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

Telemegor 300mm f/4.5

Meyer-Optik Görlitz · Pentacon Six + M42 + Exakta · 1955

Also known as: Telemegor 300mm f/4.5 · Telemegor 300mm f4.5 · Telemegor 300mm 1:4.5 · Telemegor 1:4.5/300 · Telemegor 1:4,5/300 · Telemegor 4.5/300 · Telemegor 4,5/300 · Telemegor 4.5/300mm · Telemegor 4,5/300mm · Telemegor 300/4.5 · Telemegor 300 4.5 · Telemegor 4.5 300mm · Telemegor 300mm · Telemegor 300 · Meyer Telemegor 300mm f4.5 · Meyer-Optik Görlitz Telemegor 4,5/300

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Praktisix mount, hammertone tripod clamp Praktisix / Pentacon Six (fixed mount) — 1786134–3164097 (Bobsin's observed range, not a factory record) —
Praktisix mount, smooth-painted tripod clamp Praktisix / Pentacon Six (fixed mount) — 3176741–3639439 (Bobsin's observed range) —
Praktisix mount, zebra rings Praktisix / Pentacon Six (fixed mount) — 3737404–3737462 (Bobsin's observed range) —
35mm SLR, M42 mount M42 (fixed mount) — — —
35mm SLR, Exakta mount Exakta (fixed mount) — — —
  1. Dates: Kröger says the design was finished in May 1954, the lens first appeared in the 1955 catalogue and stayed about ten years until the Orestegor 4/300 replaced it. Bobsin has it shown with the Praktisix in 1956 and gone from brochures and catalogues only in 1967, when the Orestegor 4/300 was announced; pentaconsix.com finds it in Meyer brochures from 1957 to 1966. For the Praktisix mount, pentaconsix.com's 1957 brochure lists the 300 for 6×6, while Kröger dates a Praktisix version to about 1958.
  2. Construction: pentaconsix.com gives four elements in two groups, and Bobsin describes the Telemegors in general as two groups of a positive and a negative lens each. Kröger says that in the 4.5/300 the front cemented group was split into two single lenses, 'a fact not found in the literature'. The page gives four elements and leaves the group count open.
  3. Size and weight: pentaconsix.com (TRA) gives 1680 g in his table and measures his Praktisix lens at 198 mm without the hood, and 252 mm with the hood per 1960s Meyer literature; he notes that another website and some Meyer literature give 196 mm. Bobsin's table gives 226–227 mm, 94 mm across and 1725–1755 g for the Praktisix lens. Kamerastore's 35mm examples: 247 × 93 mm, 1847 g (M42) and 225 × 97 mm, 1812 g (Exakta). How each length was measured is not stated except by TRA.
  4. Mounts not listed as versions: Kröger reproduces a drawing of May 1954 providing mounts for the Primarflex, the Meister-Korelle and the Exakta 6×6, cameras he says had left the market before the lens appeared. pentaconsix.com marks the 300 'for the Praktisix' and 'for the Praktisix II' without describing a difference.
  5. Prices are DDR list prices (Mark) for the lens with preset diaphragm, mount not stated: Kröger's Telemegor page gives 420.88 Mark (1957) and 422 Mark after the spring 1960 price change, the only East German lens he knows to have gone up then; his transcription of the price lists gives 420.80 Mark (1957) and 422 Mark (1960) with the remark 'slightly different mount'.
  6. Serial ranges are Bobsin's observations of Praktisix-mount lenses. He warns that the Meyer production records rest largely on collectors' sightings and have large gaps, and that serials may have been allotted in blocks long before assembly, so they are a poor guide to dates.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Telemegor name with 4.5 aperture and 300 mm focal length; a long black barrel with a rotating tripod clamp, an 82 mm filter thread and a manual preset diaphragm to f/22 with no click stops
  • The mount is fixed to the lens in every version (Bobsin), unlike the older Telemegor 5,5 lenses and the Orestegor that replaced it, whose rear adapters can be exchanged
  • Seen from the back, the rear element sits deep inside the mount, where on the Orestegor 4/300 it is almost level with the bayonet (Kröger)
  • Not the prewar Telemegor 5,5/300 for the Reflex-Korelle, which Bobsin says was not available after the war, nor the Orestegor 4/300 or Pentacon 4/300 of 1967 onward

Praktisix mount, hammertone tripod clamp:

  • Black barrel with a tripod clamp in a hammertone (crinkle) finish (Bobsin)
  • Preset diaphragm, 4.5 to 22, without click stops; no automatic diaphragm, so it stops down by hand on a Praktisix or Pentacon Six (pentaconsix.com, Bobsin)
  • Bobsin's table gives this version as 226 mm long and 94 mm across, 1725–1755 g

Praktisix mount, smooth-painted tripod clamp:

  • As the first version, but the tripod clamp is smooth-painted instead of hammertone (Bobsin)

Praktisix mount, zebra rings:

  • Black lens whose knurled rings are replaced by the alternating black-and-silver zebra pattern (Bobsin)
  • The focusing direction is reversed compared with the earlier versions (Bobsin)
  • Bobsin's table gives it as 227 mm long

35mm SLR, M42 mount:

