I'm done with lens reviews

imnotmarvin wrote:

This is a rant, just want you to know before you continue.

Yes, of course there's value to SOME reviews. However, even respected photographers have some head scratching results and comments in their reviews and comparisons. Add to those reviews ones from people who are newer to the art complaining about things like softness at f/22, edge softness in diagonal scenes shot wide open and sharpness with images shot handheld at 1/4" in the dark and it becomes pointless moving from review to review.
I've been considering trading in a few lenses and replacing them with the 10-24 and the 16-55 (while I appreciate the wealth of informed information here sincerely, I'm not interested in people's opinions on these two lenses as replies. I've already read plenty of other threads. See title of post). I of course spent too much time going through reviews. They are largely mixed on the 10-24. The reviews of the 16-55 are inconsistent in their IQ comparisons relative to the 18-55 (I really don't need another anecdotal opinion). There are countless images without a shred of draw being used as illustrations of sharpness and lack of sharpness. If you take a non-compelling image, no amount of corner sharpness is going to make your photo something a viewer wants to spend some time with. I can't take another photo of a brick wall or an underexposed flower shot looking straight down. I can't watch another video of someone talking for 20 minutes only to share some uninteresting handheld photos of trash cans and bus stops to show me how great or terrible a lens is.
The reality is, the entire Fujifilm lineup is actually pretty good. The "worst" modern Fuji lens is leaps and bounds ahead of most lenses made 30 years ago. Every lens is a tradeoff of one thing or another. If you have the ability to make a compelling photo and execute it decently from a technical standpoint, every lens Fuji makes will be just fine. I will not make (or avoid) another lens purchase because of the opinion of the Internet. I'm buying the lenses and trying them for my types of photography. I will love lenses people hate and find fault in lenses people laud. If a lens doesn't work for me, I'll return it or sell it.
My time will be better spent learning how to see and compose photos. Learning the art of crafting an image and not squinting at my monitor comparing pixels at the edges of a photo of a cat in some YouTuber's living room.
Buy the lens. Shoot the lens. Return or retain the lens. Keep it simple stupid (message to myself, not you).
// end rant

I don't rely on any one lense review. Instead, I look for trends in the reviews. Collectively they tell a story that any one review does not. It's how I got to the 90/F2, and the 16/1.4.