XF 18-55 subjects are soft when aparture is wide open at the wide end

Hi,

I think there are two different issues with your images.  In several images, some of the corner softness is caused by lack of DOF when the aperture is wide open - the near elements in the image are too far toward the camera from the point of focus to achieve sharpness.  The other is indeed some lens softness at maximum aperture.

The experience in the forum that there is some variability in the samples of 18-55.  Some seem to be excellent, others a source of inconsistency.   What you've seen in your images is similar to my own copy of the 18-55.  I try not to use it wide open.  I simply get consistently sharper images with it stopped down a couple of stops and then it's very good.  That also gives me more DOF, but even in images where deeper DOF is not needed, I still get sharper images.  The down side of course is that I don't find  the lens as usable as it could be when I do need wider apertures for lower light.

None of these issues stops me using it as a travel lens - it's a very good zoom if I simply stop down a little.  I don't want to travel with four primes to get the same coverage - though I do actually own the primes as well.  Nor have I bought the 16-55 - it's larger than I prefer - though I do think about it.  (NB that there have been occasional posts about inconsistency in samples of the 16-55 too - QC is a problem in all manufacturing.)

Regards, Rod