Rob, I think we have quite different desires around our lenses, if I was shooting this primarily at f/8 and up, possibly shifting, and aiming for nice in focus sharpness out to the corners, I would for sure be looking elsewhere for a 45. That said, I think mine hangs in there with the 45-85. I'll do some more in depth comparisons on this over the next few weeks.
You, me, and everyone else -- we all have different desires around our lenses!
I truly believe that a lens I would find unsatisfactory for my needs can produce superb images in the hands of someone else. And vice versa. I see that all the time. And I saw it again in your sample images; they look lovely, and clearly show that for pictures that play to the strength of the lens, The P645 A 45/2.8 is a nice lens.
To go on a slight tangent, I have a copy of Bruce Haley's book,
Home Fires Volume 1, and am looking forward to getting Volume 2. He shot every picture with a Sony RX1. The book is well printed, each photo getting a nice large page all to itself. The photography is excellent (not surprising because he's an excellent photographer). The pictures are detailed and crisp, front-to-back in most cases. There's really nothing to fault if you're looking for "sharp".
How does he produce these sharp images with everything in focus? He doesn't use focus stacking. Rather, he shoots at f/16 and doesn't fuss about diffraction.
That right there is the difference between someone whose main focus is making and publishing pictures, versus someone whose main focus is testing lenses!
