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

Telemegor 400mm f/5.5

Meyer-Optik Görlitz · Pentacon Six + Exakta + M42 + Other · 1939

Also known as: Telemegor 400mm f/5.5 · Telemegor 400mm f5.5 · Telemegor 400mm f/5,5 · Telemegor 400mm 1:5.5 · Telemegor 400mm 5.5 · Telemegor 400 mm F5,5 · Telemegor 1:5,5/400 · Telemegor 1:5.5/400 · Telemegor 5,5/400 · Telemegor 5.5/400 · Telemegor 5.5 / 400 · Telemegor 5,5/400mm · Telemegor 5.5/400mm · Telemegor 400/5.5 · Telemegor 400/5,5 · 400mm 5.5 Telemegor · 400mm f5.5 Telemegor · 400/5,5 Telemegor · Telemegor 400mm · Telemegor 400 · Tele-Megor 400mm · Tele Megor 400mm · Tele-Megor 5,5/400 · Tele Megor 5.5/400 · Meyer Telemegor 400mm f5.5 · Meyer-Optik Görlitz Telemegor 5,5/400 · Meyer-Optik Telemegor · Телемегор 400

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Primarflex / Meister-Korelle (6×6), bright aluminium Primarflex or Reflex-Korelle / Meister-Korelle (6×6), set-screw adapter — — —
Large-format (Tele-Megor 1:5,5 f = 40 cm) Large-format: in mounting rings for a shutter, normal barrel, helicoid barrel, or in a Compound shutter — — —
Praktisix / Pentacon Six, black Praktisix / Pentacon Six (set-screw adapter) 1956 — —
Exakta (outer bayonet) Exakta 1957 — —
M42 M42 — 2648293 (Kamerastore) —
Praktina bayonet Praktina bayonet — 1861963 (Industrie- und Filmmuseum Wolfen) —
  1. Launch date: no source gives one. The year shown, 1939, is that of the earliest dated listing found: Meyer's 1939 Tele-Megor 1:5,5 list, reproduced by Kröger, with the 40 cm for large format, the Primarflex and the Reflex-Korelle. The lens is probably older: Kröger calls the 250 and 400 Telemegors mid-1930s designs and says the 1:5,5 series first appeared in 1932 for plate cameras, without saying which focal lengths; Bobsin says Meyer made Telemegors up to 400 mm before and during the war. The same 1939 list announces a Tele-Megor 1:5,5/60 cm as new, so the 400 was not the longest of the series.
  2. Praktisix dates: Bobsin finds the Praktisix lens in brochures and used-equipment catalogues only in 1956 and 1957; TRA marks it as made only at the beginning of Praktisix production. TRA's remark that Telemegors were last listed in the Meyer catalogue in 1966 is said of the Telemegors in general (his 300 is last seen in 1966); it does not date a Praktisix-mount 400.
  3. End of production: Kröger says the 250 and 400 were soon replaced by the much better Telemegor 4,5/300 of 1955; Bobsin says the 400 stayed in production with 35mm mounts until the Orestegor 5,6/500 replaced it about 1963 (he thinks a zero series of the Orestegor 500 was made as early as 1961); TRA has the Orestegor 500 first listed in 1966. The DDR price list still has the 400 in 1960.
  4. Closest focus: 6 m in Bobsin, Aguila & Rouah (via Wrotniak), the Wolfen museum record and Kamerastore's Exakta listing; 5.5 m in TRA's table and Kamerastore's M42 listing.
  5. Length and weight: Bobsin 293 mm and 1650 g (Praktisix, without caps); TRA 256 mm and 1580 g (Praktisix); Wolfen museum 325 × 95 mm (Praktina); Kamerastore 285 × 102 mm and 1720 g (Exakta) and 342 × 100 mm and 2100 g (M42). The mounts differ, and the 35mm versions carry an extra anti-reflection tube, so no single figure is given for the family.
  6. Not listed as a version: the ihagee.org Exakta list also has a preset Telemegor 400/5.5 under its code '66V', which appears to be an Exakta 6×6 entry; no example or further detail was found.
  7. Not on this page: the wartime Hugo Meyer Tele-Megor 40 cm f/5.5 of the Ross SKa 4 aerial camera has a page of its own. It has the same name, focal length and aperture and may be this optic in a Ross mount, but Hasselblad Historical, the only source on the Ross lenses, gives no construction or weight for it, so the two are kept apart. A Ross lens has its barrel engraved with the serial number of the camera it was fitted to.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Telemegor name with 1:5,5 or 5,5 and the 400 focal length (sellers also write Tele-Megor or Tele Megor); a long, relatively light barrel with a tripod mount and an 82 mm filter thread
  • Preset diaphragm released by a push button, which Bobsin says is unlike Meyer's other preset lenses, where the ring is lifted
  • Not the Orestegor 5,6/500 or the Pentacon 5,6/500 that replaced it, nor the Telemegor 4,5/300, which shares the 82 mm filter

