Orestegor / Pentacon 500mm f/5.6
Meyer-Optik Görlitz · Pentacon Six + M42 + Exakta + Other · 1965
Also known as: Orestegor 500mm f/5.6 · Orestegor 500mm f5.6 · Orestegor 500mm 1:5.6 · Orestegor 5,6/500 · Orestegor 5.6/500 · Orestegor 1:5,6/500 · Orestegor 5,6/500mm · Orestegor 500/5.6 · Orestegor 500/5,6 · Orestegor 500mm · Orestegor 500 · Meyer Orestegor 500mm f5.6 · Meyer-Optik Görlitz Orestegor 5,6/500 · Meyer-Optik Görlitz 500mm f5.6 Orestegor · Pentaconar 500 · Pentaconar 500mm · Pentaconar 5,6/500 · Pentacon 5,6/500 · Pentacon 5.6/500 · Pentacon 5,6/500mm · Pentacon 1:5,6/500 · Pentacon 500mm f/5.6 · Pentacon 500mm f5.6 · Pentacon 500mm 1:5.6 · Pentacon 500/5.6 · Pentacon 500/5,6 · Pentacon 500 f5.6 · Prakticar 5,6/500 · Prakticar 500mm f5.6 · Meyer Optik 5,6/500 · Meyer-Optik 500mm f5.6 · Meyer Görlitz 500mm f5.6 · Орестегор 500 · Пентакон 500мм · Пентакон 5,6/500
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orestegor 5,6/500, black flat-groove rings | Praktisix / Pentacon Six (exchangeable rear adapter) | 1965 | — | — |
| Pentaconar 5,6/500 | Pentacon Six (exchangeable rear adapter) | — | — | — |
| Pentacon 5,6/500, black zebra-type rings | Pentacon Six (exchangeable rear adapter) | — | — | — |
| Pentacon 5,6/500, cross knurl, single-coated | Pentacon Six (exchangeable rear adapter) | — | — | — |
| Pentacon 5,6/500 MC (red, later green scale) | Pentacon Six (exchangeable rear adapter) | — | — | — |
| Prakticar 5,6/500 MC | Pentacon Six, or Praktica B (exchangeable rear adapter) | — | — | — |
| Meyer-Optik 1:5,6 f = 500 mm (1990–91) | T2 (delivered with an adapter piece for T2 mounts) | 1990–1991 | — | — |
| On the M42 (Praktica) adapter | M42 (factory exchangeable adapter) | — | — | — |
| On the Exakta adapter | Exakta (factory exchangeable adapter) | — | — | — |
| On the Praktina adapter | Praktina (factory exchangeable adapter) | — | — | — |
| On the Praktica B adapter (Prakticar) | Praktica B (factory adapter, 1980s) | 1982 | — | — |
- Dates: Kröger says the lens was launched at the Leipzig Spring Fair of 1965 (Fotografie 5/1965) and notes a short report by Hellmut Opitz in Jugend und Technik of March 1965; pentaconsix.com finds it first in a Meyer brochure of 1966; Bobsin says it replaced the Telemegor 5,5/400 about 1963 and that a pre-series seems to have been made in 1961. TRA says it was made until at least 1990 and possibly a year or two after; Bobsin gives 1990/91 for the last, Meyer-Optik lens.
- Specifications are TRA's at pentaconsix.com: 4 elements in 4 groups, 10°, 6.0 m, 118 × 1 mm filter, 370 mm, 3500 g. Kamerastore's dealer entries agree on 6 m and a 118 mm filter and give a 125 mm diameter, but list the Pentacon MC at 370 mm, 3.5 kg and 19 aperture blades and the Prakticar at 375 mm, 4500 g and 18 blades; the structured figures here are TRA's.
- Not listed as versions: Bobsin knows a prototype with a fixed Praktisix mount, hand engraving, no distance scale and dots for the aperture values, in a simple helicoid where the whole front tube turns to focus; and a sample like the early series lenses but in bright zebra finish, engraved with the focal length only and with its tripod thread moved towards the centre of gravity, a feature found on no other example. He also mentions further engraving variants (fonts, placement) that he does not list.
- Prices are DDR retail list prices in Mark. Kröger's Orestegor page gives 706.50 M with the Praktica or Praktisix adapter and 713 M for the Exakta and Praktina as the price of the new lens, with no year. Kröger's table of DDR prices gives, for 1974, 695 M without adapter, 713 M with the Exakta Varex adapter and 706.50 M with the Praktisix or M42 adapter; 741.50 M with MC (1987); and 820 M for the Prakticar 5,6/500 with Praktica B adapter (1989).
