Questionadapting a helios 44-2 to my a7c? focus peaking at night

hi! been seeing all the swirly bokeh stuff and want to try a helios 44-2 on my a7c for night street. found one for like $55 on ebay. what adapter do i need and how do people actually focus these at night? the peaking on my a7c is kinda useless in the dark or im doing it wrong :)

Ah, a Helios convert in the making. You want a plain M42 to Sony E adapter, nothing clever, about $20 your side. Skip anything with glass in it. Some cheap adapters are a touch off at infinity, so check yours focuses on something distant before you rely on it at night.

Focusing: set peaking to red at mid level and put magnify on a custom button. At night peaking struggles because there isn't much contrast, so magnify on something lit (a sign, a lamp, a face in a shop window) and focus on that. If there's nothing lit at the distance you want, focus on your own hand held out at roughly that distance, it's a daft trick but it works. I'd shoot it at f/2.8 rather than f/2 where you can, wide open it's soft and glowy, which you'll either love or you won't. And switch on 'release without lens' in the menu or the camera won't fire at all. Cracking lens. Enjoy.

omg the release without lens thing. that was my other problem lol thank you. i thought the adapter was broken

Shoot it wide open at night. That's the whole point of the lens.

f2point8 said:

Shoot it wide open at night. That's the whole point of the lens.

If you want everything looking like it was taken through a greasy window, sure. At f/2.8 it's a different lens, mind. Still swirly, just with some actual detail in the middle

That's the look though.

update: got it, adapter works fine. shot downtown last night at f/2 and f/2.8. f/2 looks cooler for neon signs, f/2.8 is better for faces. you were both right :)

Diplomatic. We'll make a regular of you yet