Comparing the XF 18-55 and XC 16-50 (v2)

I had a 18-55 and made a few of my favourite shots with it.  I wish it started with 16.

Last year I planned on replacing it with a 15-45 and a 16-80 and I did this year.  I never had the 16-50, either version.

Thoughts about the lenses:

18-55: decent sharpness in all FL across the frame, good build quality (same as the 16-80).  Good balance on XE and XT bodies.  Didn't find the f/2.8 at 18mm all that useful for my photos.

15-45: decent sharpness in all FL across the frame, great sharpness corner-to-corner at the wide end.  Extremely small and light, but feels more fragile than the 18-55.  I'm ok with its power zoom.

16-80: decent sharpness in the middle of the FL.  soft edge and corners at the wide end, but if you do not pixel peep it isn't that bad.  At the tele end the edges are also supposed to be soft but I haven't tested that - at 80 I plan on keeping the edge in the bokeh area anyway.  I read that with Raw, turn off distortion correction and the corners will be decent at 16mm, but haven't tried it personally.  A bit heavier than the 18-55 but still balances well on XT and XS.  Tolerable when I need a "one lens" setup.

Felt that I've made the right call.  Starting at something wider than 18 is critical for me.  Having the 2 lenses gives the flexibility to choose a kit or to mount it on 2 bodies.

IMHO the 18-55 will be completely supplanted by the Sigma 18-50.  It's brighter, sharper, lighter, smaller in 2 out of 3 dimensions, focuses closer, and comparable in price with the 18-55 new.  There's zero to very little downside picking the Sigma over the XF1855.