A flexible lens for general shooting, the black M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8 from Olympus is a 34mm equivalent wide-angle prime for Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras. The wide field of view pairs with the bright f/1.8 maximum aperture to benefit working in difficult lighting conditions, and it also offers increased control over depth of field for working with selective focusing techniques. The optical design makes use of aspherical and high refractive index glass elements to control spherical aberrations and distortion throughout the aperture range for increased sharpness and clarity. Additionally, a Movie & Still Compatible (MSC) autofocus system is employed to deliver quick and quiet focusing performance and a manual focus clutch can be used for more intuitive adjustment and control over focus.
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- Micro Four Thirds System
- 34mm (35mm Equivalent)
- Aperture Range: f/1.8 to f/22
- One DSA Element, Two Aspherical Elements
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8 Overview
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8 Specs
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| Image Stabilization | |
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| Maximum Aperture | |
| Minimum Aperture | |
| Lens Mount | |
| Lens Format Coverage | |
| Angle of View | |
| Minimum Focus Distance | |
| Maximum Magnification | |
| Optical Design | |
| Diaphragm Blades | |
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Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8 Reviews
It;s underwhelming
Olympus makes great products. This isn't one of them. To be fair, it was designed when MFT cameras were pushing 12Mpix. Well this lens is showing its age with 20Mpix sensors. The build is great, the focus is great and has a manual clutch. It feels good, looks good, but produces lackluster results in terms of resolution and contrast in 2024. There are so many better lenses - any PRO lens, zoom or prime. Perhaps OM put out the 20mm f1.4 to partially address this weaker lens. It's not terrible, it's just not great. I did a session with two lenses, this one and the 60mm macro and holy cow, the difference was night and day. I can see how it would be a hard case for OM to update this when they have a 20mm f1.4 and 17mm (gigantic) f1.2 which are both excellent. It makes sense that they dropped the price of this one... Good luck and shoot lots.
Great wide angle street lens
Note - this is my second review here on this item. One of my first lenses on OMD MFT cameras. It is small and fast. Very nicely constructed and works well in MF or AF mode. Handles well and good tactile feel of the focusing ring. Some complained of not being sharp enough but I found it to be sharp wide open (in the cetral portion of the image) with great bokeh and color rendition. PROs: Tiny, well constructed, good FL and fast AF/MF control, good focal length and compact size make it great for unobtrusive street photos and portraits without extra light. CONs: Not weather sealed, relatively expensive. Oly turned off teh ability of auto manual focus zoom since it is not branded as a pro lens. That is just annoying. Overall a great little lens for MFT street and travel photos. Sharp in the center wide open w great color rendition and contrast and bokeh wide open.