Testing out my new Oly 45 1.8... I'm Astounded!

eastvillager wrote:

I'd have to agree with another post here that these aren't very sharp. I certainly wouldn't want to buy this lens from the examples I see here. Even though these are shot wide open the flowers are soft in each frame. Not sure if it's the lens or bad technique but my Leica 25mm f1.4 blows this away. The second basket shot has a ton of noise with a lot of color aberration. The third though shot at 200 ISO shows some terrible pattern throughout the image. Amazing what people will put up on this forum and boast "I really wonder if any other m4/3 lens can match this kind of IQ". I would hope not or we'll all be in trouble.

I am glad you posted this east. I didn't want to be mean but wasn't sure how to break the news. I am not sure what the problem is, most of the shots are relatively slow but one was at 1/1000 i think, and it was still soft. Perhaps it's bad form, smudged glass, ?? Not all of them were off focus, and where it was focused still should have been sharp, it wasn't. Perhaps it's a bad copy, or perhaps something else?

As to the OP, if you are wondering what else might come close or surpass, the Sigma 60 F/2.8 is considered a peer to the Oly 75 in IQ, some say it's sharper. I bought it instead of any other portrait option, including the 45 you have. I don't regret it. If you make sure noise and motion blur do not factor in, it is capable of incredible resolution, even @F/2.8

The Panasonic 25 F/1.4 is also very sharp. Again, making sure noise and motion blur are not a factor is important in evaluating a lens, but even at F/1.4 the Panny is good