When I purchased my first Fuji camera (an XT1 which has since been sold), I bought a used 18-135 Fuji Lens to accompany it. At the time, I was apprehensive because a lot of the lens reviews said the lens was poor and not of the usual Fuji quality. Despite this I pushed ahead and bought the lens, largely based on the excellent user reviews and the fact 18-135 is such a useful focal range. I reasoned that the results from lens test charts are often quite different to real world experience, so it was worth the risk.
Following the purchase, I ran into a number of other problems. Some were relating the lens whilst others were probably due to Adobe RAW processing problems (now largely resolved). Ultimately, I ended up returning the lens because the performance was quite poor, just as many of the lens charts had predicted.
Following this incident, I purchased the XT-2 which is a lovely camera to use. It came with an 18-55 lens which is good. I also purchased the 10-24mm, 16-55mm and 50-140mm lenses which are excellent. The problem with the 50-140 is that whilst the image quality is exceptional, it’s a big and heavy lens. I did for a while own a used 55-200mm lens which is smaller but I traded for the 50-140mm lens following image quality issues.
What I found myself wanting was a single lens that I could use most of the time unless I was looking for optimal quality. I was back to wondering about the 18-135 and if it was worth buying a new one, especially when someone I knew bought one and loved it.
I’m sure you have guessed by now that I purchased a new 18-135. So far, the results seem very promising. I have only used it for one outing but it’s a lovely lens to use. The results are also better than the original used lens I had purchased. The colour and contrast from the lens are nice whilst the image sharpness across the frame is good. The only slight deficiency is that I don’t think it has quite the capability to resolve distant detail that I would like, but then I’m comparing it to a much more expensive lens.
Hopefully I will be able to share more images from this lens in the future.
