15-45mm + 55-200m Or 18-150mm for m50 mark ii

Larry Rexley wrote:

yonatan5522 wrote:

Hi, I have 2 options:

1. 15-45mm + 55-200m

2. 18-150mm

I want to photograph landscapes, people, cars, and planes.

what should I get?
or maybe should I buy a different camera (250D/850D)

You've already gotten lots of good advice in previous responses. Everyone has their own shooting style and way of using lenses. Either set can work for you, both have different advantages.

I have to agree with those who say getting a good copy of the kit 15-45mm lens is a crap shoot. There are a few good copies out there, but most seem to be sharp in the center and noticeably blurry or slightly 'smeared' in the corners even at f5.6 or f8 which would be noticeable in landscape shots. I've had 3 middle-of-the-road copies of the lens that were like that, and my most recent fourth copy had a soft left edge, I sent it back for replacement under warranty service and should get the new one this coming week.

if you manage to get a very good copy, the 55-200 is apparently quite a good lens and does not seem to suffer copy variation. Consensus seems to be the optical quality is not very different from the EF-S 55-250mm, with each lens having some advantage (small size and weight for the EF-M vs. longer reach and slightly wider aperture for the EF-S).

For me, given the choice of 15-45 + 55-200 vs 18-150, I'd choose the 18-150 in a heartbeat. It's a great walkaround lens, is quite sharp for landscapes all around at 18mm by f5, and having such a large range you don't end up swapping lenses often. When I'd shoot with the 15-45mm and EF-S 55-250mm with one body, I ended up changing lenses very frequently to shoot various subjects, and it became quite annoying with a lot of lost shots.

As others have mentioned, the EF-M 11-22mm is a fantastic quality wide-angle zoom for the price and is the best Canon EF-M landscape lens. It's very sharp at all focal lengths and apertures. If you're on a tight budget and want a great wide-angle landscape lens, and don't mind manual focus, the Rokinon 12mm f2 is even sharper than the Canon EF-M 11-22mm with great color rendition, and is sharp even at f2. being such a fast lens it also makes a great indoor, night photography, and astro lens. It has become one of my favorite EF-M lenses. Focusing isn't much of an issue, I've found for most outdoor shots I can just set it at a parfocal distance on the lens and just forget about focusing. You can find it used under $200.

I agree with others that even 250mm is going to be short for airplanes. I've modified an EF-S 55-250mm IS STM lens to work on EF (instead of only EF-S) teleconverters, and use it with good 1.5x and 2x teleconverters to give it the kind of reach you need for shooting planes and birds in flight.

To go out and shoot the subjects you mention for the 'cheapest' set of lenses from my collection, I'd bring the Rokinon 12mm f2, Canon EF-M 18-150mm, and EF-S 55-250mm with 1.5 TC (making it an (88-375mm f5.6-f8 lens).

Since writing my original answer (above) I've been fortunate enough to get a decent copy of the kit EF-M 15-45mm lens (fifth time's a charm) and also I have for the first time gotten the EF-M 55-200 IS STM lens.

My latest copy of the EF-M 15-45 lens is just as sharp as the copy of the EF-M 18-150 lens in the relevant range. Here's a post with some sample images:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66199406

My testing of the EF-M 55-200 lens shows that it is quite a bit better optically than the EF-M 18-150 lens in the telephoto range, in fact it appears to be optically even slightly superior to the EF-S 55-250mm IS STM lens (although not by much). Here's my post on that with some sample images:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66243584

So if I were to answer the OP's original question again now, I'd say that it's a tough choice. The 18-150mm is a great walkaround lens and can cover most subjects... but

If you don't mind changing lenses, can get a good copy of the EF-M 15-45 kit lens, and shoot with it and the EF-M 55-200 - you're going to have a greater range both at the wide end and tele end, and are going to get better images at the telephoto end, and probably at least as good images at the wide end. If you don't get 'wider' lens like the EF-M 11-22 IS STM, that 'extra' wide angle of the 15mm lens is very useful.