Telear-4 250mm f/3.5
Arsenal · Pentacon Six · 1984
Also known as: Telear-4 · Telear 4 · MC Telear-4 · MC Telear 4 · Telear-4 250mm · Telear 4 250mm · Telear-4 3.5/250 · Telear 3.5/250 · Telear 3,5/250 · Telear 250mm f/3.5 · Telear 250mm f3.5 · Telear-4B · Telear 4B · MC Telear-4B · Телеар-4 · Телеар 4 · Телеар-4Б · МС Телеар-4 · Телеар 3,5/250
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MC Telear-4B (МС ТЕЛЕАР-4 Б), Pentacon Six mount | Pentacon Six breech-lock (Kiev-6S, Kiev-60, Kiev-88CM; Arsenal mount letter 'Б', Latin B) | — | — | Small series, with no figure given (Abramov) |
- Angle of view (19°), f/3.5–16, 2.5 m closest focus, 55/30 lines/mm resolution at centre and edge, M77×0.75 filter thread, 0.9 kg and 80 × 150 mm are Abramov's figures. TRA's lens table gives the same angle, closest focus, filter thread, dimensions and weight, cites Abramov for them and notes his f/16; the resolution figure is Abramov's alone.
- Steffen's 1984 lens, as reported by TRA, differs: f/22 minimum aperture (visible on its aperture ring and depth-of-field scale), 3.3 m closest focus, about 145 mm long, 1130 g. Neither source explains the difference, and the page keeps Abramov's figures in the structured fields with this lens noted here.
- Dates conflict. Abramov says the lens was planned for release at the end of the 1980s as a replacement for the Jupiter-36 and was made in small series. TRA reports Steffen's lens as apparently made in 1984. The page takes 1984 as the first year on that one dated example; no end date is known.
- No Kiev-88 ('В') version has been found. TRA writes that it would appear all the lenses in his Kiev 60 table, the Telear-4B among them, were made in both mounts (with the ZM-3B, the 500mm APO and the Mir-69B as possible exceptions), but Russian Wikipedia's lens table for the Salyut and Kiev-88 lists the Telear-5В and Jupiter-36В and no Telear-4В, and neither TRA nor Abramov shows one. A Telear-4 offered for the Kiev-88 should be checked at the mount.
- Element and group counts, blade count, production numbers and any Soviet price are not given by either source.
How to tell them apart
- A 250mm f/3.5 for the 6×6 Kiev-6S, Kiev-60 and Kiev-88CM and the Pentacon Six: same focal length and speed as the Jupiter-36, but about 80 × 150 mm and 0.9 kg against the Jupiter's 85 × 180 mm and 1.5 kg
- Not the Telear-5, Arsenal's other 250mm, which is f/5.6 and takes 62 mm filters, and not the Telear-N 200mm f/3.5 for the Nikon-mount Kiev SLRs
MC Telear-4B (МС ТЕЛЕАР-4 Б), Pentacon Six mount:
- Name ring engraved МС ТЕЛЕАР-4 Б 3.5/250 in orange Cyrillic letters. The Б after the number is the Arsenal letter for the Pentacon Six mount; the Kiev-88 letter is В, which Western sellers often write as B, so check the mount itself, not the seller's letter
- Three-lug Pentacon Six breech-lock at the rear (the Kiev-88 mount is a coarse thread instead). Steffen's lens wore an East German Pentacon Six rear cap
- Depth-of-field preview lever on the side of the barrel near the mount, and depth-of-field lines in green under the distance scale
- Aperture ring marked 3.5 to 22 on the photographed lens, against the f/16 minimum in Abramov's data
- 77 mm front filter thread: much slimmer than the Jupiter-36, which takes 82 mm filters
- MC Telear-4B (МС ТЕЛЕАР-4 Б), Pentacon Six mount: The only version documented. TRA's lens table lists it as the Telear-4B in his summary of lenses for the Kiev 60 and Pentacon Six mount, and the 1984 lens his correspondent Steffen photographed carries the Б mount letter. The photographs on TRA's page are Steffen's, of that lens.
Specifications
- Aperture range
- f/3.5
- Min. focus
- 2.5 m
- Dimensions
- 80 × 150 mm
- Weight
- 900 g
- Filter
- 77 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
- Years manufactured
- 1984
- Country
- Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR: Arsenal, Kiev)
- Coating
- Multicoated (MC): Abramov describes multilayer achromatic coating, and the photographed lens is engraved MC
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
History
The Telear-4 is a 250mm f/3.5 telephoto that Arsenal in Kiev made in small numbers for the Pentacon Six mount of its Kiev-6S, Kiev-60 and Kiev-88CM, the breech-lock it shares with the East German Pentacon Six. Georgy Abramov describes it as a fast, compact lens with an automatic diaphragm, multilayer coating and high resolution, planned for release at the end of the 1980s as a replacement for the Jupiter-36. It has the same focal length and speed as the Jupiter but is much smaller: Abramov gives 80 × 150 mm and 0.9 kg, while TRA’s lens table gives the Jupiter-36 as 85 × 180 mm and 1500 g. Abramov’s other figures are a 19° angle of view, f/3.5 to f/16, a 2.5 m closest focus, a 77 mm filter thread and a resolution of 55 lines/mm at the centre and 30 at the edge, against 45/25 for the Jupiter-36 in the Araxfoto data TRA reproduces.
The two published accounts of the lens do not agree. TRA’s correspondent Steffen received a Telear-4B from Russia in the mid-1990s that TRA says was apparently made in 1984, several years before the release date Abramov gives. That lens closes to f/22, focuses to 3.3 m, is about 145 mm long and weighs 1130 g. Its name ring reads МС ТЕЛЕАР-4 Б 3.5/250, and it has a depth-of-field preview lever by the mount. Neither source explains the differences. TRA notes in general that published figures for Arsenal lenses vary and that such differences may correspond to different versions of a lens. No count of how many were made, no Soviet price and no element count has been published.
Only a Pentacon Six version is documented. TRA writes that it would appear nearly all the Arsenal lenses in his Kiev 60 table, this one included, were made in both the Pentacon Six mount, letter Б, and the Kiev-88 mount, letter В. Russian Wikipedia’s lens table for the Kiev-88 mount lists the Telear-5 and Jupiter-36 but no Telear-4, and neither TRA nor Abramov shows a Kiev-88 copy. Because Western sellers often write the Kiev-88 letter В as a B, the letter in a listing title proves nothing. Look at the mount: the Pentacon Six mount has three lugs, the Kiev-88 mount a coarse thread.
When buying, make sure the lens really is the f/3.5 Telear-4 and not the Telear-5, Arsenal’s 250mm f/5.6 with a 62 mm filter thread. Check that the automatic diaphragm closes and the preview lever works on a Kiev-60 or Pentacon Six body. The lens is rare enough that sellers may list it with nothing more than “Telear 250mm”, so the f/3.5 marking and the 77 mm front thread are the things to look for in the photographs.
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
- Abramov's entry for the Telear-4, with a catalogue-style photograph of the lens
- TRA's Pentacon Six lens data page, with Steffen's photographs of a 1984 MC Telear-4B at infinity and closest focus
These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Telear-4 250mm f/3.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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