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

Telear-N 200mm f/3.5

Arsenal · Nikon F · 1979

Also known as: Telear-N · Telear N · Telear-N 200mm · Telear N 200mm · Telear-N 3.5/200 · Telear N 3.5/200 · Telear-N 3,5/200 · Telear 3.5/200 · Telear 3,5/200 · Telear 200mm f/3.5 · Telear 200mm f3.5 · Telear 200mm 3.5 · Telear-H · Telear H · TELEAR - N · MC Telear-N · Телеар-Н · Телеар Н · Телеар 3,5/200

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Telear-N (ТЕЛЕАР-Н), Cyrillic lettering Nikon F (Arsenal 'Н' bayonet of the Kiev-17/19/20), with a screw-on M42 mount part supplied — — —
TELEAR-H, Latin lettering Nikon F (Arsenal 'Н' bayonet of the Kiev-17/19/20) — — —
  1. Dates. Abramov gives 1979(?)–1994(?), both years with his question marks. The box label he photographs cites the technical specification ТУ 3-3.126-82, and allphotolenses dates its 210-rouble retail price to 1985–1987. A forum owner's lens reads as 1996 by its serial. The m42lens database gives 1985, and an allphotolenses owner says his lens was made in 1994. Digital Camera Watch listed the Telear-N as discontinued in December 2005. The page uses Abramov's 1979 as the first year and leaves the end open.
  2. Abramov's other figures: 12° field, resolution of 50 lines/mm at the centre and 34 at the edge, an M62×0.75 filter thread, 0.7 kg, and an adapter for M42×1 Zenit bodies included.
  3. Weight and size. Abramov and allphotolenses give 700 g; Kamerastore gives 642 g and 137 × 67 mm for its example, and the m42lens database 630 g, 68 mm across and 170 (131) mm long. allphotolenses gives the length as 145 mm. None says whether the hood was extended.
  4. The 210 roubles is a Soviet state retail (list) price; the boxed lens's label gives it with price-list number 082А-1972/280. Digital Camera Watch's December 2005 figures, a local price of about US$70 in the former Soviet republics and about ¥15,000 in Japan, are prices for used lenses after production had ended, not list prices.
  5. An earlier 'ТЕЛЕАР 3,5/200'. Abramov shows an older-looking lens engraved ТЕЛЕАР 3,5/200, with no Н and a differently styled barrel. A retailer's photograph he reproduces shows another lens with the same lettering. He does not say what mount it has, when it was made or how many, so it has no variant row here.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A 200mm f/3.5 for the Kiev-17, 19, 19M and 20 with a 62 mm filter thread, 1.6 m closest focus, f/22 minimum, eight blades and a built-in pull-out hood; it mounts on Nikon F bodies without an adapter
  • Nikon-type bayonet at the rear, with the aperture scale repeated on a small ring behind the main one, as Abramov's photograph of the rear shows. Kamerastore describes it as having an AI ridge only, with no metering prong
  • Usually sold with a second rear mount part for M42 (Zenit) bodies. A Telear-N listed in M42 is the same lens with that part fitted, not a separate version
  • Not the Telear-5 or Telear-4, the 250mm lenses Arsenal made for the 6×6 Kiev-60 and Kiev-88, and not the KMZ Jupiter-21M 200mm f/4

Telear-N (ТЕЛЕАР-Н), Cyrillic lettering:

  • Front ring engraved ТЕЛЕАР-Н 3.5/200 in Cyrillic letters. The last letter is the Cyrillic Н, the Arsenal mark for the 'Н' (Nikon-type) bayonet; sellers transliterate it as N or read it as H, and Telear-N and Telear-H are the same lens

TELEAR-H, Latin lettering:

  • Front ring engraved TELEAR-H 3.5/200 in Latin letters: the Cyrillic Н carried over as a Latin H, so this lettering reads 'Telear-H' rather than 'Telear-N'

Serial-range notes

the first two digits
On the MFLenses forum Chris Lilley dated his lens to 1996 from the first two digits of the serial, and Orio confirmed that the usual Soviet rule applies. No Arsenal numbering table has been published, so a serial gives a likely year, not proof of one. A 1996 lens is two years later than the end date Abramov gives, and his end date carries his own question mark.
941915
Abramov photographs a lens with serial 941915 on its front ring beside its factory service card for the 'ТЕЛЕАР Н', which carries the same number. By the first-two-digits rule it would date from 1994, the year printed on the boxed lens he also shows.