  • M42 screw thread at the rear; the same long black barrel with tripod clamp as the 6×6 lens (Bobsin: both the medium-format and 35mm versions have the clamp)
  • Kamerastore gives an M42 example as 247 × 93 mm and 1847 g; a Berlin seller in July 2026 gave about 1900 g for his

35mm SLR, Exakta mount:

  • Exakta bayonet at the rear
  • Kamerastore gives an Exakta example as 225 × 97 mm and 1812 g

Specifications

Formula
True telephoto: a positive front member and a negative rear member with a wide air space between them, four elements. pentaconsix.com gives four elements in two groups; Kröger says that in this lens the front cemented pair of the older Telemegors was split into two single lenses
Construction
4 elements
Aperture range
f/4.5–f/22
Min. focus
3.3 m
Dimensions
94 × 198 mm
Weight
1680 g
Filter
82 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Years manufactured
1955–1967
Country
East Germany (Görlitz)
Original price
420.88 Mark (DDR list price, 1957), 422 Mark from spring 1960 — Marco Kröger; his price-list transcription gives 420.80 Mark for 1957. Mount not stated.

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 Telemegor 300mm f/4.5 was, in Marco Kröger’s words, one of Meyer-Optik Görlitz’s first major new designs of the 1950s, and the only Meyer telephoto of the Praktisix’s first years that was computed afresh rather than carried over from the 1930s. Telemegor stands for “Teleobjektiv Meyer Görlitz”: the f/5.5 Telemegors of 1932 onward were Stefan Roeschlein’s true telephotos, a positive front member and a negative rear member with a wide air space between them, and after the war Meyer sold them again as inexpensive amateur lenses. By the 1950s the 250 and 400 in particular had aged. Kröger says the new 300 was recomputed on modern glass, with the aperture raised to f/4.5 and the front cemented pair split into two single lenses, a change that lens coating made practical; the design was finished in May 1954 and the lens first appeared in the 1955 catalogue. pentaconsix.com gives four elements in two groups. The prewar Telemegor 5,5/300 for the Reflex-Korelle is another lens, and Carsten Bobsin says it was no longer available after the war.

It was meant for 6×6 from the start. Kröger reproduces a drawing of May 1954 with mounts for the Primarflex, the Meister-Korelle and the Exakta 6×6, cameras that had gone by the time the lens reached the market, and its 6×6 home became the Praktisix. Bobsin has it shown with the camera in 1956, pentaconsix.com finds it listed for 6×6 in a 1957 Meyer brochure, the only Telemegor so listed, and Kröger dates a Praktisix version to about 1958. TRA at pentaconsix.com found that it covers the 6×6 frame fully, where the Telemegor 400 vignettes in the corners. It was also sold for 35mm reflexes. Bobsin says there were several 35mm versions, and examples in M42 and Exakta mount are on the market. Every version has a tripod clamp and a manual preset diaphragm to f/22 without click stops. On the Praktisix there is no automatic-diaphragm pin, so the lens is stopped down by hand. The DDR list price was 420.88 Mark in 1957, by Kröger’s account (his price-list transcription reads 420.80). After the spring 1960 price change it was 422 Mark, the only East German lens Kröger knows of that went up in price that year. The price list notes a slightly different mount for the 1960 lens. Meyer dropped the lens when the Orestegor 4/300 was announced in 1967. pentaconsix.com last finds it in a 1966 brochure, and Kröger has the Orestegor shown at the Leipzig autumn fair of 1967. He judges the Orestegor a clear advance on the Telemegor, if not quite the optical equal of the Zeiss Sonnar 4/300; Bobsin rates it above that Sonnar.

Bobsin identifies three versions in Praktisix mount: a black lens whose tripod clamp has a hammertone finish, the same lens with a smooth-painted clamp, and a last version with zebra rings, on which the focusing direction was reversed, probably, Bobsin suggests, to match the Zeiss lenses. His observed serials run from 1786134 to 3164097 for the first, from 3176741 to 3639439 for the second and around 3737404 to 3737462 for the third. He warns that Meyer’s production records have large gaps and that serials are a poor guide to dates. Kröger illustrates a late lens with a flat-groove knurl and Hans Sägel’s improved tripod ring, which locks radially so that tightening it does not distort the barrel and helicoid. Sägel’s patent was filed on 4 December 1962, which dates that version to about then, but Kröger’s lens cannot be matched with certainty to one of Bobsin’s versions. Published weights do not agree: pentaconsix.com gives 1680 g, and TRA measures his Praktisix lens at 198 mm without the hood; Bobsin’s table gives 226 mm and 1725–1755 g. Dealers give about 1.8 kg for the 35mm lenses.

When buying, check the rear first. Bobsin says the Telemegor 300’s camera mount is fixed, unlike the screwed and set-screwed adapters of the older Telemegors and the exchangeable adapters of the Orestegor, so a lens in a given mount most likely left Görlitz that way. A Pentacon Six owner wants the Praktisix bayonet, and an M42 or Exakta lens will not convert by swapping a ring. Expect a long, heavy lens that is used on a tripod by its clamp. Check that the preset ring lifts and turns freely and that the helicoid is even over its long travel. Titles mixing “Telemegor” with 180, 250 or 400 are the older f/5.5 lenses, and “Orestegor 4/300” or “Pentacon 4/300” is the f/4 successor.

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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

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Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $180 across 16 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $140–$260). 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.

Sources (6)

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.