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

wantfastcars wrote:

Hello! Question about a potential lens upgrade.

I currently have a Fujifilm X-S10 with the XC15-45mm and XC50-230mm lenses. I find this is a really great combination of focal lengths that provides me with a very large range of zooms for my use case (travel photography, primarily landscapes/seascapes and buildings). However, I find myself often fiddling about with lenses and needing to switch a lot when I want to take pictures in medium focal lengths (like, the 30-70mm range), and sometimes wish I had a little bit more on the long end. I know a lot of that is developing technique and gaining an intrinsic understanding of focal lengths and what framing will subsequently look like. I'm definitely starting to get the feeling for it but I still feel like it'd be really good to have a lens that covers the kind of middle-ground between them. I'm also not overly fond of the electronic zoom on the 15-45 - while the lens provides useful focal lengths, it (for lack of better phrasing) doesn't feel as good to use as the 50-230. It feels like it's harder to get the exact focal length I want out of it, if that makes sense.

Yes I had this issue where the 50-230mm (great lens for the price btw) just sat in my bag when I was out hiking etc with friends and family.

I'm wondering if it'd be better to invest in the XF16-80 or the XF18-135 (or something else entirely). I don't plan on selling the XC15-45, but instead keeping it as essentially a 15mm prime because it's so small and light (and also for webcam use), and I'm also not in a position to change systems. Plus, I don't really want to - I really like the physical feel of the X-S10 in my hands, and my technique isn't good enough to warrant an additional/replacement body at this point. 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. The 18-135 has much more overlap with the 50-230, but it would also mean I could potentially augment my long-end with a teleconverter rather than buying a physically longer lens. I also feel like when I use the 50-230, I'm either using it in the 50-80 or so range or the 170+mm range. I'm not a professional, not by a long shot, but covering that 5mm gap in the middle and having something to deal with medium focal lengths without swapping lenses appeals to me.

I had the 16-80mm but while it's not bad the range is still not enough and it's weak at the long end.

There's also the XF 16-55mm f/2.8, but for the use cases I'm interested in, the faster aperture doesn't seem like a great trade-off for being considerably more expensive and having a much smaller zoom range than the other two options.

So I got the 16-55 which is great across the focal lengths but I don't really need the f2.8 for hiking and it's heavy for what it is.I still had to carry the 50-230mm anyway.

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?

Teleconverter doesn't work with 18-135.

I also don't know a lot about third-party lenses. I know there's the Tamron 18-300 which seems like a fantastic one-stop-shop lens but also appears to suffer hard from being a jack of all trades, and at equivalent focal lengths doesn't hold a candle to either of the Fuji lenses. OIS and WR also isn't hugely important for me, as I'm already very satisfied with my X-S10's IBIS and, well, the X-S10 isn't a weather-resistant body.

Thanks for any advice you've got!

Yes as I mentioned in the other thread (landscape lens) the Tamron is a great all in one solution for these types of situations. I'm not sure where you've heard it's not as good as the Fujis but imo it's as good if not better. Plus the close focussing 1:2 at the wide end and 1:4 at the long end makes it super versatile. 
For now the Tamron is the only zoom lens I need until the compact Sigma 18-50 2.8 comes out at the end of the year.
Good luck with your decision.