10-18 and 18-135 is stm combo vs 15-85 IS

Hi,
I am thinking about replacing 18-135 is stm lens with 15-85 is lens. Listed 18-135 stm on ebay. I also have sigma 17-50. Sigma felt shorter for walk around lens though its fast aperture is handy. I can use sigma 30mm. I happen to come across nice price for 10-18mm stm lens and jumped on it. Now I am wondering if I really need 15-85 and instead keep 18-135mm lens. Brain added 15-85 IQ tests with 7D2. When compared 15-85 and 18-135, they both seems to produce same IQ. Some FL, 15-85mm is sharper. In some situations 18-135 is sharper. It is a toss up? What do you guys think between 15-85 and 18-135mm. Also thinking about selling sigma 17-50 and use sigma 30mm more often.

Thanks

I have both the 15-85 and the 18-135 STM for my 70D - bought the 15-85 for my 40D some time back and got the STM lens in a 70D kit. I prefer my 15-85 because subjectively I feel it has the better overall IQ. The 18-135 just sits in the bag unless I want it for the quiet autofocus for video, but that is very rare. Let's put it this way - I accidentally broke the 15-85 and paid the couple of hundred $ to get it fixed.

I use the 18-55 STM and 24-105 STM for video on my 70D. I have never used the 18-135, but the 24-105 is killer good on both formats. I have considered getting a 10-18 to supplement the wide end, though. 18mm on a crop is quite frequently not wide enough.

I started off my journey into the DSLR world with a 15-85, based on recommendations here. I really like the range. For landscapes, I haven't needed anything wider.

I did recently pick up a used but pristine 10-22 for just a bit more than the 10-18 STM costs new. I will only be using it for interior photographs of kitchens. There have been a few times when I needed more than 15mm to get everything we needed in the frame.

I know the 18-55 STM and the 18-135 STM have gained popularity since their release and from all accounts, they are very good lenses. That said, I've been extremely happy with the 15-85: my wife loves hers as well.

I use the 15-85 on my 70D, and I love it. My wife uses the 10-18 STM and 18-135 STM on her 70D, and she loves it. We both get excellent photos. The 15-85 is enough range for me, whereas my wife wants the 10mm sometimes and is willing to change the lenses.

khwaja wrote in post #17749077
Hi,
I am thinking about replacing 18-135 is stm lens with 15-85 is lens. Listed 18-135 stm on ebay. I also have sigma 17-50. Sigma felt shorter for walk around lens though its fast aperture is handy. I can use sigma 30mm. I happen to come across nice price for 10-18mm stm lens and jumped on it. Now I am wondering if I really need 15-85 and instead keep 18-135mm lens. Brain added 15-85 IQ tests with 7D2. When compared 15-85 and 18-135, they both seems to produce same IQ. Some FL, 15-85mm is sharper. In some situations 18-135 is sharper. It is a toss up? What do you guys think between 15-85 and 18-135mm. Also thinking about selling sigma 17-50 and use sigma 30mm more often.

Thanks

Heya,

You either need 15mm, or you need the 135mm. Most people tend to favor either the widest end, or the longest end of their zoom. It's never exactly 50/50. If you're more into wider angles, the 15-85 makes sense. If you're more often on the longer telehpoto end, the 18-135 makes more sense.

Very best,

All of the mentioned lenses have a similar high quality picture quality so you can at least relax knowing it's going to be hard making a 'bad' choice.

What it boils down to is what focal lengths you use most and trying to pick a lens set up that minimizes lens changes. And it's not just about focal length but also aperture options. The 18-135 or even an 18-200 may be great for some but they can't do 2.8 like the 17-50.

You need to decide if 15,17, or 18 is a good wide enough focal length for your standard zoom and each person is different so only you can answer that. The good news is the 10-18 cheap enough to not break the bank for when you need wider. You may find that the 15-85 would be wide enough to not have to switch to the UWA or maybe not and you'll use the UWA a lot more.

You might want to keep the 18-135 for a while before selling it. Give yourself some time to see how you use the 10-18 and that might tell you if 15 is a good focal length to use as the wide end of the standard zoom based on how you use the 10-18.

I have a 15-85 and love it, and my friend paired a used 18-135STM with his T2i very early last year. After seeing his results and some of the large prints he has made, I would stick with the 18-135 if I already had it. I don't think either lens is "better" than the other, but both produce very good results. We both have UWA lenses to cover down to 10mm on crop bodies but those tend to be purpose specific for the things we do that I would not characterize as "walk around".

The advantage with the 15-85 is that in my experience it is sharp across the range wide open and cropping from 85 to 135 can be done and is not a huge difference. Since the OP already has the 10-18, they already have the ability to cover the wider range and then some. The upside with the 18-135 is having the native range to 135 is very nice and I think I recall it being incrementally faster through the range than the 15-85. I will say that there are more times I am shooting with my 15-85 that I would like it to natively go past 85mm, than times I am below 18mm. When that happens, it's when I swap out for a longer lens.