How to make a Leica-style focusing tab for the Helios 44-2 and other lenses
Jul 18, 2024
Vlad Moldovean
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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I never had a lens with a focusing tab and I wanted to give it a try. Today, out of curiosity, I designed and 3D-printed a focusing tab for my Helios 44-2, one of my favorite manual lenses and a crowd favorite for sure. And to my surprise was immediately blown away by the difference it made in terms of ergonomics.
The focusing tab is a feature found on select camera lenses, often associated with posh Leica shooters. And while they like to talk about their cameras a lot and how the rangefinder experience is so much different most of them manage to skip over the benefits of this little piece of plastic. But it can completely change the feeling of your manual lenses. And the best part about it is that you don’t need to shoot Leica to enjoy its benefits and this can pretty much be adapted to any manual lens.
Why a Focusing Tab?
It’s all about ergonomics! Manual focusing can be challenging, but a focusing tab provides much better control and leverage, allowing for smoother, more accurate adjustments.
Because the tab is further away from the center of the lens, it enhances your control by giving you a mechanical advantage. The tab acts as a lever, allowing you to apply force over a larger distance, which makes turning the focus ring easier and more precise with less effort.
Because you now only need one finger to move the focus ring around, you can use the palm of your left hand to hold the camera. This gives you one more point of contact, making your entire rig easier to hold and reducing the amount of shake you introduce into the system while you focus your shots making it much easier to maintain the framing of your photos.
Of course, the 3d printable file is free to download in the “3d models” section of my website and if you use a Helios 44-2 for your photography you should definitely give it a try since the entire part cost is probably less than $2 worth of plastic.
While my design focuses on this lens with an oddly shaped focus ring, you can find others that will fit pretty much any other lens with a normal round focus rig, and if you don’t, just shoot me a message @vmoldo on IG, and I’ll see what I can do about it.
About Vlad Moldovean
Vlad Moldovean is a visual artist from Brasov, Romania. He mainly shoots portrait photography but also experiments with various techniques and technologies and the ways they can be used to create art. You can find out more about Vlad on his website and follow his work on Instagram. This article was also published here and shared with permission.
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2 responses to “How to make a Leica-style focusing tab for the Helios 44-2 and other lenses”
This is cool!
Thanks for that.
100% our pleasure!