Vega-28 120mm f/2.8

Arsenal · Pentacon Six + Kiev 88 · 1984

Also known as: Vega-28 · Vega 28 · MC Vega-28 · MC Vega 28 · Vega-28 120mm · Vega 28 120mm · Vega 120mm f/2.8 · Vega 120mm f2.8 · Vega 2.8/120 · Vega 120/2.8 · Vega-28B · Vega 28B · Vega-28V · Vega 28V · MC Vega-28B · MC Vega-28V · Arsenal Vega 120mm · Вега-28 · Вега 28 · МС Вега-28 · Вега-28Б · Вега-28В · Hartblei 2.8/120 · Hartblei 120mm f/2.8

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
MC Vega-28B (МС Вега-28Б), Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount	Pentacon Six	—	—	—
MC Vega-28V (МС Вега-28В), Salyut / Kiev-88 mount	Kiev 88	—	860122 — offered on MFLenses in May 2012 as a 'Vega 28b 2,8/120mm for Kiev 88', red MC, with its hood	—
Vega-28B prototype for the Kiev-90 (1983)	Pentacon Six (Kiev-90 prototype)	1983–1983	830006 — Leitz Auction 40, lot 380, sold as a 1983 prototype for the Kiev-90	One example known
Auto MC Hartblei 2.8/120 (Pentacon Six mount)	Pentacon Six	—	No. 10 — the MFLenses owner's lens, 2012	—

Specifications are from the 1986 Arsenal/Vega manual: 6×6, 120 mm, f/2.8–22, at least 50/30 lines/mm centre/edge, 1.2 m to infinity, flange 74 mm (28B) or 82.1 mm (28V), M62×0.75, at most 76 mm in diameter, 58 mm long, 0.48 kg. Abramov gives 41°, 50/30 lines/mm, f/2.8–22, 1.2 m, M62×0.75 and 0.48 kg. The lens table at the back of the same manual gives 36°, M62×0.75, a 65 mm hood fitting and 0.48 kg. TRA's own table gives 41°, 1.2 m, 76 × 58 mm and 450 g; the araxfoto table he reproduces and kievaholic give 36°, 6/5 and 50/30, and kievaholic 76 × 61 mm and 0.4 kg.
Weight differs by source: 480 g (manual, Abramov, allphotolenses), 450 g (TRA), 440 g (an MFLenses owner's scale), 445 g (Kamerastore, Salyut mount), 530 g (Kamerastore, Pentacon Six) and 0.4 kg (kievaholic). The figure in the header is the manual's.
The diaphragm blade count is not settled. Matt's Classic Cameras counts 6 on his 1996 Kiev-88 lens; Kamerastore and allphotolenses give 8. No Arsenal document gives a number, so the header leaves it out. Matt also reports 0.6 m closest focus, against the 1.2 m of the manual, Abramov, TRA and kievaholic; the manual's figure is used here.
Dates: no launch year is documented. The 1984 in the header is the year in the lens's technical specification, TU3-3.343-84, named in the manual; it is not a recorded first year of sale. The earliest dated example is the 1983 prototype for the Kiev-90 sold by Leitz. The manual was typeset in December 1985 and signed for press in May 1986, in 2,000 copies printed to the order of the Vega plant. The latest dated example found is Matt's 1996 lens. No end date is documented.
TRA, citing Princelle, says most Arsenal medium-format lenses were offered from 1988 with the extra aperture prong of the Kiev-90. No Vega-28 with the prong was seen, so it has no variant row.
No Arsat-engraved Vega-28 was seen. TRA says most, possibly all, Arsenal lenses carried the Arsat name from the late 1990s; if one turns up it belongs on this page.
IronGlass sells the Vega-28 rehoused as a PL-mount cine lens (T2.9, 15 blades, 110 mm front, per cinelenswiki). It is a modern conversion, not a factory version, so it has no variant row.
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. The Salyut on which Matt had to modify his Vega-28V before it would mount came with a Vega-12, so it is a Salyut-S.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Arsenal and Vega made the lens 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 / Kiev-88 thread. Sellers mix the letters up, and a Kiev-88 lens is very often listed as a '28B', so check the mount itself: three narrow tabs and a locking ring for B, a wide coarse thread for V
A short, compact lens: 76 mm across and 58 mm long in the manual, hardly larger than the Volna-3 80mm standard lens (TRA), and shorter than the Vega-12 90mm (Matt's Classic Cameras). It takes 62 mm filters, the same size as the Volna-3
Red MC before the name and multi-coated glass; the front element sits close to the front of the barrel, which is why TRA recommends the hood
Automatic diaphragm, set on the aperture ring and closed by the camera on release, with a depth-of-field preview lever on the side of the barrel (manual)
The kit was the lens, front and rear caps, UV-1x and ZhZ-1.4x (yellow-green) filters, a hood, a case with strap, the manual and a box (manual)

