lens onto the adapter, the lens isn’t so small anymore. The adapter is nearly doubling the size of it.

With the adapter, the lens was finally ready to be mounted on the Nikon Z6. The combination of the body, the adapter, and the lens looks kind of funny. I really like the combination of old and new in this case.

The Results

Now it was time to test the new vintage lens out in the field (pun intended). I decided to do a little walk before sunset. Luckily I discovered a really nice sunflower field. I started with some closed aperture landscape shots like you can see in the following.

I was really surprised at how well these landscape images turned out. Taking the age and the price of this lens into account, I didn’t expect such nice results. So I proceeded with some sunflower backlight shots with a wide-open aperture.

I am so amazed by these beautiful lens flares produced by this lens. Also, I really like how the Bokeh is rendered.

The Summary

In summary, I am more than happy with this lens. I am really enjoying playing around with this vintage lens including all these edges and all of the character.

For the price, age and size I am really impressed by the performance of this lens. I think the sharpness is also quite good (if not zooming in 300%). It is definitely capable of delivering some original shots.

Of course, it isn’t really comparable with the new 50mm for the Z mount. But for me, the lens does serve a completely different purpose anyways.

Stay tuned for the next vintage lens blog post. I already bought a second vintage lens!