At 07:40 AM 4/16/2005, Piers wrote:
>The one in my hand reads "Olympus OM-System Zuiko Auto-Zoom 1:4 f=75~150mm
>400793". It is not an S Zuiko, and is not MC as far as I can tell.
Yes . . . I was mistaken about the "S" (but IVHO it was designed and priced
for the same market segment). There is a solid plus for it left out of
anything posted yet . . . eight aperture blades . . . which helps improve
bokeh . . . all of the mid-tele zooms made by Olympus have eight blades
(all the shorter ones except the 35-70/3.6 and 35-80/2.8 have six).
Regarding the "MC" designation:
The lens was introduced circa 1974 and continued through 1985 in the
literature, and the "MC" designation is found in late 1985 just before it
disappeared. If there are any they would be comparatively quite rare given
just over a decade and large numbers of "SC" production prior to that.
> As far
>as design and build quality are concerned, it seems on a par with other
>Zuiko lenses, and is certainly not the same trombone design as the S Zuiko
>100-200/5
All the (true) Zuiko lenses I've owned are very consistently high in
materials and manufacturing quality. I've never had any reservations about
those aspects leaving me to muse over their optical qualities which range
from a passable "pedestrian" to stellar. Never encountered "poor" optics
unless the lens was thoroughly thrashed and abused which is user induced,
not design or manufacture.
Regarding the OM 75-150 and 70-210, my benchmark "comparator" for their
optics (and other mid-tele zooms) is the Tamron Adaptall 80-200/2.8
ED. Its optics are quite excellent and with (IIRC) nine aperture
blades. It's also bigger, noticeably heavier (enough to have its own
tripod mount), much more costly, and well outside "mid-tele zoom with 49mm
filter ring" class. It has slight pincushion at the long end but not
enough to be problematic unless there is a very strong, straight line very
close and parallel to a frame edge, and running along at least most of
it. Its filter ring also rotates with focusing. Nevertheless, it provides
an example of what is possible in a mid-tele zoom without being an
"elephant tusk" and a standard against which the compromises made for
smaller size, lower weight and less cost can be measured.
-- John Lind
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