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

Mir-26 45mm f/3.5

Arsenal · Pentacon Six + Kiev 88 · 1977

Also known as: Mir-26 · Mir 26 · MIR-26 45mm · Mir 26 45mm · Mir-26 45mm f/3.5 · Mir-26 45mm f3.5 · Mir-26 3.5/45 · MC Mir-26 · Arsenal Mir-26 · Kiev Mir-26 · Mir-26B · Mir 26B · Mir-26V · Mir 26V · Mir-26B 45mm · Mir-26V 45mm · Мир-26 · МИР-26 · Мир-26Б · Мир-26В · MC Arsat 45mm · MC Arsat 45 · Arsat 45mm f/3.5 · Arsat 3.5/45 · Arsat PCS 45 · MC Arsat PCS 45 · Arsat 45mm shift · Arsat 45mm PCS · Hartblei 45mm · Hartblei 45 shift · Hartblei PCS 45 · Hartblei TS-PC 45 · Hartblei Super-Rotator 45 · Hartblei Super Rotator 45mm · Wiese 45mm PCS · Wiese Technoplan

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mir-26B (Мир-26Б), Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount Pentacon Six — — —
Mir-26V (Мир-26В), Salyut / Kiev-88 mount Kiev 88 — 770372: Lewis Collard's lens, on his Kiev 88; he reads it as made in 1977 —
MC Arsat 45mm f/3.5 B (the multi-coated Arsat Mir-26B) Pentacon Six — — —
MC Arsat PCS 45mm f/3.5 shift · Eight elements in seven groups: TRA judges by eye that the elements are those of the Mir-26B Pentacon Six — TRA's lens dates from 2000 by its serial number (the number is not published) No figure published
Hartblei MC 45mm f/3.5 PCS shift, TS-PC shift/tilt and Super-Rotator Pentacon Six — — No figure published
Wiese 45mm f/3.5 PCS and Technoplan-T Pentacon Six — — —
  1. Specifications by source. TRA: f/3.5, 83°, 0.5 m, M82 × 0.75, 86 × 96.5 mm, 650 g, no preview lever. Arax: 3.5–22, 83°, 0.5 m, 8/7, 45/16 lines/mm centre/edge, 82 mm, 0.65 kg, Ø86 × 96.5. kievaholic: 3.5–22, 83°, 0.5 m, 8/7, 45/16, 82 mm, 93 mm long, 86 mm across, 0.6 kg. allphotolenses: f/3.5–22, 6 blades, 0.5 m, 82 mm, 650 g, 96 mm long, 84°, 8/4, 48/20 lines/mm. The six blades come from allphotolenses alone.
  2. Dates. Allphotolenses gives 1970–1992 and says the lens was sold as Arsat after 1992; Arax says the last medium-format lens was made in 1992. Neither cites a document. The earliest dated lens found is Lewis Collard's of 1977 (by serial); TRA's test lens is of 1990, and his Arsat PCS dates from 2000 by its serial. No first year from an Arsenal catalogue was found, so the header year is that of the earliest dated lens.
  3. Arsat name. TRA's Arsat page puts Arsenal's ARSAT branding in the late 1990s, his Wiese page in the early 1990s, and his data page 'from about 1990' in one note and 'at some point after the collapse of the Soviet Union' in another; allphotolenses says after 1992.
  4. Allphotolenses says the design was based on the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 50mm f/4, redesigned for more speed, and sellers repeat it as 'Flektogon copy'. TRA and the other sources read here do not say so, and allphotolenses' 8/4 construction disagrees with every other table.
  5. Not linked to the original Salyut (1957–72). Matt's Classic Cameras writes that the earlier Salyuts and their lenses had a different aperture coupling from the Salyut-S and that the lenses do not interchange unless the coupling is removed; Sovietcams, after commiecameras.com, says only the last Salyuts, exported as the Zenit 80, had a slightly modified mount that accepts and works the later lenses. Arax lists the Salyut and Zenit-80 among the bodies for the V, and Russian Wikipedia says all Kiev-88 accessories fit the Salyut. Try the lens on the camera before buying it for a Salyut.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Arsenal made the lens in two mounts with the same optics. The letter after the number tells them apart: Б (B) for the Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six breech-lock, В (V) for the Salyut / Kiev-88 thread. Western sellers write 'Mir-26B' for both, so a 'Mir-26B' listed for the Kiev 88 is in fact the V. Check the mount: tabs and a locking ring for the B, a wide coarse thread for the V
  • Big for a 45mm: 82 mm filter thread, 86 mm across, about 97 mm long and 650 g. The much rarer Mir-69 of the same focal length and aperture takes 67 mm filters and weighs about 450 g
  • Automatic diaphragm closed by the camera on release; the shift rebuilds have a manual preset diaphragm instead
  • Shift lenses named Arsat PCS, Hartblei or Wiese 45mm f/3.5 are Mir-26B optics in new mechanics, according to TRA

