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

MC Yantar-20N Macro 35–200mm f/3.5–4.5

Arsenal · Nikon F · 1986 · Zoom, 16 elements (Abramov)

Also known as: Yantar-20 · Yantar 20 · Yantar-20N · Yantar 20N · Yantar-20H · Yantar-20 N · MC Yantar-20 · MC Yantar-20N · MS Yantar-20N · Yantar-20N Macro · Yantar-20 Macro · Yantar 35-200 · Yantar 35-200mm · Янтарь-20 · Янтарь 20 · Янтарь-20Н · МС Янтарь-20 · МС Янтарь-20Н

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
MC Yantar-20 Macro 3,5-4,5/35-200, N bayonet (Arsenal) Nikon F 1986–1992 — Small batches (Abramov); no total published. One printing of the lens's instruction booklet, in 1990, ran to 1,000 copies
  1. Abramov's specification for the Arsenal lens: N bayonet, 16 elements, closest focus 1.5 m, M62×0.75 filter thread, 0.72 kg, angle of view 12°–63.5°, maximum aperture 1:3.5 at 35 mm, 1:4 at 50 mm and 1:4.5 from 75 to 200 mm, macro at 1:4 (0.3 m). Resolution 55 lines/mm in the centre and 30 at the edge, a figure he attributes to the magazine Sovetskoe Foto.
  2. Aperture. Abramov gives the GOI prototype as 3.5–4.6 and the Arsenal lens as 3.5–4.5; his own index of zooms on the same page lists it as 3.5–4.6. Camera-wiki.org and English Wikipedia give 3.5–4.5. The structured field carries the f/3.5 wide end, on which all agree.
  3. The prototype. Abramov says the lens was first made at GOI (the State Optical Institute) and that this prototype was meant for cameras with the 'К' bayonet, the Soviet name for the Pentax K mount. Allphotolenses.com, a user-contributed catalogue, lists the MC Yantar-20 for both Nikon F and Pentax K, but its description paraphrases Abramov and links his article, so the K listing may rest on his sentence about the prototype. No K-mount example is documented and no other source mentions a K-mount series, so no K-mount variant is listed; only the N-bayonet production lens is.
  4. Figures from allphotolenses.com only: 16 elements in 13 groups, minimum aperture f/22, length 123 mm. They are not in Abramov and are left out of the structured fields.
  5. End date. Abramov gives 1992 with a question mark; the family span uses it as the best figure available. None of the sources gives a period rouble price, a serial-number range or a production total.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Yantar-20 (Янтарь-20) with 'Macro' and 35-200 in the name; the 28-85 zoom of the same years is the Yantar-14N, the 80-200 the Granit-11N
  • Closest focus 1.5 m in normal use; a macro setting reached at 35 mm gives 1:4 at 0.3 m (Abramov)
  • Maximum aperture steps with focal length: f/3.5 at 35 mm, f/4 at 50 mm, f/4.5 from 75 to 200 mm (Abramov)

MC Yantar-20 Macro 3,5-4,5/35-200, N bayonet (Arsenal):

  • Nikon F bayonet, which Soviet literature calls the 'Н' (N) mount; the letter is Cyrillic Н, so a title may read 'Yantar-20H'
  • Focal range 35-200 and aperture 3,5-4,5 on the front ring; a separate macro button and macro scale ring, worked at the 35 mm end (the operating instructions Abramov quotes)
  • 62 mm filter thread (M62×0.75), 720 g: a long, heavy zoom next to the 67 mm, 28-85 Yantar-14N

Specifications

Formula
Zoom, 16 elements (Abramov)
Construction
16 elements
Aperture range
f/3.5
Min. focus
1.5 m
Weight
720 g
Filter
62 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Years manufactured
1986–1992
Country
Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR: Arsenal, Kiev); prototype by GOI, Leningrad
Coating
Multicoated (MC)

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 Yantar-20 is a 5.7× zoom that Arsenal made for its Nikon F-mount SLRs (camera-wiki.org lists it for the Kiev-17, 19, 19M and 20): a 35–200mm of sixteen elements, with a maximum aperture that falls from f/3.5 at 35 mm to f/4 at 50 mm and f/4.5 from 75 mm on. G. Abramov, whose reference history of Soviet camera and lens making is the main source for it, calls it MC “Yantar-20” Macro and dates it 1986 to 1992, with a question mark on the end date. Camera-wiki.org and English Wikipedia list it as the Yantar-20N, adding the N that Arsenal used for its version of the Nikon bayonet.

The design began at GOI, the State Optical Institute. Abramov says GOI’s prototype, specified as a 3.5–4.6, was meant for cameras with the “K” bayonet, the Soviet name for the Pentax K mount. Arsenal then built the lens in small batches with the N bayonet. He gives no production figure, but notes that one printing of its instruction booklet, in 1990, ran to 1,000 copies. A user-contributed catalogue, allphotolenses.com, lists the lens in Pentax K mount as well as Nikon F, but its text follows Abramov’s, and no K-mount example is documented, so this page treats the N lens as the only production version.

On paper it is a heavy, slow lens by later standards: 720 g, a 62 mm filter thread and a closest focus of 1.5 m. Abramov gives its resolution as 55 lines/mm in the centre and 30 at the edge, citing the magazine Sovetskoe Foto. The “Macro” in the name refers to a close-focus mode, described in the operating instructions Abramov quotes. You set 1.5 m and 35 mm, press the macro button and turn the scale ring until the subject is the size you want, then frame by moving the camera and fine-focus with the focusing ring. The closest setting is 1:4 at 0.3 m.

No serial-number range or period price is published for it. When buying, check that the mount is the Nikon-type bayonet and that the macro button and scale ring still work. Do not confuse the lens with the MC Yantar-14N Macro 28–85, the other Arsenal zoom of the same years, or with the 80–200 Granit-11N.

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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 MC Yantar-20N Macro 35–200mm f/3.5–4.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

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Sources (4)

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.