When I was looking for a wide-angle prime lens, first thing came to my mind is Olympus 25mm f1.8 this one is topped on my list. Olympus Singapore is selling $598, street price in other camera shop is selling around $550, 2nd hand is selling around $350 - $400 in clubsnap. The price is ok if you compare with Sony prime lens, lets see the Sony line up, the SEL range equivalent to the M43 are the 16mm and 20mm but they are of f2.8, cost around $399 and $349. The lower f factor prime lens are 28mm f2.0, 50mm f1.8 and the Zesis 24mm f1.8, except for the 50mm, the rest are expensive. Done comparing with Sony. Lets get back to Micro 4/3.
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| Panasonic 25mm f1.7 |
Olympus and Panasonic are both a Micro 4/3, so when I was researching the price, I was surprise that Panasonic cost only fraction of Olympus!! Official Panasonic selling $349, anyway I got it at $200 brand new from someone in carousell Singapore.
With the cheap price you would not expect Leica-like quality in terms of build, the lens is make of matte black plastic that is well assembled and shows no flimsiness or creaking. With plastic exterior, rear ends is a metal mount. Focus is internal, so the length of the lens won’t change during focusing. The lens is so light you will have to check if it’s actually mounted on your camera.
Panasonic gives a nice hood and we will definitely need it. To install the hood you have to remove the decorative ring on the lens, the hood is reversible so it will not occupy that much more space in the bag, and the cap is of the center pinch type, so you will be able to easily fit it on the lens even when the hood is on.
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| Front View |
The Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 features a fast and fairly quiet lens motor, and can focus as close as 0.25m. Focus is acquired nearly instantly on my Olympus OM-D E-M10 II, even in lower light. The lens is rather quiet when focusing, but it isn’t completely silent, some soft clicking sounds can be heard from the lens, which may be audible on video if shooting in quiet rooms, but otherwise will not be a distraction.
Hear a lot that the Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 produces images with good sharpness at most working apertures, including at f/1.7. For shooting shots of people or closer subjects, you’ll find the lens can render high levels of resolution, though it falls a bit short of the very best optics here. Sample of the photos as below shot from my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with the Panasonic 25mm f1.7 lens.
I'm reviewing base on real world hands on, as a tools. There will be no charts or numbers, I find them pointless.
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| 25mm @ f1.7 Aperture Priority, Enhance picture style |
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Crop of the above picture
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Sharpness is pretty good at f/1.7 because it doesn’t seem to improve too much upon stopping down. Slight increase in sharpness can be seen at f/2.8 and f/4 and this shows predominantly even sharpness across the frame, with some minor softening in the corners. While there are certainly sharper lenses around, the 25mm f/1.7 is going to give you plenty of resolution in most any situation. Lets sum all up, for a very sensible sum of money, Panasonic offers you a lens
with good albeit not outstanding optics, what’s more important is it
manages to avoid any image resolution flaws.
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| Bokeh!! |
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| 25mm @ f1.7, Picture Mode Natural |
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| 25mm @ f1.7, Picture Mode Natural |
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| 25mm @ f1.7, Picture Mode Natural |
The Panasonic 25mm f1.7 prime lens
produces very sharp images with very nice bokeh, but not very creamy tho. It focuses
quickly and accurately and and despite it’s low price, it hangs with the
equivalent product from Olympus. It’s a great bargain and would
make a great addition to any kit lens, specially for anyone on a
budget. It will be my 50mm equivalent everyday lens.
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