XF 16-55mm - Do I have a bad copy?

norjens wrote:

rwbaron wrote:

canetsbe wrote:

rwbaron wrote:

canetsbe wrote:

[snipped

What Joachim said.

Most likely a focusing issue.

Bob

A focusing issue with the lens, yes; you do realize the point of this thread is that the lens is behaving incorrectly?

Could be the lens or the body.

- OP already said that other lenses produce good images with the same body.

Have you confirmed that the lens produces an acceptably sharp image at infinity using manual focus?

- OP has provided images at close, medium/far, and infinity focus. All are confirmed to not be acceptably sharp for the 16-55, although the close focused ones appeared closer to acceptable.

If it does then try a series of 10 shots off a tripod focusing on a good contrast target at infinity and see how many are in proper focus.

- Why take 10 shots when he is at 1/5000 second exposure time? They would be 10 shots with the exact same (zero) motion blur, wouldn't they?

Bob

It would seem to me that you haven't read the full thread, because this doesn't appear to make much sense in that context. I don't mean to start an argument here, it just appears that OP already did the tests and got the feedback sufficient to conclude, so there's no reason to ask him for another round unless you can first explain a fault in the previous test and conclusion.

You're correct in that I did not read all the posts in the thread but have since.

The OP is attempting to determine if a problem exists with a lens but from what I've read and seen there is little to no attempt to eliminate variables. First, the scenes/subjects are not well suited for this and it appears he's doing this handheld. I've been evaluating lenses for my own use for decades and have a system for doing so and have learned the pitfalls and shortcomings of not doing this correctly.

He needs a better scene for evaluation. A city scape if available is ideal for infinity focus where a specific building or structure can be the target for focus. Ideally the scene should fill the frame and do not shoot over water or on humid days. For close focus a simple lens testing chart is best and if not available then small targets can be printed from various sources on the WEB and attached to a vertical flat surface. If all else fails then newspaper taped to a wall or garage door can work. When evaluating a lens for centering/tilt defects it's imperative the sensor plane is parallel to the target. This can easily be done with a small mirror in the center of the target but for purposes of what the OP is looking to evaluate it's not necessary as long as he realizes the corner/edges may show varying levels of softness.

The camera/lens needs to be on a solid tripod, not handheld. IBIS/OIS needs to be off and a remote release or timer should be used to trip the shutter. There's no need for raw capture as fine Jpeg's at default settings are adequate. The ISO should be a low as possible and the target/scene should have good contrast and be in good light. The camera drive  mode and focus mode selectors should be be in single frame for testing the AF.

The AF point should be of medium size and not larger than the target used for focus acquisition. It should be centered and not "focused and recomposed".

Start with manual focus using the magnifier and focus peaking. At minimum refocus and shoot 3 frames with 5 being better especially at wide open apertures. Then use AF to capture another 3 to 5 frames defocusing the lens each time. For zooms do this at each marked FL at both wide open and f5.6~f8. When shooting targets at close focus the camera/tripod needs to be moved between each FL. Compare the results.

The OP may very well have an issue with his lens as I found many over my years of testing, mostly Canon. I hate to see him send it in only to have Fuji repair return it as "in spec". I had a Canon 28-70f2.8L that after the above testing proved to be defective and even then Canon's service facility returned the lens to me twice saying it was "in spec". I requested the lens be sent to a different Canon repair facility and it was returned repaired with a note "replaced faulty focus module". The point is the OP should have more information with the highest possible confidence when the lens is sent in.

Bob

One of my test setups

Using a mirror to achieve proper alignment