MC Vega-28B (МС Вега-28Б), Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount:

Cyrillic Б after the number, which is the Latin B. The manual calls this version МС ВЕГА-28Б and lists it for the Kiev-6S, Kiev-6S TTL and Kiev-60 TTL, and says it can also be used on the Pentacon Six
The Praktisix / Pentacon Six breech-lock: three narrow tabs and a locking ring at the rear. The manual gives the flange distance as 74 mm
A Kiev-88CM, or a Kiev-88 converted to the Pentacon Six mount, takes this version

MC Vega-28V (МС Вега-28В), Salyut / Kiev-88 mount:

Cyrillic В after the number, which is the Latin V. Western sellers very often write 'Vega-28B' for this lens because the В looks like a Latin B: Kamerastore lists its Salyut-mount examples as 'Vega-28B MC', Matt's Classic Cameras calls his Kiev-88 lens a 28B, and an MFLenses seller offered a 'Vega 28b ... for Kiev 88'. Go by the mount in the photographs
The Salyut / Kiev-88 thread-and-bayonet: the lens screws in on a wide, coarse thread, with no locking ring and no narrow tabs. The manual gives the flange distance as 82.1 mm
The manual lists it for the Kiev 88 and Kiev 88 TTL. The same thread is on the Salyut and Salyut-S

Vega-28B prototype for the Kiev-90 (1983):

Engraved МС ВЕГА-28Б 2,8/120 with serial 830006 and the Arsenal logo on the front ring
In the auction photographs the distance scale reads ∞ 30 15 10 next to a red M, where the 1986 manual's drawing of the production lens shows ∞ 20 10

Auto MC Hartblei 2.8/120 (Pentacon Six mount):

Engraved Auto MC Hartblei 2.8/120, with no Vega name
A new barrel throughout: optical tube, focusing ring about 6 mm thick, aperture ring and helicoid. The front element sits deeper in the barrel than on the Vega, and the focus throw is shorter
Heavier: the owner weighed it at 520.6 g against 440.0 g for his Vega-28. The diaphragm blades are fitted the other way round from the Vega's

MC Vega-28B (МС Вега-28Б), Kiev-6S / Kiev-60 / Pentacon Six mount: The version for the Kiev-6S and Kiev-60 line. TRA's lens, which he compares in size with the Volna-3 and the Zeiss Jena Biometar 120 on his 120mm page, is a P6 lens, and his data table lists it as the Vega-28B with a depth-of-field preview lever, 41°, 1.2 m, 76 × 58 mm and 450 g. Kamerastore listed one as a 'BEГA-28Б' for the Pentacon Six and gave 46 × 75 mm, 530 g, 8 blades and 6 elements in 4 groups. An MFLenses member who used the lens on a Kiev 6 wrote in 2009 that his first example was among the earliest, with a purple multi-coating, and that the one he had just acquired was made in 1990.
MC Vega-28V (МС Вега-28В), Salyut / Kiev-88 mount: The same optics in the screw-in mount. Matt's Classic Cameras dates his lens to 1996 and found that it bottomed out on his Salyut before reaching the click stop; he had to file down the heads of the three rear screws, which were not properly countersunk, before it would mount. Kamerastore gives 75 × 45 mm, 445 g and 8 blades for its Salyut-mount examples; Matt counts 6 blades and finds that they close to an oval rather than a circle, as they do on a friend's lens. An MFLenses owner weighed his Vega at 440 g, without saying which mount it has.
Vega-28B prototype for the Kiev-90 (1983): Leitz sold it as a prototype lens for the Kiev-90, Arsenal's 6×4.5 electronic SLR, in near-mint condition with a rear cap and a yellow filter. The hammer price was €2,880 including buyer's premium, against an estimate of €1,000–1,200. The Kiev-90 has the Pentacon Six breech-lock, and the lens is engraved with the Б of that mount; the lot description itself names no mount. The first Kiev-90, no. 8300001, is also dated 1983 by Leitz, who say only five cameras were built that year, so this lens belongs with that first batch. TRA, citing Princelle, says the production Kiev-90 lenses carried an extra prong that passed the set aperture to the body's meter. The lot description does not say whether this lens has it, and the photographs do not settle it.
Auto MC Hartblei 2.8/120 (Pentacon Six mount): Hartblei's rebuild of the Vega-28. TRA lists a Hartblei MC 2.8/120 among the Hartblei lenses of the late 1990s and early 2000s as a 'modified Arsenal lens', and the MFLenses owner who compared it with his Vega found the optics 'the same without a doubt'. On a Sony A850 he found the Hartblei very slightly sharper and much more pleasant to handle. His lens is number 10 and he had never seen another; how many were made is not known. He bought it on eBay for about what a Vega usually fetched and planned to use it on a Kiev 6S, which points to the Pentacon Six mount. TRA says Hartblei also offered its lenses in mounts for a few other medium-format cameras, but no Hartblei 120 in another mount was seen.