Primarflex / Meister-Korelle (6×6), bright aluminium:

  • Bright aluminium barrel (Bobsin)
  • The camera mount is a separate adapter on the barrel's wide rear thread, held by a locking ring and set screws (Bobsin)
  • Preset diaphragm released by pressing a button rather than by lifting the preset ring (Bobsin); Meyer's 1939 list names it 'Tele-Megor 1:5,5' with 'f = 40 cm', so sellers may give the focal length in cm

Large-format (Tele-Megor 1:5,5 f = 40 cm):

  • Listed as 'Tele-Megor 1:5,5' 'f = 40 cm'; supplied in mounting rings for a size III/7 shutter, in a normal or helicoid barrel, or in a Compound shutter (Meyer's 1939 list)

Praktisix / Pentacon Six, black:

  • Black-lacquered barrel on the old Meyer adapter with locking ring and set screws; the adapter is threaded for the anti-reflection tube of the 35mm versions, but no tube is fitted (Bobsin)
  • Push-button preset diaphragm, 5.5 to 32; no automatic-diaphragm pin (Bobsin; TRA says all the Meyer lenses in his Praktisix table except the Primotar E 80 are manual preset lenses with no automatic-diaphragm pin)
  • Bobsin gives 293 mm long and 98 mm across without caps or tripod clamp, 1650 g; TRA's table gives 256 mm and 1580 g
  • On 6×6 it does not cover the whole frame: TRA saw vignetting in the top corners of his test picture

Exakta (outer bayonet):

  • Exakta mount using the camera's outer bayonet (ihagee.org codes it 'OB')
  • Preset diaphragm, 82 mm filter, closest focus 6 m (Aguila & Rouah via Wrotniak); built-in tripod mount (Kamerastore)
  • Kamerastore gives 285 × 102 mm and 1720 g

M42:

  • M42 screw thread at the rear; black all-metal barrel, clickless diaphragm (Kamerastore)
  • Kamerastore gives 5.5 m closest focus, 342 × 100 mm and 2100 g, much more than any other figure for the lens; whether that includes hood or caps is not said

Praktina bayonet:

  • Praktina bayonet at the rear (the museum records it as a bayonet lens for the Praktina)
  • Preset diaphragm 5.5 to 32, E 82 filter, 6 m closest focus; the museum measures 325 mm long and 95 mm across

Serial-range notes

1670704 onwards
Bobsin's earliest observed serials, on lenses without an infrared focusing index.
1861930–2757474
Bobsin's observed range for lenses with an infrared index. The Wolfen Praktina lens (1861963) and Kamerastore's M42 lens (2648293) fall in it. Bobsin says his serial ranges come from sightings and are far from complete.

Specifications

Formula
True telephoto of the Telemegor 1:5,5 series: a positive cemented front group and a negative cemented rear group, each achromatised, with a wide air space between them; four elements in two groups (Bobsin; TRA at pentaconsix.com)
Designed by
Roeschlein Stefan — Kröger credits him with Meyer's series of true telephotos of the early and mid-1930s, to which the Telemegor 1:5,5 lenses belong; no source names the designer of the 400 individually
Construction
4 elements / 2 groups
Aperture range
f/5.5–f/32
Min. focus
6 m
Filter
82 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Country
Germany (Görlitz); East Germany after the war
Original price
RM 252 for Primarflex or Reflex-Korelle, RM 192–251 for large format (Meyer list price, 1939); 368 Mark (1957) and 334 Mark (1960), DDR retail prices for the preset-diaphragm version, mount not stated; all as reproduced or transcribed by Marco Kröger

