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XF16-80mm vs. XF18-135mm for travel/landscape/architecture photography

Started Mar 3, 2022 | Discussions thread
GMacF Contributing Member • Posts: 999
Re: XF16-80mm vs. XF18-135mm for travel/landscape/architecture photography
6

wantfastcars wrote:

The 16-80 seems like the newer and higher-quality lens, but I've also heard it can be a little soft around the edges which isn't ideal for landscape photography.

I have written extensively on other threads so I'll not bore you - the 16-80 is a superb lens and once stopped down to f5.6 I found it as sharp as any other Fuji lens I owned - it's certainly no slouch at f4 either but from f5.6 onwards it is sharp across the frame. The one (well publicised) drawback is it IS soft at 80mm (or softer I should say) but again stop it down and it's more than acceptable.

If I could only pick one do-it-all lens, for me, it would be the 16-80 hands down.

tl;dr: Fujifilm X-Mount for travel/landscape/architectural photography. Augment 15-45mm+50-230mm with 16-80 (and maybe the 70-300 or 100-400 later down the line) or 18-135+teleconverter?

Forgive me if I've mis-read or misunderstood but the 18-135 doesn't take the TC so that will likely narrow your search field.

I'll just throw the idea of a prime or two into the mix as well. Certainly the 16 f2.8 and 23/35 f2's are great value for money - or even the Viltrox primes, I have found the 23mm to be excellent. A small prime is always a joy to use when shooting street or architecture (I've found) plus they do compliment the 16-80 well as they don't overlap too much on account of being 2-3 stops faster.

 GMacF's gear list:GMacF's gear list
Fujifilm X-E3 Fujifilm X-H2S Fujifilm X-T5 Fujifilm XF 27mm F2.8 Fujifilm XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS +9 more
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