Mir-26B (Мир-26Б), Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount:

  • Cyrillic Б after the number, the Latin B. The Pentacon Six breech-lock at the rear: narrow tabs and a locking ring, with the aperture pin the body works on release
  • No depth-of-field preview lever on the barrel (TRA's data table). The Kiev-6S and Kiev-60 have the lever on the body; on a Pentacon Six, an Exakta 66 or a Kiev-88CM there is no way to stop the lens down before the exposure
  • The aperture ring is towards the front of the lens, ahead of the focusing ring (TRA)
  • Fits the Kiev-6S, Kiev-60, Kiev-88CM, Pentacon Six, Praktisix and Exakta 66 (Arax also lists its own Arax bodies, Hartblei and the Kiev B.i.G.). It does not fit a Salyut or a plain Kiev-88

Mir-26V (Мир-26В), Salyut / Kiev-88 mount:

  • Cyrillic В after the number, which is the Latin V. In Latin type the В reads as a B, and Western sellers very often list this lens as a 'Mir-26B': Lewis Collard titles his Kiev-88 lens 'Mir-26b' and calls the camera a 'Type B-mount Kiev 88'. TRA adds that Arsenal engraved the name and mount letter sometimes in Cyrillic and sometimes in Latin type, so even the barrel can mislead. Go by the mount in the photographs
  • The Salyut / Kiev-88 mount: the lens screws in on a wide, coarse thread, with no locking ring and no breech-lock tabs
  • Fits the Salyut, Salyut-S, Kiev-80 and Kiev-88 (Arax adds the Zenit-80, the export name of the Salyut-S). It does not fit the Kiev-60, Pentacon Six or Kiev-88CM without an adapter

MC Arsat 45mm f/3.5 B (the multi-coated Arsat Mir-26B):

  • Name ring with 'ARSAT' and 'MC' in red; TRA's example has no serial number but still carries the Arsenal logo, and the mount letter 'B'
  • Multi-coated, which the reflections show; the Soviet-era Mir-26 is single-coated
  • The same barrel as the Mir-26B, on 82 mm filters

MC Arsat PCS 45mm f/3.5 shift:

  • Engraved 'MC ARSAT PCS', with 'PCS' in yellow and the shift scale in yellow; f/3.5 and f/22 also yellow on the aperture ring
  • A shift ring with a rubber-studded cover, up to 12 mm nominal (11.5 mm on TRA's lens); no red warning marks for the 10 mm limit on 6×6, unlike the Hartblei
  • A rotating mount with click stops every 15° and a release lever at the back; a manual preset diaphragm with half stops to f/11
  • The rear element stands proud of the mount; TRA's lens had a painted, not anodised, mount ring with flaking paint, and a rotation lock that did not hold the lens in the chosen position

Hartblei MC 45mm f/3.5 PCS shift, TS-PC shift/tilt and Super-Rotator:

  • Hartblei name on the barrel and 'MC' and 'PCS' or 'TS-PC' on the name ring; the shift scale's 11 and 12 mm marks in red as a warning that 6×6 vignettes beyond 10 mm
  • Three forms: shift only (750 g, 86 mm long); shift in any direction with tilt downward only, up to 6° (850 g); and the Super-Rotator, shift and tilt in any direction up to 8° (880 g). The two tilting lenses have 'wings' that work the aperture ring (TRA's tables; the tilt lenses as Hartblei advertised them)
  • Close focus 0.35 m on the two tilting lenses and 0.5 m on TRA's shift-only lens, although the data source TRA used gives 0.35 m for it too; kievaholic gives 0.5 m
  • Rotating mount with 15° click stops; manual preset diaphragm, in half stops all the way to f/22 on the shift-only lens

