Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17mm 1:1.8 Lens - Black

I have had this lens for a while now (I pre-ordered it on amazon when it was first announced). It is a great bit of kit, when you open up the box for the first time, compared to other lenses I own for the system this one is superior in nearly ever way. CONSTRUCTION The lens body is all metal, it feels superb. Every movement is solid and precise. A joy to hold. IMAGE The lens takes lovely photos, no doubt. The 17mm F1.8 (34mm equivalent) equates to one of the most popular F.O.V.'s on full frame cameras (35mm) and I really enjoy using this focal length. The large aperture allows for great creative opportunities and strong subject isolation, and the width of the images allows me to fit in any subject I might wish. IN USE On my Olympus PEN E-P5 Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Camera - Black Body Only (16.1MP, Live MOS) 3.0 inch Tiltable Touchscreen LCD the size is perfect. The focusing speed is almost unbelievable, and talking of focusing- the snapshot focus mechanism is superb. Just pull the focus ring towards the camera body and the camera automatically switches to manual focus mode - which this lens is a joy to use in, thanks to its nicely dampened focus ring and film camera lens style distance scale... CONCLUSION I bought one, and I would do it again in a heat beat. I also have the Panasonic 20mm Compact and Lightweight Digital Interchangeable Lens for Lumix G - Black , which I personally feel delivers minutely better images but at the price that it is not as slick in the focusing department, and because of that, I do not enjoy using it the way I do the Olympus 17mm F1.8

I have had time to use this lens comprehensively and can say with certainty that it was worth the price. The lens housing is made of metal and the focus clutch is a realy useful feature as it allows you to quickly change from AF to MF on the fly without the need to mess with your camera's settings. As far as the image quality is concerned I can not find any issues, intact based on the price and to say it's aimed more at amateur photographers I would say it goes beyond expectations. The only thing to remember this is not a 'pro' lens so it is not weather sealed, but for the price versus performance this is a non-isuue.

I deliberated over this lens and the 25mm f1.8. I went for the 17 as a replacement for my excellent (but noisy and slow (to AF) on my EM1) Panasonic Lumix 20MM. It's made of metal, reassuringly heavy when compared to say the M.Zuiko 45mm, and has the manual focus ring as per the 14-40 Pro allowing you to quickly enter MF mode. I've been very impressed so far but the Bokeh of the Lumix 20mm is richer and better in my experience so far. This is a great lens for low light & astrophotography as well, and the Manual focus gearing is easy to control for pin sharp focus. It doesn't come with a lens hood or a bag which is a bit shortsighted of Olympus given the retail price, but I'd really recommend the JJC LH-J48B hood as an alternative hood to the Olympus aftermarket original. It's a fraction of the olympus's price.

Although this is a very good lens, I was none the less astonished to see that so many people had written reviews, 95 at the time of going to press. On closer inspection it turned out that the majority of correspondents were expressing their views about completely different lens's, 45mm, 75mm, various zooms etc. and only a few were actually about the 17mm 1:1.8. Not the end of the world, but confusing and obviously something of a balls up. This by way of an explanation for the title of my review. By now this lens doesn't really require another paean of praise from me, suffice to say that it is excellent. Beautifully made, producing very good results (photographer permitting). The black version is preferable to the silver one, simply because the latter has an awful champagne/beige tint, which doesn't look good on OM-D's or the latest Pen. My only reservation is that they produced this and other new MFT lens's without making them splash and dust proof. There seems to be a certain futility in "proofing" the camera, but not the lens. I know, the kit zooms supplied with the EM-5 and EM-1 are, like the camera splash and dust proofed; the one is unexceptional and the other exceedingly, possibly justifiably expensive. And yet, despite this deficiency, which almost caused me to remove a star, this lens is very much worth having and worth every penny.

Works on any MFT camera nice wide angle small ideal as a general use street lens Manual and auto focus ( there is a click collar to select) Nice and sharp for obviously Olympus camera but Lumix too. Good buy.

I really like my 45mm f1.8 but now this 17mm is always on my camera as it's so useful. It has a good weight, looks great on my EM 5 and I'm really happy with the sharpness. I can't fault this lens but I did have to buy a lens hood for it from Amazon. If you have an EM5, just watch how you have set up your manual focus as so far, I don't see any use for the manual focus on the lens as you can't see an enlarged view in the viewfinder. Will have to read the user manual again. Very happy with my purchase and a great price from Amazon.

