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

Telear-5 250mm f/5.6

Arsenal · Kiev 88 + Pentacon Six · 1986

our own finding

Also known as: Telear-5 · Telear 5 · MC Telear-5 · MC Telear 5 · Telear-5 250mm · Telear 5.6/250 · Telear 5,6/250 · Telear 250mm f/5.6 · Telear 250mm · Telear-5B · Telear 5B · MC Telear-5B · Telear-5V · Telear 5V · MC Telear-5V · Telear-5B/V · Telear-56 · Telear 56 · Telear-58 · Telear 58 · Телеар-5 · Телеар-5Б · Телеар-5В · Телеар 5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
MC Telear-5B (МС Телеар-5Б), Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount Pentacon Six — — —
MC Telear-5V (МС Телеар-5В), Salyut / Kiev-88 mount Kiev 88 — 900470 — German dealer listing, 'for Kiev 88', sold as 'MC Telear-58'
980277 — Ukrainian dealer listing, 'Telear-5V … for Kiev 88, Salut' 		—
  1. Dates: Abramov gives 1986(?)–1996(?), with the question marks; allphotolenses gives 1988 to 1993 and says the lens was sold as Arsat after 1990. No Arsenal catalogue date was found. ARAX sells the lens as 'MC Telear-5 (Arsat)', dealers title it 'MC Telear-5 … ARSAT', and an mflenses owner calls his a 'K-6 Arsat Telear MC 5,6/250'; whether any example is engraved ARSAT is not established.
  2. Weight: 750 g (TRA's table), 0.76 kg (ARAX), 0.7 kg (Kevin Kalsbeek's kievaholic table), 706 g (Kamerastore), 0.9 kg (Abramov; allphotolenses repeats 900 g). Size: Ø76 × 140 mm (ARAX), 74 × 140 mm (kievaholic), 80 × 135 mm (TRA), 135 × 70 mm (Kamerastore).
  3. Angle of view: 18° (Abramov, allphotolenses, the araxfoto table, kievaholic, Russian Wikipedia); 19° (TRA's own table and the ARAX shop page). Resolution: at least 55/40 lines/mm centre/edge (Abramov, araxfoto, kievaholic).
  4. German listings attribute the lens to LZOS ('LZOS MC Telear-56'). No source supports that: Abramov gives Arsenal, Kamerastore lists it as Arsenal, and ARAX sells it among its Kiev lenses.
  5. Abramov calls the diaphragm 'прыгающая' (automatic, closing at the release). TRA records a depth-of-field preview lever on the B; no source says whether the V has one.
  6. 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 Zenith-80 as compatible, 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 optical data. The letter after the 5 names the mount: Б (B) for the Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six breech-lock, В (V) for the Salyut / Kiev-88 screw mount. Check the mount itself, because sellers write B for both and also write 6 and 8 for the letters
  • A compact 250 mm: about 14 cm long with a 62 mm filter thread, against the Jupiter-36's 1.5 kg and 82 mm filter. The Jupiter-36 is f/3.5 and engraved ЮПИТЕР-36
  • Black barrel with a wide ribbed focusing grip, a red ring at the front, a twin depth-of-field scale and f/5.6–32 on the aperture ring, as seen on the dealers' examples
  • Arri PL and Canon EF conversions are sold as cine lenses ('Cine Mod', 'for ARRI Red One Arriflex PL'); they are Telear-5s with the original mount replaced

MC Telear-5B (МС Телеар-5Б), Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount:

  • Name with the Cyrillic Б (Latin B) after the 5. German dealers list Pentacon Six-mount examples as 'Telear-56', most likely a misreading of 5Б, but one Bulgarian listing uses 'Telear-56' for a Salut-mount lens, so the number in a title proves nothing
  • The Praktisix / Pentacon Six breech-lock, with a locking ring at the rear of the lens: it fits the Kiev-60, Kiev-6S, Kiev-88CM, Pentacon Six and Exakta 66, not the Salyut or the unconverted Kiev-88
  • TRA's Kiev 60 lens table lists a depth-of-field preview lever on the Telear-5B, which matters on the Pentacon Six, the Exakta 66 and a Kiev-88 converted to Pentacon Six mount, as TRA notes those bodies have no stop-down lever of their own

MC Telear-5V (МС Телеар-5В), Salyut / Kiev-88 mount:

