Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Jupiter-36 250mm f/3.5

Arsenal · Kiev 88 + Pentacon Six · 1969

our own finding

Also known as: Jupiter-36 · Jupiter 36 · Jupiter-36 250mm · Jupiter 36 250mm · Jupiter-36 3.5/250 · Yupiter-36 · Jupiter-36B · Jupiter 36B · Jupiter-36V · Jupiter 36V · Jupiter-36C · MC Jupiter-36 · Юпитер-36Б · Юпитер-36В · Юпитер-36 · Юпитер 36

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Jupiter-36V (Юпитер-36В), Salyut / Kiev-88 mount Kiev 88 — 761262 — Arsenal passport, accepted November 1976, printed price 320 roubles —
Jupiter-36B (Юпитер-36Б), Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount Pentacon Six — 861228 — Vega, Uman, accepted September 1986 (certificate in the 1984 Jupiter-36B manual)
861500 — Vega, Uman, accepted October 1986 (certificate in the 1985 Jupiter-36 manual) 		—
  1. Dimensions differ by document: Arsenal's 1976 passport gives at most 89 × 180 mm, its 1984 and 1985 manuals and the post-Soviet brochure 92 × 180 mm, TRA's table 85 × 180 mm, and Kevin Kalsbeek's kievaholic table 92 mm by 168 mm. All agree on 1.5 kg.
  2. Minimum aperture: f/16 in every Arsenal document and in Abramov; the araxfoto table reproduced by TRA and the kievaholic table give f/22. Angle of view: 19° (Arsenal, Abramov, TRA), 18° (araxfoto, kievaholic). Blade count: 6 (allphotolenses, Radozhiva, Kamerastore); no Arsenal document gives it.
  3. Dates: Abramov gives 1969(?)–1991(?), with the question marks, and allphotolenses repeats 1969 and 1991. The post-Soviet brochure from State Enterprise 'Arsenal' still offers the lens as Jupiter-36 C, B and ARSAT C, B, so it was being sold after 1991; no end date is documented.
  4. ARSAT naming: the brochure names the lens ARSAT C, B 3,5/250. No ARSAT-engraved Jupiter-36 was seen, so it has no variant row here. Radozhiva says the ARSAT versions were multi-coated; a contributor on the mflenses forum says late multi-coated lenses exist but are rare. TRA's 1991 lens is single-coated.
  5. The mflenses forum contributor dates the change from copper to greyish aluminium blades to about 1980. TRA's own 1980 lens still has copper blades.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Arsenal and Vega made the lens in two mounts with the same optics. The letter after the number is the only marking that tells them apart: Б (B) for the Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six breech-lock, В (V) for the Salyut / Kiev-88 thread. Check the mount itself, because sellers mix the letters up
  • A 1.5 kg lens with no tripod socket (Radozhiva, Wikipedia): the camera mount carries the whole weight
  • 82 mm front filter thread. The front cap is metal. On Radozhiva's screw-in-hood V it screws on like a filter; on TRA's 1980 B it screws only onto the back of the reversed hood, not onto the lens; on Borodin's sliding-hood B it sits flush with the hood and pops out when the hood is pushed forward
  • Two cosmetic generations run across both mounts: a separate screw-in hood and copper or yellowish unblackened blades (the 1976 V passport, TRA's 1980 B, Radozhiva's V), then a built-in sliding hood (shown in the 1984 manual) and later grey blades (TRA's 1991 B)

Jupiter-36V (Юпитер-36В), Salyut / Kiev-88 mount:

  • Engraved ЮПИТЕР-36 В 3,5/250 (Cyrillic В, which is the Latin V); the passport photograph shows that engraving on the barrel
  • The Salyut thread-and-bayonet mount: the lens screws on by a coarse thread, with no locking ring on the lens and no breech-lock tabs; Arsenal calls it a threaded bayonet (резьбовой байонет) and gives the flange distance as 82.1 mm
  • Western sellers routinely write 'Jupiter-36B' for this lens because the Cyrillic В looks like a Latin B. Kamerastore, for one, lists a Salyut-mount lens as 'Jupiter-36B'. Go by the mount in the photographs, not by the letter in the title
  • Early examples came with a separate screw-in hood: the 1976 passport lists a hood (бленда) in the kit, and Radozhiva's V had no built-in hood but a hood screwed into the front filter

Jupiter-36B (Юпитер-36Б), Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount:

