Fed Up with EF-M 18-150mm

J Peters wrote:

I recently mentioned in another thread that I'm fed up with my 18-150mm. It was going off-topic so I've decided to post a new thread. I keep this lens on a second camera body as a general-purpose walkabout kit. I have done comparisons with the 18-55 and 55-200 which I also have. I've sadly come to the conclusion that my 18-150 sucks - and this is my second copy. Am I just unlucky?

Possibly. Especially if they were used copies. You wouldn't be the first person to have a bad copy of the 18-150mm.

The problems seem to be poor focus (sporadic), poor definition and poor contrast.

This example shows the first two (the contrast isn't bad in this shot). The focus point was squarely on the statue, specifically on the nearest arm, but in fact the flowers to the left are in much better focus. The statue is badly blurred - if you zoom in you'll notice, though it wasn't visible on the camera. The flowers, though in better focus, still look mushy to me. I feel certain the 55-200 would have done far better.

I really want to ditch this lens - it's let me down too often, and some shots you never get a second chance.

What were you focus setting for this shot? Servo, one-shot, zone, single point, etc. Depending on your settings, it is possible the camera jumped to the brightly colored flowers without you realizing.

I completely disagree with the suggestions from others that the problem is your M5 body, and the M6 II would fix the problem. While the newer bodies are much better at tracking a moving subject, you are literally photographing a statue. Photo subjects don't get much easier than that. Even the original M could have easily nailed this shot.

If all of your other lenses are working great, then it is most likely a problem with your copy of the 18-150mm. Though, there is a possibility it could also be tied to your autofocus settings.