How to tell them apart
- Engraved Orestegor (Meyer-Optik), briefly Pentaconar, then PENTACON 5,6/500, Prakticar, and after 1990 Meyer-Optik 1:5,6 f = 500 mm; a black lens of about 3.5 kg and 37 cm with a tripod clamp, a 118 mm filter thread and a manual preset diaphragm, with no automatic-diaphragm pin
- The camera mount is a separate adapter held by a clamping ring; this lens introduced the system, which the Orestegor 4/300 then shared, so the head fits a Pentacon Six, M42, Exakta or Praktina body with the right adapter
- Not the Telemegor 5,5/400 it replaced, nor the Arsat APO 500mm f/5.6 from Kiev (shorter, under half the weight, with an automatic diaphragm and a stop-down lever), nor any 500 mm mirror lens (MTO, Rubinar), nor the Zeiss Jena Fernobjektiv 1:8 f = 500 mm
Orestegor 5,6/500, black flat-groove rings:
- Engraved Orestegor with the Meyer-Optik name; the rings have the flat-groove knurl of the 1960s, but the whole barrel is painted black, so it lacks the period's bright 'zebra' look (Kröger; Bobsin: 'Zebra', schwarz lackiert)
- Short funnel-shaped front tube; manual preset diaphragm and no automatic-diaphragm pin
- The earliest lenses, which Bobsin calls the pre-series, have a base plate under the adapter held by three screws instead of the later four
- Supplied in a quiver-type case: Bobsin says it was still brown with the second production lot of about 1963 and black later, and that a later velvet insert, often lost, lets the lens stand front down
Pentaconar 5,6/500:
- Engraved Pentaconar 5,6/500 on the black flat-groove barrel of the Orestegor
Pentacon 5,6/500, black zebra-type rings:
- Engraved PENTACON 5,6/500, no Orestegor name; black barrel, short front funnel
- Bobsin lists three ring patterns: both rings flat-groove, then a knurled focusing ring, then both knurled; Kröger describes the intermediate barrel as having finger recesses (Griffmulden) and an orange feet scale
Pentacon 5,6/500, cross knurl, single-coated:
- PENTACON 5,6/500 with the diamond cross knurl on the focusing ring and a red scale, but no 'MC'
- Either the short front funnel or the new longer one: on the longer type the front tube's screw joint sits noticeably further back (Bobsin)
Pentacon 5,6/500 MC (red, later green scale):
- PENTACON 5,6/500 with a red-backed 'MC' on the barrel and the cross knurl; red scale first, with the short or long front funnel, then a green scale with the long funnel (Bobsin)
Prakticar 5,6/500 MC:
- Engraved Prakticar with MC; the barrel returns to a flat-groove knurl like the 1960s lens, in the zebra style, but with a much wider focusing ring (Kröger; Bobsin)
Meyer-Optik 1:5,6 f = 500 mm (1990–91):
- Engraved Meyer-Optik 1:5,6 f = 500 mm, multicoated (Kröger; Bobsin: 'Meyer Optik, MC')
- Delivered with a rear piece for T2 adapters; the example Kröger shows has its serial number prefixed with an 'S'
On the M42 (Praktica) adapter:
- The same lens head on the M42 screw adapter, held by the rear clamping ring
On the Exakta adapter:
- The same lens head on the Exakta outer-bayonet adapter
On the Praktina adapter:
- The same lens head on the Praktina breech-bayonet adapter
On the Praktica B adapter (Prakticar):
- A direct Praktica B bayonet piece, without going through the M42 adapter; it has a voltage divider for open-aperture metering
- Not interchangeable with the Praktica B adapter of the Pentacon 4/300, because the divider is set for each lens's maximum aperture (Kröger)
- Orestegor 5,6/500, black flat-groove rings: The first series lens. Kröger says it was launched at the Leipzig Spring Fair of 1965, citing Hellmut Opitz's test in Fotografie 5/1965, and that the new lens cost 706.50 M with the Praktica or Praktisix adapter and 713 M for the Exakta and the Praktina. Bobsin dates the introduction to 1963 and says a pre-series seems to have been made as early as 1961, which sits oddly with a patent filed in September 1963; his dating is given as he states it. Bobsin also says the pre-series lens's original front cap, which fits over the hood, is very rare: later lenses came with a cap that plugs into the hood so that the lens slides into the quiver.
- Pentaconar 5,6/500: The two sources disagree on how far this name went. Kröger says that at the start of the 1970s, when the Görlitz works, now part of the Pentacon combine, had to drop the Meyer-Optik name, the lens was briefly called 'Pentaconar' before the shorter 'Pentacon' was chosen, and he shows an example photographed by Paul Hofseth. Bobsin pictures a Pentaconar 5,6/500 and calls it a sample (Muster), engraved when the name was under discussion in 1970, and says the series lens went out as 'Pentacon'. Either way it is a rare lens.