Wiese 45mm f/3.5 PCS and Technoplan-T:

  • Wiese name on the name ring; 'MADE IN UKRAINE' pressed into the side of the barrel near the back, unfilled with paint; no visible serial number
  • A very large shift ring near the back, 0–12 mm with 11 and 12 mm in red; a narrower ribbed focusing ring than the Mir-26B's, and the index ring moved forward so it partly covers the distance figures
  • Other Wiese names: the 'Technoplan-T' is the Hartblei shift and tilt-down lens with a Wiese name ring; the 'Shift Technoplan - T2' is the Hartblei Super-Rotator; and a shift-only 'Technoplan' in a different barrel, close to the Hartblei tilt lens, has been seen with 'T3' blacked out on the name ring

Serial-range notes

770372
Lewis Collard's Kiev-88-mount lens, which he dates to 1977 from the first two digits. That is the convention sellers use for Arsenal lenses, not something an Arsenal document states for this lens. It is the earliest dated Mir-26 found, and it sits a year before the 1978 by which Russian Wikipedia says most Salyut lenses other than the Mir-3 and Tair-33 appeared.

Specifications

Formula
Eight elements in seven groups (TRA's copy of the Arax table, araxfoto and kievaholic); allphotolenses gives eight in four. TRA reproduces the lens diagram from the instruction manual
Construction
8 elements / 7 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/22
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
0.5 m
Dimensions
86 × 96.5 mm
Weight
650 g
Filter
82 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Years manufactured
1977
Country
Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR: Arsenal, Kiev); Ukraine after 1991
Coating
Single-coated in the Soviet-era Mir-26 according to TRA, who never saw an Arsenal lens or leaflet for the Kiev 60 marked as multi-coated, and allphotolenses. Araxfoto's text says all its Kiev lenses were multi-coated, improving over the years, but its own data table marks the Mir-26 as made both multi-coated and single-coated. The post-Soviet MC Arsat and the shift rebuilds are multi-coated and marked 'MC'

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
strong wide open
Flare & ghosting
flares badly
Distortion
slight barrel
Optical formula — Eight elements in seven groups (TRA's copy of the Arax table, araxfoto and kievaholic); allphotolenses gives eight in four. TRA reproduces the lens diagram from the instruction manual

History

The Mir-26 is the 45mm f/3.5 wide-angle of Arsenal’s 6×6 SLR systems, made in the Pentacon Six breech-lock for the Kiev-6S and Kiev-60 and in the Salyut thread for the Salyut and Kiev-88. On 6×6 it covers 83° (84° in allphotolenses and Russian Wikipedia), horizontally about what a 28mm gives on 35mm by Lewis Collard’s reckoning, and he calls it the widest lens without fisheye distortion for the Kiev-88. It is a large lens for its focal length: 82 mm filters, 86 mm across, about 97 mm long and 650 g, with eight elements in seven groups in the tables of TRA, Arax and kievaholic, an automatic diaphragm to f/22 and a closest focus of 0.5 m. When it was introduced is not documented. Allphotolenses gives 1970–1992 without a source. Russian Wikipedia’s Salyut article says most of the system’s lenses, the Mir-26V among them, were issued only from 1978, yet the earliest dated lens found is Lewis Collard’s of 1977, by the usual reading of its serial. Arax writes that the last medium-format lens was made in 1992. Allphotolenses says the design was based on the Zeiss Jena Flektogon 50mm f/4, and sellers repeat it, but no other source read here makes that claim.