Serial-range notes

830006, 860122, 870564: The first two digits of the two documented numbers match their dates: Leitz gives 1983 for no. 830006, and the certificate of no. 870564 is stamped June 1987. Read the same way, no. 860122 would be a 1986 lens; no source dates it. No. 870564 was accepted at the Vega plant in Uman, so the number does not identify the plant.

Specifications

Formula: Six elements in five groups, as drawn in the 1986 Arsenal/Vega manual: two positive menisci and a cemented pair in front of the diaphragm, a negative meniscus and a positive rear element behind it. Kamerastore and allphotolenses give 6 elements in 4 groups
Construction: 6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range: f/2.8–f/22
Min. focus: 1.2 m
Dimensions: 76 × 58 mm
Weight: 480 g
Filter: 62 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Country: Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR: Arsenal, Kiev, and the Vega plant, Uman); Ukraine after 1991
Coating: Multi-coated (MC) from the start: the 1986 manual names both versions MC Vega-28 and describes the multi-layer coating. A 2009 MFLenses owner describes his earliest lens as having a purple MC coating
Original price: 350 roubles, Soviet retail list price in 1987 (acceptance certificate for no. 870564 in the 1986 manual, Vega plant, released June 1987, price list 082A-1972/342, item 1061; Abramov gives the same 350 roubles for 1987)

What reviewers say

Matt's Classic Cameras (blog) — A compact, heavy, well-built multi-coated portrait lens, a pancake beside the Biometar 120, with a slightly tighter feel than his other Arsenal lenses and a spring-loaded diaphragm mechanism in place of the slotted pin of the Mir lenses. He likes the tonal range of its pictures. The diaphragm closes to an oval, and his 1996 Kiev-88 lens had to be modified before it would mount on his Salyut.
Marc (MFLenses forum) (blog) — Compares his Vega-28 with Hartblei's rebuild of it. He calls the Vega his sharpest Kiev lens; on a Sony A850 the Hartblei, with the same optics in a heavier new barrel, was very slightly sharper and much nicer to handle. A quick comparison, not a formal test, as he says himself.

Optical formula — Six elements in five groups, as drawn in the 1986 Arsenal/Vega manual: two positive menisci and a cemented pair in front of the diaphragm, a negative meniscus and a positive rear element behind it. Kamerastore and allphotolenses give 6 elements in 4 groups

Arsenal / Uman Vega manual (1986), page 3: the optical diagram

History

The Vega-28 is the short telephoto of the Soviet 6×6 SLR systems: a 120mm f/2.8 for the Kiev-6S and Kiev-60 and for the Salyut-thread Kiev-88. Arsenal in Kiev made it, as did the Vega plant at Uman, which ordered the 1986 printing of the instruction manual and accepted the lens whose certificate is filled in at the back of it, in June 1987. The manual presents it as a lens for portraits and distant subjects, multi-coated from the start, with an automatic diaphragm and a depth-of-field preview lever. Its optical diagram shows six elements in five groups. It is small for its focal length: 76 mm across, 58 mm long and 0.48 kg in the manual, and hardly larger than the Volna-3 80mm standard lens, as TRA’s photographs show. It takes the same 62 mm filters as the Volna-3. The list price in 1987 was 350 roubles, according to that certificate and to Abramov. When it went on sale is not documented. Its technical specification is dated 1984, and the earliest dated lens is a 1983 prototype, number 830006, which Leitz sold as a prototype for the Kiev-90, Arsenal’s 6×4.5 electronic SLR, for €2,880 including premium.

