Sharpness at 50mm

For this review, the sharpness test is carried out by photographing a real-world sample, rather than a test chart. The Fujifilm XC 50-230mm f/4.5-6.7 OIS II was mounted on a Fuji X-A3, which was in-turn mounted on a sturdy tripod. Exposure delay was activated to prevent camera-shake. Any changes in tone you might see across the crops are due to natural light changes during the shooting session.

The full frame at 50mm

At 50mm, the centre is sharp at f/4.5, but the best performance comes at f/5.6 up until f/11. From f/16 we can see diffraction starting to become an issue, with the centre being a little soft, while at f/22 it’s even more noticeably soft.

Some softness is visible at the edges at f/4.5, but it’s still reasonably sharp. It gets sharper at f/5.6 and f/8, with f/11 being the sharpest.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/4.5
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22