- Pentacon 5,6/500, black zebra-type rings: Kröger dates the renaming and this intermediate barrel to the first half of the 1970s. The ring patterns are counted as one version because nothing but the knurl changes.
- Pentacon 5,6/500, cross knurl, single-coated: Kröger puts the cross-knurl barrel, the best-known form of the lens, in the second half of the 1970s. Bobsin says the longer front tube came in at about the same time as multicoating, and that it is not known whether the optics changed or whether old glass fits the new barrel, so both front tubes are found with both coatings in the changeover.
- Pentacon 5,6/500 MC (red, later green scale): Bobsin dates the multicoating to about 1979, and says the 4/300 never got it. Kröger notes that although the lens has only four elements, all their surfaces were multicoated, and the price rose slightly to 741.50 M; the DDR price list gives that figure for 1987, with the Praktisix or M42 adapter. This is the version TRA tested at pentaconsix.com.
- Prakticar 5,6/500 MC: Renamed in a further sweep of the names in the Carl Zeiss Jena combine: Bobsin says from 1982, Kröger in the second half of the 1980s. The optics stayed, in Kröger's words, where they had been twenty years before. With this version came an adapter for the Praktica B bayonet (listed as a separate version below). The DDR price list gives the Prakticar 5,6/500 with the Praktica B adapter at 820 M in 1989. The 'Prakticar' name was used across the combine's lenses, so check that the engraving reads 5,6/500.
- Meyer-Optik 1:5,6 f = 500 mm (1990–91): Made after the Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz GmbH was founded in summer 1990. Kröger says the T2 fitting was meant to sell a design nearly thirty years old to owners of almost any 35mm SLR, T2 adapters being common in West Germany, but that larger numbers could no longer be sold. Bobsin says it was made only for a short time and is one of the rarer versions.
- On the M42 (Praktica) adapter: Priced the same as the Praktisix lens: 706.50 M in 1974, 741.50 M with MC in 1987. A spare M42 adapter for the Pentacon 4/300 and 5,6/500 cost 11.50 M in 1987.
- On the Exakta adapter: 713 M with the Exakta Varex adapter in 1974, against 706.50 M with the Praktisix or M42 adapter and 695 M without an adapter.
- On the Praktina adapter: Kröger gives the new lens's price for the Praktina as 713 M, the same as for the Exakta. The Praktina itself had gone out of production in May 1960, according to Kröger, and the Praktina adapter does not appear in the 1974 price list.
- On the Praktica B adapter (Prakticar): Kröger ties this adapter to the Prakticar renaming. The 1987 price list has a Praktica B lens adapter 'for Pentacon 4/300 and 5,6/500' at 90 M, one entry for both lenses that sits awkwardly with Kröger's point, and the 1989 list gives the Prakticar 5,6/500 with Praktica B adapter at 820 M. The first year is Bobsin's date for the Prakticar name.
Specifications
- Formula
- True telephoto with a very short back focus: Lohberg and Hecking split the two cemented groups of the Telemegor type into single lenses, the negative lens of the front member becoming a free-standing meniscus of SF3 heavy flint (n = 1.74) with its concave side towards the front lens. The patent gives a back focus of only 18 % of the focal length (Kröger; Bobsin says about 19 %). Four elements in four groups (pentaconsix.com)
- Designed by
- Otto-Wilhelm Lohberg — co-designer; DDR patent 30.118, filed 10 September 1963 · Wolfgang Hecking — co-designer; DDR patent 30.118, filed 10 September 1963
- Construction
- 4 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/5.6
- Min. focus
- 6 m
- Dimensions
- 370 mm long
- Weight
- 3500 g
- Filter
- 118 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1965–1991
- Country
- East Germany (Görlitz)
- Coating
- Single-coated at first; multicoated from about 1979 (Bobsin), marked with a red-backed 'MC' (Kröger); single- and multicoated lenses overlap in the changeover
- Original price
- 706.50 M with the Praktisix or M42 adapter, 713 M with the Exakta Varex adapter, 695 M without adapter (DDR retail list prices, 1974, Kröger's table of DDR prices); 741.50 M with MC (1987); Kröger gives 706.50 / 713 M as the price of the new lens
What reviewers say
- Marco Kröger (zeissikonveb.de) (blog) — Up to date for 6×6 in its day, with almost no vignetting where the rival two-element 500s of Novoflex and Kilfitt had none of that optimisation; but tripod-only, stiff to focus, slow with its preset diaphragm and no top performer on 35mm, so he recommends it only as an addition to a 6×6 outfit.
- TRA (pentaconsix.com) (blog) — In his 2002 comparison, the 500mm f/5.6 MC Pentacon on a Pentacon Six came very close to a Carl Zeiss (Oberkochen) 250mm Sonnar with a Vivitar 2× converter on a Hasselblad, even wide open, and gained slightly at f/11; he ranked it second of four, just ahead of the Schneider Tele-Xenar and Jupiter-36B with 2× converters, and notes that it is a true f/5.6 where the f/5.6 250s with a converter are effectively f/11.
