How does old lens compared to new lens? Telezoom..?

[John_of_LA]

I'm getting into MF lately (due to my acquisition of E-PL1). I like my 50mm 1.8E very much. Especially, the size.

I currently have 70-300VR but I didn't use it much. Thinking of replacing it with something cheaper/smaller. 55-200VR comes to my mind initially, but there are a lot of old lens in this range. I wonder about optical quality of old lens (70-150 3.5 E, 50-135 3.5, or Kiron 70-150). I know mechanical quality of old lens is always better but not sure about optic despite many reviews rave about the old lens.
Any thought?

 

[colinstu]

I have the 75-150/3.5E and, while it is acceptable in my terms of sharpness, and the bokeh from it is actually quite good... the FL on crop + manual focus just seems a little wonky.... MF and a 50mm is a lot more fun/easier--for example.

Getting used to push/pull is kind of odd too, but it's a good idea because you can basically zoom and focus at the same time.

I personally just don't have much of a need for this lens. I think I'd rather deal with the slow AF of a 55-200VR if I really had to.

 

[evilgreg3000]

. . . so much that I have three of them, the Nikon Series E 75-150/3.5, that is. I also have the Vivitar badged version of the Kiron 70-150, which is two ring instead of push pull, but I prefer the push pull myself.

I liked this lens a bunch on DX, and I love it now on FX as well. Here are a few from the last week or two:









And a few more from this summer:









Greg

 

[Mannypr]

Nice pics greg. On the matter of old lenses I got recently a Nikon 70-210mm F4-5.6 push pull and can say is extremely sharp from 70mm to about 200 even though I've gotten a few sharp pics at 210mm so it could be my technique which needs refining. It truly is one great lens.









Both were taken with the Nikon 70-210mm telephoto lens.
Look at them at full size so you can see how sharp the lens is.

 

[John_of_LA]

Thanks everyone. IQ doesn't seem much different but speed (3.5 vs 5.6) seems to play an important role. I think I will go with legacy then! At least, it won't get obsolete since it already is

But, wow, Greg, how can u MF for something like the girl close up/headshot... superb result.