My previous copy of this lens wasn’t that great, but wondering if I try again if I’ll have better luck. Would appreciate your experience.
April 15, 2023
6
-
-
I’ve seen some great looking images from the 18-135, but it has never really known as stellar performer (especially around the periphery). I’m sure there’s probably a good bit of sample variation with that lens, and you might very well get better copy than you had, but I wouldn’t expect perfection with that one. If you’re looking for a lot of range, you might want to look into the Tamron 18-300mm, most folks seem to prefer it over the Fuji 18-135.
-
I'm perfectly happy with mine, is it perfect? no, but it is very sharp throughout its range, colours and contrast are all good and there's not a lot of distortion going on. It does fade a bit at the edges but no zoom of this type is sharp across the frame, and I usually crop a bit anyway. I have no real complaints with it, it's a very under-rated lens if mine is a representative example.
-
I was very happy with mine. You do need to sharpen a bit more than other Fuji lenses. Here is a samples:
www.morrisaltman.com/img/s/v-10/p3838391572-6.jpg
18mm
www.morrisaltman.com/img/s/v-10/p3493664474-6.jpg
79mm
www.morrisaltman.com/img/s/v-10/p3792611358-6.jpg
49mm
Morris
-
Thanks, Morris. On my phone right now but will give them a go on my big screen later.
-
There were at least two production runs of the 18-135, the original made in China one, and a later made in the Philippines run. Anecdotally, it seems that most of the initial complaints about sample variations seemed to come from the first run. So perhaps it might be worth looking out for a made in the Philippines variant when buying a new copy online.
-
Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind and I do have some anecdotal experience with that. My XF 18-55 was made in the Philippines and it’s really good. I don’t see any of the issues that others report.