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

Vega-12 90mm f/2.8

Arsenal · Pentacon Six + Kiev 88 · 1971

Also known as: Vega-12 · Vega 12 · Vega12 · Vega-12B · Vega 12B · Vega-12 B · Vega 12 B · Vega12B · Vega-12V · Vega 12V · Vega-12 V · Vega12V · Vega-12Б · Vega-12 90mm · Vega 12 90mm · Vega 90mm f/2.8 · Vega 90mm f2.8 · Vega 2.8/90 · Vega 2,8/90 · Vega 90/2.8 · Arsenal Vega 90mm · Arsenal Vega-12 · Вега-12 · Вега 12 · Вега-12Б · Вега-12В

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Vega-12B (Вега-12Б), Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount Pentacon Six 1971 — —
Vega-12V (Вега-12В), Salyut-S / Kiev-88 mount Kiev 88 1972 — —
  1. Specifications: 90 mm (90.7 mm in the 1971 GOI lens catalogue, as quoted by ru Wikipedia), f/2.8–22, 47°, 0.6 m, M58×0.75. Kamerastore's listing gives 0.8 m as the closest focus; every other source gives 0.6 m. Resolution 48/24 lines/mm centre/edge, or 40/16 in another source Abramov cites (his ref. 86, p. 83); allphotolenses repeats both. Light transmission at least 0.80 (Abramov). The diameter and length, 70 × 66.5 mm, are TRA's; allphotolenses gives 72 mm long. fotoussr prints the aperture scale as 1:3.5–1:22, which contradicts his own 1:2.8 heading and every other source, and is taken to be a slip.
  2. Groups: 5/4 in the araxfoto table TRA reproduces and in fotoussr's review with its optical diagram; 5/3 at allphotolenses and Kamerastore. The header uses 5/4. Kamerastore says the design "takes root from" the Carl Zeiss Biometar; no other source consulted says so, and none gives a designer.
  3. Weight is not settled, so the header leaves it out. Abramov gives 0.48 kg for the Kiev-6S (Б) version and 0.46 kg for the Salyut (В) version, and allphotolenses 480 g. The other figures are lower: 357 g (Kamerastore's listing, Salyut mount), 365 g (TRA's table, which he says is mostly from published data) and 375 g (fotoussr, Б mount).
  4. Dates conflict. Abramov dates the lens 1967–1979. ru Wikipedia has it as the standard lens of the Kiev-6S from 1971, and Eckman and ru Wikipedia introduce it on the Salyut-S in 1972; the header uses 1971, the first year it was sold with a camera. allphotolenses gives 1980 as the last year of production and says the Volna-3 replaced it; fotoussr's lens is dated 1980, and TRA says it was still the Kiev-60's standard lens in 1984. No end date is documented.
  5. Abramov also records a version called Vega-12-S, supplied with the special-purpose Kiev-S-SKD camera in two forms, f/2.8 and f/4. No example or other source was found, so it has no variant row.
  6. Matt's Classic Cameras lists his Salyut-C lens as 'Bela/Vega-12B'. No other source mentions a 'Bela' engraving and Matt does not explain it.
  7. No original retail price for the lens on its own was found. allphotolenses shows an "average price" of $47, and Kamerastore gave €89 as its dealer reference price for a Salyut-mount lens; both are second-hand figures, not period prices.
  8. camera-wiki's Kiev 6C page says the original lenses were not coated; ru Wikipedia's Kiev-6S article, Matt's Classic Cameras, allphotolenses and fotoussr all describe the Vega-12 as coated.
  9. 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. 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 Vega-12 in two mounts with the same optics. The letter after the number tells them apart: Б (B) for the Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six breech-lock, В (V) for the Salyut-S / Kiev-88 thread. Sellers write 'Vega-12B' for both, because the Cyrillic В looks like a Latin B, and fotoussr notes that some lenses carry no mount letter at all. Check the mount itself: the P6 breech-lock rear for the B, the coarse three-start thread of the Salyut mount for the V
  • Black metal barrel (Kamerastore) with a deeply recessed front element: the front of the barrel acts as a built-in hood (fotoussr). 58 mm filter thread, against 62 mm on the Volna-3 80mm and the Vega-28 120mm (TRA's table)
  • Automatic ('blinking') diaphragm with six blades and click stops, and no depth-of-field preview lever on the lens; the aperture ring is the one farther from the camera (fotoussr, kievaholic, TRA). The Kiev-6S and Kiev-60 have the preview lever on the body
  • Single-coated, with no 'MC' before the name, unlike the MC Volna-3 80mm that followed it as the standard lens

Vega-12B (Вега-12Б), Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount:

  • Cyrillic Б after the number, which is the Latin B. fotoussr's 1980 lens is engraved with the name in Latin letters and the mount letter in Cyrillic, 'Vega-12Б', and notes that the mount letter is not always engraved at all
  • The Praktisix / Pentacon Six breech-lock rear, held by the locking ring on the camera (ru Wikipedia: bayonet Б 'with a union nut', as on the Pentacon Six); flange 74.1 mm (fotoussr, ru Wikipedia)
  • Fits the Kiev-6S and Kiev-60, the Pentacon Six and Exakta 66, and a Kiev-88CM or one of the Kiev-88s modified to a Pentacon-style mount (kievaholic)

Vega-12V (Вега-12В), Salyut-S / Kiev-88 mount:

  • Cyrillic В after the number, which is the Latin V. In Latin type the В reads as a B, so this lens is very often sold as a 'Vega-12B': Kamerastore lists its Salyut-mount lens as 'Vega 90mm f2.8 Vega-12B', camera-wiki captions a Salyut-S with an 'Arsenal Vega-12 B', and Matt's Classic Cameras describes his Salyut-C lens as a Vega-12B in Kiev 88 screw mount. Go by the mount in the photographs, not the letter in the title
  • The Salyut / Kiev-88 mount: the lens goes in on a coarse three-start thread (ru Wikipedia; camera-wiki calls it a coarse-thread screw mount of Hasselblad 1600 type) and is released by a button on the camera, not by a locking ring; on the Salyut-S it couples to the aperture release pin in the camera mount
  • Fits the Salyut-S (Salyut-C), the Kiev-80 export version and the Kiev-88. Matt's Classic Cameras warns that lenses for the earlier Salyut have a different aperture coupling and are not interchangeable with the Salyut-S unless the coupling is removed

Specifications

Formula
Five-element anastigmat; 5 elements in 4 groups in the araxfoto table TRA reproduces and in fotoussr's optical diagram, 5 in 3 in allphotolenses and Kamerastore
Construction
5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
0.6 m
Dimensions
70 × 66.5 mm
Filter
58 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Years manufactured
1971
Country
Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR: Arsenal, Kiev)
Coating
Single-coated (Matt's Classic Cameras, allphotolenses); fotoussr describes the front coating as a barely visible violet. None of the sources records a multi-coated Vega-12

What reviewers say

Optical formula — Five-element anastigmat; 5 elements in 4 groups in the araxfoto table TRA reproduces and in fotoussr's optical diagram, 5 in 3 in allphotolenses and Kamerastore

History

The Vega-12 is the 90mm f/2.8 that Arsenal in Kiev supplied as the standard lens of its first 6×6 SLRs with fully automatic diaphragms: the Kiev-6S, which camera-wiki describes as based very closely on the East German Pentacon Six, from 1971, and from 1972 the Salyut-S, the Salyut (modelled on the Hasselblad 1600F, ru Wikipedia says) with an aperture pin added to its mount. It is a five-element lens with a single coating, a 58 mm filter thread, a closest focus of 0.6 m and a 47° field. The diaphragm is automatic: it stays open for focusing, closes to the set value when the shutter fires and opens again on winding. On the Salyut-S this was the change from the first Salyut, whose Industar-29 had to be cocked by hand before every exposure. It served until the Volna-3 80mm replaced it. allphotolenses puts that change in 1980. TRA says the Vega-12 was still the standard lens of the Kiev-60 when that camera appeared in 1984, and that by 1989 the Kiev-60 came with the Volna-3. Abramov dates the lens 1967–1979.

There are two versions with the same optics, told apart by the mount. The Vega-12B, with Cyrillic Б, has the Praktisix / Pentacon Six breech-lock of the Kiev-6S and Kiev-60 and fits the Pentacon Six, the Exakta 66 and the P6-mount Kiev-88CM. The Vega-12V, with Cyrillic В, screws into the Salyut-S, the Kiev-80 and the Kiev-88. In Latin type the В reads as a B, so most Salyut-mount lenses on the market are also sold as “Vega-12B”: Kamerastore, camera-wiki and Matt’s Classic Cameras all call theirs that. fotoussr points out a further trap: his 1980 lens is engraved with the name in Latin letters and the mount letter in Cyrillic, “Vega-12Б”, and some lenses carry no mount letter at all. He finds the two mounts about equally common today. The only reliable test is the rear of the lens. The B has the Pentacon Six breech-lock rear, held on the camera by its locking ring. The V has the coarse three-start thread of the Salyut mount and is released by a button on the camera. Matt’s Classic Cameras adds that lenses for the first Salyut, with the older aperture coupling, do not interchange with the Salyut-S.

The published figures disagree in places, and the page keeps both sides. Groups are 5/4 in the araxfoto table and fotoussr’s diagram, 5/3 at allphotolenses and Kamerastore. Abramov gives 0.48 kg for the Б version and 0.46 kg for the В, while TRA, Kamerastore and fotoussr give much lower figures, 357 to 375 g. Kamerastore also gives 0.8 m for the closest focus, against 0.6 m everywhere else. Kamerastore says the design derives from the Carl Zeiss Biometar. No Arsenal or GOI source consulted says so, and none names a designer.

Owners like it as a portrait lens. Matt’s Classic Cameras calls it sharp and close-focusing and “a treat” on a good Salyut-C, and kievaholic passes on its reputation as an excellent lens. Kievaholic also points out that the Vega has no depth-of-field preview lever on the lens, so it has none to leak light, a known fault of the Volna-3 that followed it. On adapted digital bodies, fotoussr and allphotolenses both find it slightly soft wide open and sharp from f/4, and fotoussr likes its out-of-focus rendering, noting that online rankings of portrait lenses tend to place the Vega-12 high. The B version adapts easily, because its diaphragm closes when the pin is released rather than pressed. On an adapter that does not touch the pin, the lens simply works at the aperture set on the ring.

When buying, check the mount against the body first, then the diaphragm. A stuck diaphragm is the fault the sources keep mentioning: fotoussr’s lens stuck during his test, which he calls a typical mishap with old lenses, a Kamerastore Kiev-6S kit came with its Vega-12B stuck at f/2.8, and an MFLenses owner said his copy needed repair. Watch the diaphragm close and reopen through the full range, on the camera if possible. The front element sits deep in the barrel, which protects it, but look through the lens against a light all the same. These were standard kit lenses and, as an MFLenses owner put it in 2011, usually go cheap: allphotolenses shows an average price of $47, and Kamerastore gave €89 as its dealer reference price for a Salyut-mount lens. No period retail price for the lens alone was found.

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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

Sample photo taken with the Vega-12 90mm f/2.8
A Vega-12V, described by its author as the lens for the Salyut-S (Runner1616) — Runner1616, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Vega-12 90mm f/2.8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $270 across 47 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $100–$400). 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 (17)

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.