The 24mm focal length has always been essential to my photography. Correspondingly, I was extremely interested to see how my Olympus OM 24mm f/2.8 lens stands up to a modern camera, and if I would find a place for it in my bag in the future. The lens is tiny and light, and f/2.8 is fine for most of, say, my street photography purposes.
Generally, the lens is pretty sharp, and at f/8-f/11 its rendering is very pleasant. But wide open, it vignettes heavily and is very hazy pointed towards the light. It also has a rather horrid moustache-like distortion. The bokeh at f/2.8 is also rather busy.
Probably for street photography, using f/8 and hyperfocal would be fine. But, really and truly, I don't think this would be my choice of lens for this focal length any more. That is a bit of a shame because the 35mm and 100mm I wrote about previously are delightful, and having the 24mm alongside them would be a lovely set.
Flowers in a local cemetery. f/11 and hyperlocal focusing.
Stopped down, the rendering is very pleasant with lots of detail.
A heavily backlit scene gets very hazy
Wide open at f/2.8. Notice the distortion on this brick wall.
Lone tree in evening light. Note the heavy vignetting at f/2.8, although the central part of the image is very sharp.
Busy bokeh at f/2.8
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16