Sharpness

Sharpness at 45mm

The sharpness tests for this review were carried out using a real-world subject rather than a test chart. The Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens was attached to an Olympus E-PL2 body, which in turn was mounted on a sturdy tripod. The self-timer was activated. Slight tonal changes are due to slight changes in natural light during the session. The 100% crops represent about 1/300th of the total frame area.

The full frame

In the frame centre, the lens is commendably sharp wide open, and tack-sharp at f/2.8. Impresively, the borders aren't very far behind. The "sweet spot" is f/4-f/5.6, but I would not hesitate to use it at any f-stop except f/22 (and maybe f/16) where diffraction robs you of simply too much detail.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/1.8
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22