{"id":1755,"date":"2013-03-17T09:28:26","date_gmt":"2013-03-17T14:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=1755"},"modified":"2013-03-19T22:02:47","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T03:02:47","slug":"review-olympus-m-zuiko-17mm-f1-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-olympus-m-zuiko-17mm-f1-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f\/1.8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympus has been focusing on the higher end with their lens releases over the past two years, and this trend continues with the release of the M.Zuiko 17mm f\/1.8. \u00a0With a fast aperture and a field of view like the classic 35mm lens on full frame, this is a lens that has been desired for some time among Micro 4\/3 shooters. \u00a0Olympus released a slower, 17mm f\/2.8 pancake lens with the<\/p>\n

\"Olympus<\/a>
Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f\/1.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

very first Olympus Pen, but that lens had its share of problems, with relatively high chromatic aberration and only average sharpness. \u00a0With the new f\/1.8 version, Olympus gives the lens its high-end silver metal body that was first seen on the 12mm f\/2 and 75mm f\/1.8, as well as the focus clutch mechanism seen on the 12mm f\/2. \u00a0Let’s see how this new lens performs.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t read my reviews before, I do not generally perform resolution tests or make charts to track quality measures.\u00a0 I take a real world approach to my reviews and evaluate how a lens or camera handles and works in regular use. A special thanks goes to\u00a0LensRentals.com<\/a>\u00a0for the review sample used for this review.<\/em><\/p>\n

Around the Lens – Build Quality<\/h3>\n

As with Olympus’ other high-end primes of late, the build quality of the 17mm f\/1.8 is outstanding. \u00a0The lens has a metal body with a metal mount, and a focus clutch mechanism that reveals a distance scale and has hard stops, giving a real manual focus feel, despite being a ‘by wire’ focus mechanism like all Micro 4\/3 lenses.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The 17mm mounted on the Olympus OM-D E-M5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The lens is small and solid and built to very tight tolerances. \u00a0The lens features internal focusing, so length remains constant. Some people get up in arms about the silver color, but I quite like the way the lens looks, and it feels like a solid piece of kit.<\/p>\n

I’ve said it in every Olympus lens review I’ve done, but it continues to require saying: Olympus needs to stop skimping on the accessories. \u00a0When you get the lens, it comes with, well, the lens and caps. \u00a0That’s it. \u00a0No case, no hood, nothing. \u00a0It’s getting old, and the milking of customers for accessories that should be included needs to stop. \u00a0The lens hood for the 17mm f\/1.8 is a nicely finished metal hood, and quite small given the small size of the lens and the wide-angle nature. \u00a0The hood costs between $62 and $80!<\/em>\u00a0 That’s not a small up charge, that’s highway robbery. \u00a0Even Sigma is including lens hoods AND zippered cases with their $199 Micro 4\/3 lenses. \u00a0Time for Olympus to stop with this game.<\/p>\n

Handling and Autofocus<\/h3>\n

With its great manual focus ring and small size, the Olympus 17mm f\/1.8 handles beautifully. \u00a0While not quite ‘pancake’ size compared to the Panasonic 14mm and 20mm lenses, it is a small lens that feels right at home on the OM-D or any of the Pens or GF\/GX cameras. \u00a0Great size and balance. \u00a0Below is the 17mm f\/1.8 next to the smallest real lens for the Micro 4\/3 system (discounting the 15mm body cap), the Panasonic 14mm f\/2.5. \u00a0It’s bigger, but not by all that much:<\/p>\n

\"Olympus<\/a>
Olympus 17mm f\/1.8 and Panasonic 14mm f\/2.5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 17mm f\/1.8 also has fantastic autofocus capabilities. \u00a0On something like the OM-D or the Panasonic GH3, the 17mm f\/1.8 focuses nearly instantly. \u00a0Only when going from closest focus to infinity is any real focus time noticeable, and even then it’s fast. \u00a0The 17mm f\/1.8 locked extremely quickly and accurately in every situation I threw at it. \u00a0This is a huge improvement over the 17mm f\/2.8’s relative sluggishness. \u00a0The autofocus is also nearly silent and works very well for video work.<\/p>\n

