The Nikon Series E 75–150mm f/3.5 Lens

I came across someone selling this lens on ClubSNAP Photography Forum and did some research on it. It seemed like this particular Series E lens has earned a "legendary" reputation for its sharpness. I managed to successfully bid for one on eBay for a reasonable S$150 (after shipping from US), and its condition is considered quite a good buy for an approximately 30-year-old lens.

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The E 75–150mm f/3.5 was released in Japan in May 1980. Nikon Series E lenses are interchangeable lenses that were developed to complement the Nikon EM, which was affectionately known as the "Little Nikon" in Japan. Keen to establish the EM Series, Nikon used a different brand name for the lenses in order to differentiate them from the Nikkor brand. Ultimately, a total of 8 Series E lenses were manufactured. There were 5 fixed-focal-length lenses and 3 zoom lenses:

1. E 28mm f/2.8 (not released in Japan)
2. E 35mm f/2.5
3. E 50mm f/1.8 (not released in Japan)
4. E 100mm f/2.8
5. E 135mm f/2.8 (not released in Japan)
6. E 36–72mm f/3.5
7. E 75–150mm f/3.5
8. E 70–210mm f/4

Nikon succeeded in making the Series E lenses light in weight, so as to match the compact and lightweight EM, by making the barrels of the fixed–focal–length lenses out of engineering plastic. The company also attempted to make the lenses substantially cheaper than existing Nikkor lenses by streamlining production, e.g. by minimizing the number of points at which adjustment was required. There was absolutely no compromise on design, however, and one of the concepts behind the series was that the lenses would preserve the same quality as existing Nikkor lenses. They would exhibit the same Nikkor performance and would be compact and lightweight, yet reasonably priced. The user would see only advantages.

In addition, as can be understood from the standard way in which the smallest stop setting for the aperture ring is indicated in orange, the Series E lens family comprises AI–S–type lenses* that are interchangeable with AI-S Nikkor lenses, aside from the fact that the structure of a Series E lens does not allow a meter coupling shoe to be fitted to it.

Although the Series E is no longer in production, the elemental development that was geared towards the Series E (such as the use of engineering plastic and cost reductions by means of improved productivity) later became indispensable to the technological development of subsequent Nikkor lenses. These technologies represented the foundations for subsequent development of the Nikkor line. Thus, although this lens does not bear the Nikkor name, it is one that a photographer will want to keep handy, even in the digital era.

Although the E 75–150mm f/3.5 was manufactured as a popular lens for use with the Nikon EM, the finished lens was, in fact, sufficiently well-executed as to find favour with the experts. With a x2 zoom range covering a 75–150mm portrait area, the clarity of f/3.5, and an unchanged F-stop setting during zooming, the lens proved easy to use with cameras such as the F2 and F3, as well as with the EM, and was visually well-suited to them. It was also outstanding in terms of performance. The lens’s modest zoom ratio means that it images cleanly throughout its zoom range, from full wide-angle to full telephoto. Zoom lenses are often praised as being on a par with fixed-focal-length lenses, but this lens probably really is as good as a fixed-focal-length lens.