New York Store Electronic Expo is selling the 12-40mm with a $90 discount via Amazon US (Click here).
I noticed that deal while checking the current Lens sales ranking at Amazon. The new Black Olympus 25mm is selling fine! Not a surprise seeing that almost 41% of all 43rumors reader said they would buy it!
The new E-M10 is not doing bad neither and all four different kits are within the top 20 of the Amazon mirrorless ranking.
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Preorder links for US and Europe:
Special page with all new products at Amazon.
E-M10 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama , GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
Olympus SP-100 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus TG-850 iHS at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus ECG-1 Black Camera Grip for E-M10 at Amazon, Adorama.
Olympus 9mm f8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens at Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex Uk.
Olympus V321200BW000 Macro Converter MCON-P02 (Black) at Amazon,
44 Responses
Not really surprised here. People have been asking for the 25mm from Olympus for a long time. They do not like the Panasonic 25mm because it rattlesnakes and it is big and expensive. They also don’t want to pay for unnecessary expenses, i.e. the OIS that they do not need on Olympus cameras or for the “Leica” name. So, this Olympus 25mm is just right. In general, people expect Olympus lenses to work better for Olympus cameras because there should be a better match, e.g. less CA, and they look better. Less use of software corrections for optical flaws.
For myself, I expect that pound for pound, and dollar for dollar, Olympus lenses to be better in price, size or features simply because there is no OIS needed. Also, because Panasonic seems to be still doing funny things to make their lenses less functional or less perfect when mounted on Olympus cameras, like more banding, more purple spots, more rattlesnake, more uncorrected aberrations. Besides, Olympus lenses look prettier.
The ‘rattlesnake’ happens with all 4/3 and m4/3 lenses, but is more obvious with some, including the 25/1.4. It is a result of the camera opening/closing the aperture depending on what it is facing.
The 25/1.4 does not have OIS so you aren’t paying for this, neither does it add size or weight.
The 25/1.4 can be found for 499 euro new, and isn’t exactly expensive for what it does, the premium for the Leica name doesn’t seem very big if its there at all.
That said, the 25/1.8 is smaller, lighter, cheaper, and from a first impression is at least as good or a bit better possibly.
What a load of tosh.
The 25mm F1.4 is 50 quid more expensive than the new 25mm 1.8 and from the first impressions I have seen online the Lumix is better. Also it does not have OIS so you are wrong there. I can pretty much guarantee based on the other Olympus lenses that it will look and feel cheap in comparison to the Panasonic, you cant deny that!
Just to add that the Panasonic 25mm is also slowish in AF. The Olympus lens should have better AF, fast and silent, as it is a “MSC” lens.
Your general point is correct, but the Panasonic 25mm 1.4 does not have OIS.
Spoke like a true fanboi. “I don’t like the better lense because it is Panasonic”.
Wrong pitch buddy. That slow AF issue is an old refrain you hear all the time when talking about the 1.7/20mm, not the PL25.
Just a detail…
Matt-
Please be less stupid.
Although the Panny 25mm f1.4 lens does say “LEICA”, I can assure you there is no OIS in this lens.
No OIS? OK, Thanks for that. That makes it even more expensive and big, compared to this new Olympus lens.
The Pany 25mm does have the Leica optics and is a highly regarded lens. And itworks well with the IBIS on the E-M5, E-M1, and GX7. As usual, you don’t know what you are talking about.
What does the label “Leica” have to do with whether the lens has OIS? Whether or not Pany pays Leica to put the name on a lens, doesn’t seem to have a connection with OIS; in fact, when I think of the (real) Leica, I think of primes.
Pretty sure that you are the only one trying to connect the two…
I was replying to Matt who said the Panny 25mm had LEICA written on it and OIS, both of which made it expensive. I merely corrected his missed assumption about the OIS.
See how this text is indented to yours? That means it’s in reply to yours.
Now look above that one and see that I was replying to Matt.
I understand to whom you were replying, but you used the phrase: “Although the Panny 25mm f1.4 lens does say “LEICA”, I can assure you there is no OIS in this lens.” The word “although” causes the confusion; in fact, the meaning would have been clear without the phrase involving Leica.
You are obviously the kind of person that always has to be right, even if it means you manipulate the conversation. Whatever.
No Dave, you are the type of person that always has to be right. Bobo is correct. (Now watch, you’ll try to get in the last word. Pathetic.)
pure conjecture
Matt….I don’t know what “people” that you surveyed before you “spouted off” all of your misinformation about a lens that you have CLEARLY never used. I personally use Olympus camera bodies and like and use both Olympus and Panasonic lenses. I own 6 Panasonic MFT lenses (including the P/L 25mm f/1.4. BTW my copy does not have O.I.S. :-)), 4 Olympus MFT lenses. I think that both companies have the ability to manufacture very good lenses. I am sure that the new Olympus 25mm f/1.8 will be a nice balance between cost and performance…and it’s affordable price will make it a fast seller…BUT……
…the Panasonic is a benchmark performer. It has faster aperture than the Olympus and is very sharp… And obviously will offer shallower DOF and have greater bokeh. I doubt that the Olympus will be sharper F/stop to F/stop, hopefully it will measure up…but we will just have to wait and see instead of speaking untruths.
Amen
Are you confusing “people” with “I” by any chance?