It was made in two mounts with the same optics. The MC Vega-28B (Cyrillic Б) has the breech-lock of the Kiev-6S and Kiev-60, which the manual says also fits the Pentacon Six. The MC Vega-28V (Cyrillic В) screws into the Kiev-88. In Latin type the В reads as a B, so many lenses sold as a “Vega-28B” are Kiev-88 lenses: Kamerastore lists its Salyut-mount examples as “Vega-28B MC”, and Matt’s Classic Cameras calls his Kiev-88 lens a 28B. Look at the mount. The B has three narrow tabs and a locking ring. The V has a wide, coarse thread. A Kiev-88CM, or a Kiev-88 converted to the P6 mount, takes the B. Hartblei later sold a rebuild as the Auto MC Hartblei 2.8/120. An MFLenses owner who had both found the same optics in an entirely new and heavier barrel, 520 g against 440 g for his Vega. His lens was number 10, and he had never seen another.

Owners rate it well. The MFLenses owner called the Vega his sharpest Kiev lens. Matt’s Classic Cameras praises its tonal range and finds it built differently inside from most of his other Soviet lenses, more like an ordinary SLR lens, with a spring-loaded diaphragm mechanism in place of the slotted pin of the Mir lenses. kievaholic says it is said to be a good performer, and TRA quotes Rick Denney as finding it sharp but hardly cheaper than the Zeiss Jena MC Biometar 120. kievaholic says the comparison between the two is undecided. Two quirks are reported. Matt’s diaphragm closes to an oval, and so does a friend’s, with the blades seated that way rather than slipping. Matt counts six blades, where Kamerastore and allphotolenses give eight. The front element sits close to the front of the barrel, so TRA recommends the hood. The Pentacon Six ever-ready case closes over it with the lens focused at infinity, TRA found, but a thick filter or a lens cap on a slim filter can stop it closing.

When buying, check the mount against the body first. Matt’s 1996 Kiev-88 lens bottomed out on his Salyut before the click stop, and he had to file down the heads of the three rear screws before it would seat. Then check that the diaphragm closes to the set value on release and opens fully again, and that the preview lever works. Matt found oil on the edges of the elements that smeared across the glass when he cleaned it. Published weights run from 440 g to 530 g, so a listing’s weight does not identify the version. The yellow-green filter, UV filter, hood and case of the original kit often turn up with the lens. The 1983 prototype aside, these were ordinary production lenses and changed hands cheaply: a flea-market seller asked $50 for one in 2009, and the MFLenses member who found it traded a 300mm lens for it; another member offered one for €50 in 2012.

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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 Vega-28 120mm f/2.8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $260 across 5 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $240–$320). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

MC Vega-28B 120 mm f/2,8 - Kiev 88 — €120.00 · eBay
MC VEGA-28 2,8/120MM — CZK 3,500.00 · Foto Ullrich (Foto Bazar Jičín)
MC Vega 28B f2.8 120mm Lens for Kiev 88 — $180.00 · eBay
MC Vega‑28B 120mm f/2.8 Lens for Kiev 88/ Pentacon Six– EXCELLENT- Filters+ Case — £165.00 · eBay
[C Normal] VEGA 28B 120mm f/2.8 MC Lens for Pentacon 6 Kiev 60 From JAPAN 9839 — $239.99 · eBay
Used Lens: MC Vega-28B 120mm F2.8 M42 Mount — $256.04 · eBay
Exc! Vintage MC Vega-28B f/2.8 120mm Lens Cine Mod Arri PL Mount — $319.99 · eBay
MC Vega-28B f/2.8 120mm Vintage Arsenal Factory Top Lens Cine Mod ARRI PL mount — $329.00 · eBay
MC VEGA 28B Pentacon Six Mount — £368.90 · eBay

Listings updated 2026-11-10. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.