Perfect lens especially for street photography. Tack sharp

Ich habe lange überlegt ob ich mir dieses Objektiv zulegen soll. Im Internet ließt man häufig, dass die Abbildungsleistung eher mittelmäßig sei und die Schärfe zu wünschen übrig lasse. Da dieses 35mm äquivalent für mich ein absolutes must have war, habe ich die Linse trotz dieser Meinungen und des hohen Preises einfach bestellt um mir selbst ein Bild davon zu machen. Angekommen - begutachtet - der erste Eindruck passt. Ich war sehr begeistert und positiv überrascht von der hochwertigen Verarbeitung. Ich hatte vorher nur die Plastiklinsen von Canon/Tamron/Sigma in der Hand und wurde von der Olympus-Qualität regelrecht vom Hocker gehauen. Da es meine erste MFT-Linse ist, war ich ebenso begeistert von der "Größe" bzw. der Kompaktheit. Also wurde das gute Stück voller Vorfreude an die kurz zuvor ausgepackte Olympus OMD-EM 10 angeschlossen und ausprobiert. Erster Eindruck: Geiler Blickwinkel - Die Entscheidung für diese Brennweite war auf jeden fall die richtige. Zweiter Eindruck: Schöne Spielereien mit der Schärfentiefe sind dank f1.8 kein Problem - trotz des kleinen MFT-Sensors. Dritter Eindruck: Woher stammen diese Meinungen im Internet? Die Schärfe überragt sämtliche Objektive die ich an meiner Canon DSLR genutzt habe (35mm/f2, 17-50mm/2.8, 50mm/1.8, 10-22mm, 8mm/f.3,5). In diesem Moment stand für mich fest: Wenn sich bei der ersten Fototour keine MASSIVEN Mängel zeigen wird das Teil mein "Immerdrauf". In den nächsten Tagen war ich viel unterwegs um das gute Stück genauer auszuprobieren. Hier meine Eindrücke: Schärfe: Die Beschwerden zur Schärfe kann ich wie gesagt nicht verstehen. Wie bei den meisten Objektiven ist es vor allem im Nahbereich enorm stark - und das ab Offenblende. Bildfehler: Die Abbildungsleistung ist selbst bei Offenblende überragend. Sowohl Vignette, als auch chromatische Aberrationen sind absolut im Rahmen und nicht negativ auffallend. Bedienung: Das Objektiv lässt sich sehr angenehm bedienen - besonders gefällt mir die Möglichkeit den Fokusring nach hinten zu ziehen und damit automatisch in den MF Modus zu wechseln, das ist wirklich eine sehr gute Idee. Der Fokusring lässt sich sehr angenehm drehen und bietet meiner Meinung nach perfekten Widerstand. Etwas verwirrt hat mich der doch recht straffe Sitz am Kamerabajonett. Dies scheint aber wohl normal zu sein, was ich sehr begrüße, da ich bei größeren DSLRs immer leichtes Spiel am Bajonett beobachten konnte. Haptik: Zur Haptik habe ich ja oben bereits geschrieben, dass ich sehr begeistert bin. Dem ist auch nichts hinzuzufügen - ich finde dieses Objektiv absolut perfekt verarbeitet. Brennweite: Ja, die Entscheidung für eine Brennweite ist (für mich) meistens nicht einfach. Viele sind ebenfalls mit sich selbst im Konflikt, ob sie eher zum 17er oder zum 25er greifen sollen. Experten meinen natürlich "Nimm beide, jedes hat seine Berechtigung" - vergessen dabei aber oft, dass auch jedes seinen Preis hat ;) Ich war auf der Suche nach einer Brennweite welche es mir gestattet Landschaft, Stadt, Menschen und Urlaub zusammen mit Freistellungspotential in einem Objektiv zu vereinen. Klingt eigentlich nach einer unlösbaren Aufgabe - aber 35mm KB sind meiner Meinung nach der einzig mögliche Kompromiss dafür. Weitwinklig genug für Landschaften, normal genug um Menschen zu fotografieren, universell genug um es als Immerdrauf zu nutzen und mit einem Blickwinkel gesegnet der den Bildern den Bildern keinen "dabei-Effekt" sondern einen "mittendrin-Effekt" beschert. Die Möglichkeiten die sich durch die Offenblende von f1.8 ergeben tuen ihr Übriges. Fazit: Für mich die absolut richtige Entscheidung gewesen. Dieses Objektiv ist so universell einsetzbar, dass meine Kaufpläne für weitere Objektive erstmal verschwunden sind. Ich habe absolut keine Kritik an diesem Prachtstück auszuüben, es ist genau das, was ich gesucht habe, was ich brauche, was ich nicht mehr missen will - in Perfektion gefertigt. Absolute Kaufempfehlung.

Five stars. I love it! (except for the price that is) This is a very well made lens. I just love to hold this lens in my hand. It is compact and has a good heft to it - feels reassuringly solid like a small rock in your palm. This is a very fast focusing lens. This is fantastic with the touch to focus and click features of most micro four thirds cameras. This lens with my EM5 makes DSLR seem like last century stuff. This lens has a fast aperture. f/1.8 and micro four thirds sensors easily reaching ISO 1600 without breaking a sweat mean that low light and indoors shooting are no longer an impediment. This lens is sharp enough wide open. Alone by itself the lens is very sharp. In comparison to the very sharp Panasonic 20/1.7 this lens is only a little less sharp. You would notice the difference only if you pixel peep all the time. The fast autofocus more than compensates. I would say this lens is a better buy. This lens has great DOF. The small sensor with the f/1.8 gives just the right DOF. Larger sensors like the full frame cameras have a thinner DOF but that is often a hindrance. I have had photos where one single eye was in focus and the rest of the face had begun to blur. Feels awesome for the first ten portraits and then that thrill wears off. Micro four thirds systems tend to get the full face in focus. I like that. This lens is part of a very compact kit. I feel like carrying my micro four thirds camera and a couple of primes everywhere because I can. A DSLR - I have a full frame and a crop sensor - with its equivalent lenses seems to occupy four times the volume and twice the weight.

This Olympus OMD Zuiko 17mm f1.8 Lens was supplied by Amazon Japan, and arrived well before the expected date. It is no doubt a high quality lens, which has been praised by many others. I can also confirm that in my short period of trying this lens that I am very impressed by its performance, and how easy it is to use om my Olympus OMD E-M10 Mark II camera, in manual focus mode as well as auto focus mode. Unfortunately it did not include the lens hood, which the Amazon website description shows as included. However aside from this minor issue I am totally satisfied with this product and can well recommend it.

It is a very versatile lens. A must have for a mft user. The overall performance of this lens is beyond my expectations. However, there’s an issue with the description. It is mentioned with hood and pouch. What I received doesn’t have any of those two items. Either was duped or wrong description.

superb product..... fast delivery. splendid service. thanx a lot