The magic of the EF 75-300mm

SteveHU89 wrote:

Hi R2D2! Thanks for the encouraging words. So, I've read about the new STM version of the 50 prime and planned to buy one in the future. You are not alone with the spectacular 18-55mm kit lens. From the specs and user reviews I've came to the conclusion that mine is visibly "outperforming" the average kit lens. However I rarely use it. It wasn't long ago when I was all about sharpness, sharpness, sharpness...pixelpeeping lens samples (that's why I decided to get myself the 55-250 IS STM and it lives up to the hype), but photography is not only about sharpness, but a story to tell. I'm a firm believer that the EF 75-300mm III was and is a "story teller" lens LOL.

I think you are onto something. Found a thread here"I understand that Bokeh is also related to the MTF performance. If the sagittal and meridonial lines are close together the out of focus areas are "better". I am not sure how this relates to number of aperture blades."

Also I found lots and lots of (dubious?) stuff regarding bokeh and the number/quality of the blades. The number of blades may or may not matter. As a general rule they say the more the merrier, but both the 75-300 and 55-250 STM have 7 blades.
Anyways, see if you can open this and click the specifications tab. It's a comparison between the zooms we talked about. Note that the IS USM model was set to FF.
By the way I mostly used the sweet spot on the EF 75-300. Whenever I went over 170 mm the lack of IS was bothersome. Over 250 mm non-hand held, and the IQ resembled of a 15 years old point and shoot.
Great shot with the 400 L by the way!

Thank you.  Yup, there's a whole lot that goes into lens bokeh.  Truly, the best way I've found to predict/evaluate bokeh is to simply check pictures. 

Here's a great image-hosting site that can help with that...

500px

It's searchable by keyword!

R2