Next: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n

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Image Quality: Sharpness and color<\/h3>\n
\"Reaching<\/a>
Reaching – Olympus 17mm f\/1.8 @ f\/1.8 (click to Enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Olympus 17mm f\/1.8 is a sharp lens, but not a brilliant lens. \u00a0It seems to perform its best at close to medium focus distances, in the range where you’d be doing environmental portraiture or the like. \u00a0Here, I find the lens gives a great rendering with good sharpness at the focus point throughout the majority of the frame, right from wide open. \u00a0At greater focus distances and landscape type work, it’s good, but not great. \u00a0Center sharpness is good, but even stopped down, there is some softening at the edges. \u00a0It’s not bad, but I’ve seen better.<\/p>\n

At closest focus, it also suffers from some softness at wider apertures. \u00a0It really seems that Olympus focused on optimizing the lens for ‘street’ shooting, and for that range, it’s really a great lens when coupled with the fast autofocus.<\/p>\n

The Olympus 17mm f\/1.8 renders scenes in a pretty neutral way, with good contrast and natural color. \u00a0There’s no big ‘pop’, but it lends itself well to environmental portrait work due to even skin tone rendering and neutral color palette.<\/p>\n

Bokeh<\/h3>\n

As can be seen in the image above, bokeh on the 17mm f\/1.8 is pretty nice. \u00a0Specular highlights are neutral with only the slightest hint of a ring, and the general rendering is smooth and pleasing. \u00a0 This is the case on closer shots such as that photo.<\/p>\n

However, when shooting more distant subjects, the bokeh changes considerably, mainly due to the presence of some longitudinal chromatic aberration. \u00a0Due to the wider focal length, shots taken at wide apertures at longer distances really don’t show a lot of blur, and when backgrounds are busy, this results in a very nervous appearance to the bokeh. \u00a0It can be a little distracting. \u00a0 See the image below for an example:<\/p>\n

\"Firefighter<\/a>
Firefighter Memorial, Columbus, OH – Olympus 17mm f\/1.8 @ f\/1.8 (Click to Enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chromatic Aberration, Flare and Distortion<\/h3>\n

The Olympus 17mm f\/1.8 performs OK with regards to chromatic aberration. \u00a0There is visible lateral CA at all apertures, though nowhere near the level of its slower f\/2.8 sibling. \u00a0Luckily, this can be easily corrected with software without much trouble. \u00a0As noted above, there can be some longitudinal CA as well, though it’s really only distracting in certain cases, such as the shot above. \u00a0For most work, especially at closer ranges, it isn’t an issue.<\/p>\n

I didn’t have an opportunity to test flare with regards to direct sunlight, since in the week I had the lens for review, we literally had zero visible sunlight in central Ohio for the entirety of that week. \u00a0I did not notice any visible flaring with natural light sources, and it seemed to control flare quite well in everyday use.<\/p>\n

Distortion on JPEGs or with RAW converters such as Lightroom\/ACR that read the lens distortion metadata is very low. \u00a0However, there is a lot of camera\/converter correction being applied, which may account for some of the softer corners. \u00a0When using a RAW converter such as Capture One Pro 7, that doesn’t read the distortion correction metadata, distortion is outrageously high, though corner resolution is improved. See the two images below. \u00a0These are the same image, converted from the same RAW file. \u00a0The Capture One Pro conversion (without distortion correction) is on the left, while the Lightroom conversion (with correction) is on the right. \u00a0Wow.<\/p>\n

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\"Capture<\/a>
Capture One Conversion (Click to Enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Lightroom<\/a>
Lightroom Conversion (Click to Enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Next: Conclusion and Image Samples<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Pros<\/h4>\n