EF-M 15-45 extremely soft?

I've found that the EF-M 15-45 kit lens with my M3 is much softer in all shots than my EF-M 22, especially at the edges. I know that the latter is meant to be sharper, but how noticeable should the difference be?

This result is very disappointing for me, as 15-45 is otherwise the perfect zoom range. I've found myself consistently using the entire range of focal lengths on the few shoots I've done with it.

My copy of the 15-45, like yours, is very soft at the edges, until you stop down at least a couple of stops. It is the only EF-M lens that I have been disappointed with. All the others have been excellent. Some people like it though, so maybe there is copy variation. I recently acquired a 18-150 which I think is stunning for what it is, so you might consider that.

I'm finding I like the EF-M 15-45 quite a bit. It's a fine walking-around lens with a useful combination of zoom range and lightweight, compact packaging.

Is it the sharpest lens I have? Probably not. Is it disappointingly soft? Not in the least!

Here's an image walking around the other day, (conveniently of a brick wall)! Jpeg out of the camera, no additional processing, stopped to f/5.6 at 35mm (56mm equiv FF). The overall image isn't hurt one bit by the corners. YMMV, but my EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 STM IS does exactly what I want.

Canon EOS M5 + EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 STM IS on South Grand Avenue, Saint Louis, January 2017

I only use the EF-M 15-45 for video filming or panning mode shooting. As it was one of the only two lens that support Combine IS. 100US price (kit lens) was fine to me.

neb wrote:

I've found that the EF-M 15-45 kit lens with my M3 is much softer in all shots than my EF-M 22, especially at the edges. I know that the latter is meant to be sharper, but how noticeable should the difference be?

This result is very disappointing for me, as 15-45 is otherwise the perfect zoom range. I've found myself consistently using the entire range of focal lengths on the few shoots I've done with it.

I've had two and one was sharper than the other at the edges. Both are fine at the centre and both clean up well with DLO

Can you post some samples of yours?

If you look here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oqs0ja8vdtnftzg/AADGRq-4N08j5Nf2BWayHv6La?dl=0 you can see the tests I did with my two. How do they compare with yours for softness?

Alan

...in that different copies of the same lens can perform radically different - go figure!

I like how the 15-45 performs (have it attached to my wife's M10) and when she shoots with it, we keep it at anywhere from f5.6 to f8 and we're getting some fairly sharp images for that genre of lens.  Of course, that's when shooting at ISO 800 and below.  Once you further up the ISO chain, then things start to show up, IMO.

And let's face it, whenever you compare a prime with a zoom lens (especially in this price range), you will be disappointed as the prime almost always wins out in the "sharp" department.

In addition, I almost always shoot in RAW mode, rather than in JPG mode.  But in getting back to my original remarks, reality shows us that copy to copy variations often can result in two of the same lenses performing quite differently with regards to optical sharpness, contrasts, etc.

Nice - I've been very impressed by my copy too.

At the risk of coming across as a pixel peeping nerd, those corners are somewhat soft. But as long as you're happy, that's all that counts.

4xdog wrote:

I'm finding I like the EF-M 15-45 quite a bit. It's a fine walking-around lens with a useful combination of zoom range and lightweight, compact packaging.

Is it the sharpest lens I have? Probably not. Is it disappointingly soft? Not in the least!

Here's an image walking around the other day, (conveniently of a brick wall)! Jpeg out of the camera, no additional processing, stopped to f/5.6 at 35mm (56mm equiv FF). The overall image isn't hurt one bit by the corners. YMMV, but my EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 STM IS does exactly what I want.

Canon EOS M5 + EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 STM IS on South Grand Avenue, Saint Louis, January 2017

Extremely soft? No. Soft and lacking contrast in the corners wide open at the wider end? Yes. Softer than the M11-22? Yes

I've been shooting with the M15-45 for the last few weeks, and did a controlled test of corners and a comparo with better lenses in my thread Clash with the Titan .

Here are some images from this weekend, all at the lens's worst (but most interesting for me) setting of wide open at 15mm. Keep in mind the relatively high ISO when assessing softness.

M02 wrote:

At the risk of coming across as a pixel peeping nerd, those corners are somewhat soft. But as long as you're happy, that's all that counts.

4xdog wrote:

I'm finding I like the EF-M 15-45 quite a bit. It's a fine walking-around lens with a useful combination of zoom range and lightweight, compact packaging.

Is it the sharpest lens I have? Probably not. Is it disappointingly soft? Not in the least!...

No arguments about corner sharpness at all, M02. But I guess as a (now) old guy who's shot thousands of images as a kid when I couldn't afford top quality glass, I've settled into a way of looking at photos that studiously avoids pixel peeping. (smile).

I was playing with in-camera monochrome settings on the M5 the other day, and I can almost get the look of my old Plus-X Pan images right out of the camera. The compact size of the M5 + EF-M 15-45mm makes me smile as I walk through old areas of town looking at things through the viewfinder. It's all about having fun with the hobby, and the M5 is doin' it for me right now.

Here's one of those "filmy" far-less-than-perfect images from the M5. Nothing special at all, but the image looks like I wanted.

South Grand Avenue, Saint Louis, January 2017

Lovely landscapes, MannyV.  There's some weird stuff going on in the full-size view -- almost posterized in some areas.  Did you do a lot of post on them?

How do you like lugging IS around?

MannyV wrote:

4xdog wrote:

Lovely landscapes, MannyV. There's some weird stuff going on in the full-size view -- almost posterized in some areas. Did you do a lot of post on them?

I have no idea whats going on. Yes I do post process. I shoot raw and in post process, correct lens profile, sharpness, boost saturation in lightroom. Also usually low size JPG's for internet

and first one is high ISO at 6400. I was shooting early morning without tripod. I hate lugging tripods

What happens if you shoot but put the aperture to F8?

Alan