  • Name with the Cyrillic В (Latin V) after the 5 (Russian Wikipedia: Телеар-5В). The Cyrillic В looks like a Latin B, and sellers also write 8: Kamerastore lists a Salyut-mount lens as 'MC Telear-5B', and a German dealer lists one for the Kiev 88 as 'MC Telear-58'
  • The Salyut thread-and-bayonet mount: the lens screws in, with no locking ring at the rear. It fits the Salyut, Salyut-S, Kiev-80 and Kiev-88 (Kamerastore), and ARAX adds the Zenith-80, Revue 6x6 and Vitoflex
  • Many listings say 'Bayonet B' for this mount. Arsenal's letter for it is the Cyrillic В, so 'Bayonet B' in a Western title usually means the Kiev-88 V mount, not the Pentacon Six B. Go by the mount in the photographs

Serial-range notes

900470, 920710, 93xxxx, 980277
Six-digit serials in dealers' listing titles (900470 and 980277 for the Kiev 88; 920710 in a German listing titled 'TELEAR-5Б … For Kiev 88 Salut', where the letter and the stated mount disagree) and in an mflenses owner's report (SVP, a Kiev-88 (Salyut-S) mount lens 'from the 93xxxx s/n batch', which he calls early). If the first two digits are the year, as on other Arsenal products, these run from 1990 to 1998. That would be later than Abramov's end date of 1996(?), later than allphotolenses' 1993, and later than ARAX's statement that the last medium-format lens was made in 1992.

Specifications

Formula
Five elements in five groups (Abramov; allphotolenses and the araxfoto table reproduced by TRA agree)
Construction
5 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/5.6–f/32
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
2.5 m
Dimensions
76 × 140 mm
Weight
750 g
Filter
62 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Years manufactured
1986
Country
Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR: Arsenal, Kiev); Ukraine after 1991
Coating
Multi-coated (allphotolenses); dealers list it as MC Telear-5

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-5 is Arsenal’s light 250mm for the Soviet 6×6 SLRs: an f/5.6 telephoto of five single elements, about 14 cm long, with a 62mm filter thread. Abramov dates it 1986 to 1996, both with question marks, and allphotolenses gives 1988 to 1993. It came late in the system’s life and is far smaller than the Jupiter-36 250mm f/3.5, which Kevin Kalsbeek lists at 1.5 kg with an 82mm filter. allphotolenses calls it multi-coated, and dealers list it as MC Telear-5. The aperture is automatic, staying open for focusing and closing when the release is pressed. Abramov gives f/5.6–32, 2.5 m closest focus and 55/40 lines/mm centre and edge.

Arsenal made it in two mounts with the same optical data. The Telear-5B (Cyrillic Б) has the Praktisix / Pentacon Six breech-lock of the Kiev-60 and Kiev-6S, which also fits the Pentacon Six, the Exakta 66 and the Kiev-88CM. The Telear-5V (Cyrillic В) has the screw-in mount of the Salyut, Salyut-S, Kiev-80 and Kiev-88. The names are mixed up in listings more than most Kiev lenses. The Cyrillic В reads as a Latin B, so a ‘Telear-5B’ in a Western title is often a Kiev-88 lens: Kamerastore sold a Salyut-mount example under that name. German dealers also list it as ‘Telear-56’ and ‘Telear-58’, most likely misreadings of Б and В, though not consistently: a Bulgarian dealer offers a ‘Telear-56’ for the Salut mount. Some German listings attribute the lens to LZOS, which no source supports. The mount itself settles it: the breech-lock version has a locking ring at the rear, the Salyut version screws in. TRA lists a depth-of-field preview lever on the B, which is useful on a Pentacon Six, an Exakta 66 or a Kiev-88 converted to that mount, as those bodies have no stop-down lever.

The published figures for its size and weight disagree more than usual, from 700 g to 900 g. TRA, ARAX, Kevin Kalsbeek and Kamerastore all give 0.7 to 0.76 kg, Abramov and allphotolenses 0.9 kg. The serials seen run from 90 to 98 in their first two digits. If those are years, as on other Arsenal products, production went on later than any published end date; ARAX says the last medium-format lens was made in 1992. allphotolenses says the lens was sold under the Arsat name after 1990, and ARAX sells refurbished examples as ‘MC Telear-5 (Arsat)’.

Owners on the mflenses forum praise its sharpness. One found his sharper at f/5.6 than a Jupiter-36 at the same aperture on a Sony a850, while calling the test unscientific and allowing that the heavy Jupiter may have suffered from camera shake. Two owners say it flares badly unless the sun is behind the photographer; one uses a long 72mm hood on a 62–72mm step-up ring. When buying, check the mount against your body before anything else, and check that the diaphragm closes and reopens on the camera. A lens converted to Arri PL or Canon EF no longer fits a Kiev or Pentacon Six body without its original mount.

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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 Telear-5 250mm f/5.6? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $150 across 6 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $130–$150). 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 (8)

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.