Specifications

Formula
Five elements (Abramov: a 'fast five-lens long-focus objective')
Construction
5 elements
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/22
Diaphragm blades
8
Min. focus
1.6 m
Weight
700 g
Filter
62 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Years manufactured
1979
Country
Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR: Arsenal, Kiev); Ukraine after 1991
Original price
210 roubles, Soviet state retail price in the 1980s–90s (Abramov); the same 210 roubles is printed on the label of a boxed lens Abramov photographs

What reviewers say

History

The Telear-N is the long telephoto of Arsenal’s Nikon-mount reflex line: a 200mm f/3.5 made for the ‘Н’ bayonet of the Kiev-17, 19 and 20, a Nikon F-type bayonet, so the lens fits Nikon bodies directly. allphotolenses says it was made by PO Arsenal at the Progress factory in Nizhyn. The label on a boxed lens Abramov photographs names exactly those three cameras. Abramov dates it 1979 to 1994, with a question mark on both years, and describes a fast five-element lens with an automatic diaphragm, 12° of view, 1.6 m closest focus, an f/22 minimum aperture, a 62 mm filter thread and a weight of 0.7 kg. It sold for 210 roubles at Soviet state retail. It is a different lens from the Telear-5 and Telear-4, Arsenal’s 250mm lenses for the 6×6 Kiev-60 and Kiev-88.

Like the Kaleinar-5N, it came with a second rear mount part for M42 Zenit bodies. Owners on the MFLenses forum describe receiving both, and the m42lens database says the lens was usually boxed with both. A Telear-N offered in M42 is therefore normally the same lens with the other part fitted, and a complete outfit has both. The last letter of the name is the Cyrillic Н, so sellers write Telear-N and Telear-H for the same lens. Abramov shows copies engraved in Cyrillic (ТЕЛЕАР-Н) and in Latin letters (TELEAR-H), and an older lens lettered simply ТЕЛЕАР 3,5/200 whose mount and date he does not give. In December 2005 Digital Camera Watch listed the Telear-N among Arsenal’s discontinued N-mount lenses, with the Mir-20N, Mir-24N and Kaleinar-5N, while six Arsat-N lenses were still in production. A forum owner’s lens dates to 1996 by its serial, after the end year Abramov gives.

Forum owners rate it well. Attila calls it very close to the Nikkor 180mm. LucisPictor rates it above the Pentacon 200mm f/4 and the Jupiter-21M. Chris Lilley found a Zoom-Nikkor 80-200 slightly sharper but preferred the Telear’s rendering. One allphotolenses owner, on the other hand, thought it no better than a Jupiter-21M. The aperture closes to a ragged octagon.

When buying, work the focus ring and the aperture. LucisPictor warns that the lens is not robust: the lubricant deteriorates and stiffens the focusing, and the diaphragm jams easily. Ask whether the M42 part comes with it. Kamerastore describes an AI ridge with no metering prong, so it meters on most manual-focus Nikons but not on the oldest F and F2. Digital Camera Watch warns that Arsenal’s bayonet is close to Nikon AI but not identical, and that Soviet-era Arsenal lenses are prone to sticking on, and refusing to come off, bodies with instant stop-down metering such as the Nikon FA, F-301 and F4. One owner found that the lens does not click home on a D40 but simply stops turning.

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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-N 200mm f/3.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $120 across 8 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $100–$120). 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 (9)

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.