Am I the only one that’s disappointed that the 25mm doesn’t have the manual/automatic focus ring of the 17mm? I would think that 50mm equiv. would be a natural street photography lens, and the ability to range focus would be appreciated.
This feature is less important for longer focal lengths like 25mm and 45mm, and makes more sense with wider lenses where you have deeper depth of field, like the 17mm and 12mm.
I think they made the right choice, going with a cheaper build to compete on price with the Panasonic 25mm 1.4
25mm isn’t very “long”. It is simply cropped. I would have liked to have seen the snap to manual focus on this lens.
I’m not sure why this wouldn’t be useful on longer lenses. Can you explain why that would be?
I have the 17/1.8 lens (which does have the “snap” focus ring feature) and the 45mm and 75mm (which do not.) I agree that the “snap” feature is useful primarily with shorter/wider lenses.
After all, you can still focus the longer lenses manually whenever you want, as long as you have your camera’s focus mode set to M+AF. Just turn the ring; no snapping required. If you have manual focus assist turned on, the finder will magnify automatically as soon as you start turning the ring, to make critical focusing easier.
The real advantage of the “snap” ring comes if you want to focus manually via the distance scale and DOF markings on the lens. This is handy for street photography etc., but it really only works well with wider lenses such as the 12 and 17. The longer lenses require more precise focusing than you can get with this method, and I suspect the same is true of the 25.
So for me, Olympus made the right choice by omitting this feature from the 25 and keeping its cost a little lower.
Am I the only one who thinks Oly should make all their primes in 2 versions. One like this 25mm and the 45mm of plastic and relatively cheap. And a SHG version with weather sealing snap to MF ring and faster maximum aperture.
+100
A lens with a faster maximum aperture wouldn’t be just “another version,” it would have to be a completely different lens with a different optical design. Not sure that makes sense for Olympus at this stage.
Fortunately in MFT (unlike most mirrorless systems) we get choices, so if you need a faster 25 or 45-ish lens you can turn to Panasonic for a Summilux or a Necrotron (or whatever it’s called) or you need even faster aperture and can live without AF then Voigtlander has you covered.
In view of that, at this point I’d rather see Olympus flesh out the lens line rather than duplicate well-covered existing focal lengths. For example, where’s that 150/2.8?
A 150 2.8 is coming, just with every focal length between 40 and 149 too 🙂
Unfortunately the choices don’t help when you need weather sealing.
I also would love a faster aperture lens ~1.2/f around 17-25mm for shows. The other focal length 1.8 is fast enough. And a MF lens isn’t helping because of the fast moving people
I’ll take the 1.4 max aperture over the 1.8 any day.
There’s much more to a lens than max aperture. Also, 2/3 of a stop is hardly anything to go crazy over. If this 25 handles anything like the 45, I am dumping my PL25.
Right like rendering and color of which my PL 25 on my EM-1 does splendidly. And 2/3 of a stop when half my pics are of my baby indoors at night these days is nothing to scoff at.
I’m of the mind that 1.8 isn’t really fast enough nor will allow for the shallow depth of field I’m looking for at 50mm.
I of course will look for examples of the Oly, but I don’t see anything in this lens that I don’t get in my PL which I scooped used for the price of the Oly 25.
Also my PL came with a hood.
Well, you don’t get smaller size and lighter weight with your PL 50mm f1.4.
Why would you “dump” the pl25 when you already have it, and choose for the zd 25? I can understand to choose the zd because its cheaper, but you already spent the money for a 1.4, and now prefer to get a 1.8.
And I’ll take an extra $150 in my pocket any day. Isn’t it great to have options?
$99 for the fisheye lens cap is a little steep. I think I would rather buy the rokinon 7.5mm.
Especially when it is on sale for $200.
I have all the key olympus primes and they are great.
But I have to say the pan leica focuses rapidly on my EM1 and does not rattlesnake. But even if it did I would keep it. The summilux arrangement will be of different character to the pan leica, as in turn the voigtlander 25mm f0.95 has an even more accentuated character wider open…..it’s choice folks – that’s a good thing!
I meant different character to the olympus 25
No rattlesnaking on my copy either.
I like that the “rattle snaking” is an issue on the PL25, but not the Oly 75? My oly75 rattlesnakes like a mofo and always has on both Oly and Pana bodies. It’s a common thing for lenses in this system, stop trying to nail it down to one lens or manufacturer.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many people tripping over themselves for an f/1.8 standard lens. If this was put out with a Lumix badge, I think the Oly fan boys would be dismissing this lens to no end. It’s great to have choices, but at $400, I just don’t see what this thing brings to the table. $200-250? Sure thing, but when it’s nearly the same price as the PL25, I can’t help but think this is Oly trying to exploit Oly fans that will buy whatever f/1.8 optic they throw out.
And to address the AF speed on the PL25, it is plenty fast and a hell of a lot faster In all light and more accurate on both an EM5 and GX1 than the Oly 75 is on those two bodies in any lower light situation, so stop trying to trash the Pana lenses, they are great and so are the Olys.
Just a heads up. Amazon UK is now accepting pre-orders for the EM10, 25mm and 14-42mm. The products are not yet showing in their search results, but I have linked to them directly from my website at http://www.olympuslinks.co.uk. Pre-order before the rush to beat the queue!
Damn I wish that 25mm was weathersealed, I’d sell my PL25mm and get it