  • Engraved ЮПИТЕР-36 Б 3,5/250 (Cyrillic Б, which is the Latin B)
  • The Praktisix / Pentacon Six breech-lock: a rotating locking ring (накидная гайка, union nut) at the back of the lens, with the bayonet tabs it clamps; flange 74 mm per Arsenal
  • Arsenal's 1984 manual is for the Kiev-6S and Kiev-6S TTL and says the bayonet allows use on the Pentacon Six; the 1985 manual adds the Kiev-60 TTL
  • The undated post-Soviet Arsenal brochure calls the Pentacon Six version 'Jupiter-36 C' / 'ARSAT C' for the Kiev-60 TTL, the Arsenal relabelling TRA describes as a way to end the B/V confusion; the lens pictured in it is still engraved ЮПИТЕР-36 Б

Serial-range notes

761262, 861228, 861500
In the three factory documents seen, the first two digits of the six-digit number match the year on the acceptance stamp (76 for November 1976; 86 for September and October 1986). The 86 numbers are from the Uman Vega plant, so the prefix does not identify the plant.

Specifications

Formula
Four elements in three groups: a single front element, a thick cemented doublet and a single rear element, as drawn in the Arsenal/Vega manuals; called Sonnar-type by Radozhiva and the English Wikipedia
Construction
4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/16
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
3.5 m
Dimensions
92 × 180 mm
Weight
1500 g
Filter
82 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Years manufactured
1969
Country
Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR: Arsenal, Kiev, and the Vega plant, Uman); Ukraine after 1991
Coating
Single coating. TRA's lens of 1991 is still single-coated; Radozhiva says the ARSAT B and ARSAT C versions were multi-coated, and a contributor on the mflenses forum says late multi-coated lenses exist but are rare
Original price
320 roubles, Soviet retail list price (Abramov, for 1976 and 1986; the same figure is printed in an Arsenal passport of November 1976 and in two Vega acceptance certificates of 1986)

What reviewers say

Optical formula — Four elements in three groups: a single front element, a thick cemented doublet and a single rear element, as drawn in the Arsenal/Vega manuals; called Sonnar-type by Radozhiva and the English Wikipedia

History

The Jupiter-36 is the long lens of the Soviet 6×6 SLR systems: a 250mm f/3.5 telephoto for the Salyut and Kiev-88 family and for the Kiev-6S and Kiev-60. Abramov credits the design to the State Optical Institute (GOI) and dates it 1969 to 1991, both with question marks. Arsenal in Kiev made it, and so did the Vega plant at Uman, which ordered its own printing of the instruction manuals. It has four elements in three groups, a front element, a large cemented doublet and a rear element, weighs a kilogram and a half and has no tripod socket. Radozhiva and the English Wikipedia call it Sonnar-type. The aperture is automatic: it is set in advance and closes when the release is pressed, so the photographer focuses at full aperture.

It was made in two mounts with the same optics. The Jupiter-36V (Cyrillic В) has the screw-in mount of the Salyut, Salyut-S, Kiev-80 and Kiev-88. The Jupiter-36B (Cyrillic Б) has the breech-lock of the Kiev-6S and Kiev-60, which Arsenal’s 1984 manual says also fits the Pentacon Six. In the post-Soviet brochure the Pentacon Six version is called Jupiter-36 C, or ARSAT C. The letters cause constant confusion: in Latin type the Cyrillic В reads as a B, so many Western listings of a “Jupiter-36B” are in fact Salyut-mount V lenses. Look at the mount, not the title. The breech-lock version has a locking ring at the rear. The Salyut version screws in and has neither the ring nor the tabs. The two do not interchange, although the Kiev-88CM and Kiev-88 bodies converted to the Pentacon Six mount take the B.

The visible changes over its life were to the hood and the blades, not the glass. Arsenal’s 1976 passport lists a separate hood in the kit. TRA’s 1980 lens has a screw-in hood held by a ring on four tiny screws, and that hood traps the filter when it is reversed for storage. The 1984 manual already shows a built-in sliding hood, and TRA’s 1991 lens has the sliding hood, grey rather than copper-coloured blades, a black case in place of the brown one, and still only a single coating. Either generation came with UV and yellow-green 82mm filters in a holder screwed into the lid of the case. Its list price was 320 roubles in 1976 and again in 1986.

When buying, check the mount before anything else, and check that the automatic diaphragm closes and reopens cleanly on the body it is meant for, since an adapter does not work it. On early lenses, check that the hood ring still has all its screws: TRA found his 1980 lens’s ring had shed them. The two reviews below disagree about how good it is. Borodin found his 1988 B remarkable for the money. Radozhiva found his V soft and very prone to flare, and wondered whether he had a poor example. Both say contrast falls away against the light.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Jupiter-36 250mm f/3.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $140 across 27 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-09 (middle half $110–$180). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 31 more listings

Listings updated 2026-11-09. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Sources (10)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.