Does my 16-55 have an issue?

BigG30 wrote:

allemania wrote:

BigG30 wrote:

Rightsaidfred wrote:

Can look at the details only later, but as far as I can see, you did an excellent job in alignment of your setup!

I do very similar tests at the time with my lenses, I was a bit shocked to discover a decentration 15 months after purchase. There are two current threads by me. In the meanwhile, I've come to the conclusion that an exact image frame on the chart is key for proper alignment. If all the 90° angles are correct which takes a lot of time, the alignment is perfect.

Keep going!

I sold it and kept the 18-55, i was never that happy with my 16-55 which exhibited a lot of astigmatism-like smearing on the edges, it never looked as good as some of the sample images I saw. My 18-55 was better than the 16-55 from 18mm through to around 40mm where it was then equal in sharpness. The only time my 16-55 was better than my 18-55 was about 40mm to 55mm.

That interesting to note, since my 16-55 and and 18-55 are exactly the opposite - my 16-55 is sharper on the wide end, 18-55 being equal/sharper on the long end.

Yeah that's a weird one, I can only sum it up that I had a very good copy of the 18-55 and a below average copy of the 16-55.

I think I'm in a similar situation. It's been an eye-opening experience, which underscores why there are so many strong opinions regarding the the 18-55 vs the 16-55 and whether the 16-55 is worth the steeper price  tag.

Since performing these tests is relatively easy once you've gained some experience, I'll definitely being checking all my future purchases when I receive them. One can put their mind at ease and go enjoy shooting