Olympus 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

love the size it's really small and lightweight, nice construction, metal mount, good IQ better than kit lens. the only reason why i ranked it 1 star short is because in low light situations f2.8 comes a little short for me as i dont want to bump ISO more than 1600, but again for the price of 200+ this lens cant be beat.

best feature is the size of the lens, 25mm reach is practical everywhere any shooting type and 2.8 would give you nice enough bokeh and fast enough shutter speed in most situations.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

I mount this lens on a Olympus E620 and a Leica Digilux-3 when I want to travel light. The lens weighs 114 grams compared to the Leica f1.4 Summilux's 526 grams, and is a mere 20 mm long compared to the Summilux's 73 mm. Of course it is only a quarter as fast, but when f2.8 is fast enough I will use this lens. With this little lens, the Digilux-3 will fit into a large pocket. While I haven't done a rigorous focus and distortion comparison, there are no noticeable differences from the Summilux's performance. The lack of an aperture ring is not a big bother since this lens is used mainly in automatic mode. The major negative is the screw-in lens cap - it's such an annoyance to use that I just trust a haze filter to protect the lens, and leave the cap at home.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

I purchased this lens in preparation for our newborn, I wanted a lens that wouldn't require the use of a flash indoors. It did not deliver. I was able to take close up pics outside and blur the background, but keeping the lens wasn't worth this feature. It is a very slim lens, the metal cover is weird and could probably get easily lost. The pictures were clear and the camera didn't really hunt while focusing, but I wanted the f/2.8 to be bright enough for me. It wasn't. I guess the more expensive Sigma is my only bet, but its about double the cost.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

It's an excellent piece to have. Makes picking up the camera easy and friendly. Only thing is you should buy the little plastic clip lens cover because the screw on metal that comes with the lens is cumbersome.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

Fabulous in every way. By design. By performance. And most of all, performance in optics, other than adjustments, fit and finish. "Great job Olympus!"

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

While the lens is certainly light and useful for toting around, it's hard to mount, not easy to uncover (lens cover screws on) and the bokeh effect wasn't nearly what I had hoped. It does take great pictures but I would recommend it only if you were using it on a second camera.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

Excellent companion to E-4xx/5xx/6xx bodies. Very good quality for the price. Optically better then expected.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

Very compact, surprised at how small it is. The lens is very quick for being a 2.8 and seems to focus quickly as well. It's a nice lens to just attach and go for a quick walk around and the image quality seems to be almost as good as the High Grade lenses.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

This is one of the cheapest ZD lenses you can buy (probably tied with the 35mm macro, which is also an excellent value!) It's TINY, and feels very well built, and the image quality is very good.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

For the money a bright and amazingly lightweight fixed lens with quite nice bokeh effect. Would not want to miss it. Makes the E-620 very compact and light. Comes with a screw-in type lens cap, which is a bit awkward but indestructible (a snap-in type is available from Olympus). I give "only" 4 stars because it is not a 2.0 lens (it's a 2.8) but I fully realize that that can't be had at this price.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

I bought this lens to use on my E-620 in street shots and travels and I was surprised by the quality of portraits too. It turns my camera very lightweight and easy to carry in my daily bag.
I´m very happy with the overall performance.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

What I love about this lens is that it is very small, well made, and the pictures are very sharp. At 25mm (50mm on 35mm standard), the lens seems to have a wide angle of view than a normal 50mm on a FF camera, to me it seems more like a 35mm-40mm lens than a 50mm lens, but in a way, this is good. I much rather have a f 2.0, but for the price, I shouldn't complain.

Over all great walk around lens.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

I bought this lens along with the appropriate adapter so I could have the equivalent of a 50mm lens on my Olympus E-P1. I'm a dedicated street shooter and in film days my favorite combination was a Leica M4 with 50mm Summicron. Successful street shooting depends a lot on equipment with which you're absolutely familiar. For a while I used my Nikon D3 with a 50mm on the street, but the E-P1/25mm Zuiko combination is a lot less conspicuous and threatening.

Neither the E-P1 nor the 25mm Zuiko auto-focusses very quickly, but a 25mm lens gives you enough depth of field at, say, f/8 to use zone-focus almost exclusively on the street.

In street photography sharpness isn't an end in itself, but this little lens is sharp enough. The lens shows more chromatic aberration than I'd like, but not enough to be a real problem.

Bottom line: though it's not a Summicron, this little lens is a very useful tool.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

Pros:
Small size.
Cons:
Lens cap is too tiny. Lens cap thread is too tight.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

I'm using this lens on an Olympus EP1 with a Panasonic 4/3 to micro 4/3 adapter. The combination works well and the lens seems to function as required. Optical performance has been good. I've been happy with the photos I've done with this lens but I honestly haven't had a chance to use it a whole lot. Based on my observations so far, it's a solid four-star assessment. The lens seems very well built, more solid than the EP1 17mm and 14-42mm lenses. The combination of the lens and adapter are heavy compared to both the other Olympus lenses I have but this improves the balance of the camera. So far, I'm liking it.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

I use the lens to reduce the bulk and weight of the camera kit. Image quality is great for casual photography, and brings my Olympus E-420 down to a better size. Not a dramatic reduction, but it helps. I like the fixed lens because, as other reviewers have noted, it makes you think about your shots and move around to frame them. It reminds me of my old SLR, and I had forgotten how much fun it was. Good value for the money.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

I bought this lens primarily to have a prime that would force me to think about composition rather than relying on zoom. That's still an ongoing project, but it has become very apparent to me that this lens can transform the way you handle an SLR: one handed operation becomes completely natural. This lens is so small and light that my E-620 becomes almost as easy to handle one handed as my point and shoot. It's wonderful for crawling around on the floor taking pictures of the baby. My wife, who is uncomfortable with the size and weight of the camera with the 14-54mm II, now will use the SLR instead of the point and shoot. She was initially cross with me for buying the lens, but she's now warmed up to it after using it herself.

Obviously this is an inexpensive lens and image quality was compromised in favor of size an weight. It can't compare to the 14-54 II, but that's to be expected. The only nuisance I've encountered is pronounced barrel distortion when taking pictures of architecture and other geometrical objects. It is correctable on the computer but that's an added hassle.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

This lens has become my walk around lens, it is a perfect fit for my olympus e510 and I just love how sharp (for a [$] lens) it is. I also love the fact that with this lens the e510 is so small, I can actually carry it around anywhere in my messenger bag.The bokeh wide open is quite nice, keeping in mind the four thirds sensor limitations. The macro capabilities are also pretty nice for such a small lens, being able to focus really close to the subject.The only thing I don't really like is the filter size, 43mm is not very common, but I guess I'll be using a step up ring so I can use my 49mm filters.

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

I love this lens because it is small, light, perfect for travel and taking photos of subjects that don't require zoom. I use it with my lightweight Olympus E-620 and they make the perfect couple :-)

Comments about 25mm f/2.8 ED Zuiko Lens for Olympus Digital & Four Thirds System:

It was smaller than what I expected, which is really great! Great sharpness even wide open.

The only thing I didn't like is the screw-in lens cap. I have big hands so it takes me a long time to take off and put back on.

Overall, a great lens for the price and a must-have if you want a very light set-up with your Oly DSLR.