The two factory versions are told apart by the letter after the number and by the mount. The Mir-26B (Cyrillic Б) has the Pentacon Six breech-lock and fits the Kiev-6S, Kiev-60, Kiev-88CM, Pentacon Six, Praktisix and Exakta 66. It has no preview lever, which matters on a Pentacon Six or an Exakta 66, whose bodies have none either. The Mir-26V (Cyrillic В) screws into the Salyut, Salyut-S, Kiev-80 and Kiev-88. In Latin type the В reads as a B, so a “Mir-26B” offered for the Kiev 88 is a V lens: Lewis Collard’s own Kiev-88 lens is titled “Mir-26b”, and TRA warns that Arsenal itself engraved some lenses in Cyrillic and some in Latin type. Look at the rear of the lens. Tabs and a locking ring mean the B, a wide coarse thread means the V. After the Soviet Union, Arsenal sold the lens as the MC Arsat 45, multi-coated with “MC” in red; TRA’s example has no serial number, still carries the Arsenal logo and is marked “B”. TRA dates the Arsat name variously to about 1990, the early 1990s and the late 1990s on different pages, and allphotolenses says after 1992.

The Mir-26 is also the optical core of almost every 45mm shift lens for the Pentacon Six. TRA reports that the Hartblei 45mm PCS shift, the TS-PC shift-and-tilt-down and the Super-Rotator use its elements, and he found front elements of exactly the same shape in the Arsat PCS 45, the Hartblei and the Wiese 45mm PCS; he takes the Wiese lenses, including the Technoplan models, for rebadged Hartbleis. All have a nominal 12 mm of shift (kievaholic gives 10 mm for the Hartblei in the Kiev-88 mount), a rotating mount with 15° clicks and a manual preset diaphragm. The Hartblei and Wiese lenses carry red warning marks at 11 and 12 mm, beyond which 6×6 vignettes, and a multi-coating that TRA finds far better than the original Arsenal coating and deeper-looking than the Arsat’s, though he saw no difference in results. The Arsat, which TRA dates to 2000 from its serial, has yellow “PCS” lettering, a rubber-covered shift ring and, on his lens, a painted mount ring that was already flaking.

Optically the plain lens is ordinary in the tests read here, although allphotolenses calls its sharpness good and its contrast high. TRA’s 1990 Mir-26B was sharp only in the very centre at f/3.5 and sharpened up tremendously at f/11, with slight barrel distortion and no vignetting; in the same test it was much less sharp and contrasty than the Flektogon 50 and the Curtagon 60. Lewis Collard found his Kiev-88 lens soft and low in contrast wide open, good from f/5.6 and best at f/16, with ugly out-of-focus blobs, bad flare and chromatic aberration visible in the finder at full aperture. His conclusion is to shoot it at f/8 to f/16. In some lenses at least, the softness is assembly rather than design. A reader in Canada told TRA that the screws for the aperture tab varied in length and that the spacer between mount and focusing unit differed by 0.5–1 mm between his two Mir-26s, and that after reworking them he got sharp results even wide open.

When buying, confirm the mount from the photographs rather than the title, and check that the diaphragm closes to the set value on release and opens fully again at every stop. Turn the focusing ring through its whole travel: Lewis Collard’s was stiff to 2.5 m and loose beyond it, and his aperture ring felt worn. A lens that looks sound but will not focus sharply at infinity may need the adjustment that should have been done at the factory; TRA names Tom Page in England and Peter Olbrich in Germany as specialists who may be able to help. On the shift versions, see that the rotation lock clicks home and keep a rear cap on, because the rear element stands proud of the mount. Allphotolenses calls the Mir-26 frequent and inexpensive on the used market and advises preferring export lenses with the name in Latin letters or lenses with the Soviet quality mark; Lewis Collard, writing for Kiev-88 owners in 2012, found them not especially common. Arax sells refurbished P6-mount lenses for US$245, and Lewis Collard noted in 2012 that Hartblei sold them new for US$185; both are dealer prices. No Soviet list price was found.

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

Sample photo taken with the Mir-26 45mm f/3.5
A Mir-26 with a Pentacon Six lens adapter, showing the Pentacon Six breech-lock mount — Stephen R Woolverton, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Sample photo taken with the Mir-26 45mm f/3.5
A Mir-26B in Pentacon Six mount, photographed in 2009 — RawheaD Rex (Flickr), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

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

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Mir-26 45mm f/3.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $150 across 10 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $130–$220). First day tracked.

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

Listings updated 2026-11-10. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Sources (17)

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.