- Chuck Miller (blog) — A same-spot comparison on a Pentacon Six TL against the Biometar 80 and Flektogon 65, showing how large the 500 brings up a covered bridge; he enjoys the result but gives no verdict on sharpness.
History
The Orestegor 5,6/500 is the longest lens Meyer-Optik Görlitz made for the Praktisix and Pentacon Six, and the first super-telephoto in Görlitz designed for 6×6 rather than adapted to it. Its predecessor, the Telemegor 5,5/400 of the 1930s, had too long a back focus for the Praktisix: its light cone collided with the bayonet opening and the corners of the 6×6 frame went dark, so it was offered in Praktisix mount only briefly. Otto-Wilhelm Lohberg and Wolfgang Hecking, whose DDR patent was filed on 10 September 1963, split the Telemegor’s two cemented groups into four single lenses and made the negative lens of the front member a free-standing meniscus of heavy flint. Marco Kröger reads from the patent a back focus of only 18 % of the focal length, which leaves a little over 90 mm behind the rear lens. The Praktisix flange takes 74 mm of that, so the rear lens sits almost in the bayonet, and Kröger says the vignetting that had always troubled long lenses on 6×6 was cut to a minimum.
Kröger dates the launch to the Leipzig Spring Fair of 1965; Carsten Bobsin, who has catalogued the lens closely, puts its introduction about 1963, and pentaconsix.com finds it first in a 1966 brochure. The lens also brought in Meyer’s exchangeable adapter system, later used on the Orestegor 4/300: the camera mount is a separate piece held by a clamping ring, so one lens could be moved between a Praktisix or Pentacon Six and an M42, Exakta or Praktina body. In 1974 it cost 695 Mark without an adapter, 706.50 M with the Praktisix or M42 adapter and 713 M with the Exakta one, East German list prices. Later price lists add a Praktica B adapter, which Kröger says was made for this lens and not interchangeable with the one for the 4/300.
The optics barely changed in twenty-five years, but the name and barrel did. The first lens is engraved Orestegor and is all black, though it has the flat-groove rings of the zebra period; Bobsin’s earliest examples have three base-plate screws under the adapter instead of four. When the Görlitz works lost the Meyer-Optik name in the Pentacon combine, the lens was engraved Pentaconar, briefly in Kröger’s account, and only as a sample in Bobsin’s. It was then sold as PENTACON 5,6/500, first with zebra-type rings painted black, then from the later 1970s with the diamond cross knurl. Multicoating came in about 1979, shown by a red ‘MC’. Around the same time a longer front tube appeared, and both front tubes are found with both coatings during the changeover. In the 1980s the lens became the Prakticar 5,6/500, with flat-groove rings again and a much wider focusing ring. After 1990 the re-founded Görlitz works sold it for a short time as Meyer-Optik 1:5,6 f = 500 mm, with a fitting for T2 adapters. TRA’s 2002 test on a Pentacon Six ranked an MC Pentacon close behind a Zeiss 250mm Sonnar with a 2× converter, even wide open. Kröger’s verdict is cooler: a heavy lens for the tripod, stiff to focus, and worth having mainly on 6×6.
When buying, check the adapter as well as the engraving. The head is the same whatever mount it wears, and a Kiev-60 or Kiev-88CM takes the Pentacon Six adapter too. Expect about 3.5 kg and 37 cm of lens, used from its tripod clamp, with a 118 mm filter thread and a manual preset diaphragm. Look for the original quiver-type case and caps, and check that the long helicoid turns evenly and reaches infinity. Kröger calls the cross-knurl Pentacon the best-known form; Bobsin counts the 1990–91 Meyer-Optik among the rarer versions, and the Pentaconar was at most a brief name. Titles with ‘APO’ or ‘Arsat’ are the 1995 Kiev 500mm, ‘MTO’ and ‘Rubinar’ are Soviet mirror lenses, and ‘Telemegor’ is the 400 mm predecessor.
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
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More sample photos elsewhere
- Marco Kröger — Orestegor, Pentaconar, Pentacon, Prakticar and Meyer-Optik versions, the T2 adapter piece and the patent drawing, zeissikonveb.de
- Carsten Bobsin, PHOTODeal III/2013 — prototype, sample, pre-series and later versions of the 5,6/500 (PDF)
- TRA, pentaconsix.com — the 500mm f/5.6 MC Pentacon on a Pentacon Six, with test pictures
These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Orestegor / Pentacon 500mm f/5.6? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
Asking price, USD: a median of $310 across 9 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $190–$360). First day tracked.
Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.
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Listings updated 2026-11-10. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.