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 400mm f/5.5 is one of the long lenses of Meyer’s Telemegor 1:5,5 series of true telephotos, which Marco Kröger credits to Stefan Roeschlein during his short time at Görlitz before he left for Schneider in 1936. Each lens has a positive front group and a negative rear group, both cemented achromats, with a wide air space between them: four elements in two groups. This makes it much shorter than its focal length and, as Carsten Bobsin notes, light for a 400. Kröger dates the 250 and 400 to the mid-1930s. Bobsin says Meyer made Telemegors up to 400 mm for professional and medium-format cameras before and during the war. No source gives a launch year. The 1939 on this page is the date of Meyer’s Tele-Megor 1:5,5 list reproduced by Kröger, which offers the 40 cm for 10×15 and 13×18 cm plate cameras at RM 192 to 251 depending on mount and shutter, and for the Primarflex and Reflex-Korelle at RM 252, with a warning of slight corner vignetting on the Korelle. The same list announces a 60 cm as new.

Like the 250, the 400 was built in one standard barrel that ends in a wide external thread, and the camera mount is a separate adapter held on by a locking ring and set screws. Meyer stocked the lenses without a mount and fitted one when a lens was ordered. Bobsin describes Primarflex and Meister-Korelle versions in bright aluminium, a black Praktisix version, and 35mm versions in the same form with an extra anti-reflection tube inside the mount. Known examples are on the Exakta outer bayonet (Aguila and Rouah list a preset one under 1957), the M42 thread and the Praktina bayonet: the Industrie- und Filmmuseum Wolfen has one engraved for the Agfa film factory. The diaphragm closes to f/32, and the preset is released by a push button, which Bobsin says is unlike Meyer’s other preset lenses. Bobsin divides the lenses into those with and without an infrared focusing index. The DDR retail price list gives 368 Mark in 1957 and 334 Mark in 1960, with the mount not stated.

In Praktisix mount the 400 was short-lived. Bobsin includes it among the focal lengths Meyer could offer when the camera appeared in 1956, but finds it listed for the Praktisix only in 1956 and 1957. TRA at pentaconsix.com marks it as made only at the start of Praktisix production and calls it seldom seen. The 6×6 test picture on his page, taken with an example whose photographs are credited to Kenneth Loen, shows vignetting in the top corners. Bobsin writes that conventional long-focus lenses vignette on the Praktisix from 400 mm because of its bayonet, and that the Telemegor’s two-group layout keeps the back focus short to avoid this; he does not say how well the 400 itself covers. The sources do not agree on when the lens ended. Kröger says the 250 and 400 were soon replaced by the much better Telemegor 4,5/300 of 1955. Bobsin says the 400 continued with 35mm mounts until the Orestegor 5,6/500 took its place around 1963. TRA dates the Orestegor 500 to the Meyer catalogue of 1966.

When buying, check the mount at the rear before anything else. The same lens can sit on a Korelle, Primarflex, Praktisix, Exakta, M42 or Praktina adapter, or be a large-format lens without one, and because the older adapters are held only by set screws, a lens may have been re-mounted outside the factory. Bobsin warns that older aluminium lenses could be given a Praktisix mount this way. TRA calls the black Praktisix lens seldom seen. Expect corner shading on 6×6 even with a genuine one. Make sure the set screws are present and the adapter does not turn, that the push-button preset works, and that the long helicoid runs evenly. Titles with 4,5 and 300 are the Telemegor 4,5/300, which also takes an 82 mm filter, and “Orestegor” or “Pentacon 5,6/500” means the successor. The wartime Hugo Meyer Tele-Megor 40 cm for the Ross SKa 4 aerial camera is a separate entry: the same name and specification, possibly the same optic, but hand-fitted to a Ross bayonet and engraved with the serial number of the camera it served.

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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

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Sample photo wanted — shot with a Telemegor 400mm f/5.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $180 across 16 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $120–$230). 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.

Related: Tele-Megor 40cm f/5.5 (SKa 4)

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.