Fed Up with EF-M 18-150mm

ex human wrote:

I initially thought this lens was atrocious, but after a fair bit of testing I realized the worst of my complaints with this lens were due to its extreme susceptibility to shutter shock on the M6II.

Curse the lack of EFCS!

(On a related note, as I bought this as a kit lens combo with the M6II, it’s a poor choice by Canon for a lens/body kit pairing.)

The focal range is fantastic for a walk-around travel lens. I could probably get by with this alone as a travel combo. So much space and weight saved.

That being said, the workarounds to avoiding shutter shock can cause headaches: shutter speed always as fast as possible, and switching to ES when necessary (which apparently gives a penalty of reduced bit depth).

I don’t think that’s correct. The R5/6 have reduced bit depth in e-shutter (usually not noticeable) but the R and M6II don’t. I could be mistaken, of course. Almost all my M6II shooting is with e-shutter. I love it, and have never noticed any IQ penalty.

It doesn’t really compete with the EF 24-70 2.8II for colour saturation, contrast, or sharpness, but for a general-purpose travel zoom I’ve been happy with it.

Again, my biggest complaints stem back to its susceptibility to shutter shock with a mechanical shutter.

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?

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.

-- hide signature --

Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94301219@N03/