Shot with the 17mm f/1.8 lens. Image courtesy: Robin Wong.
Robin Wong (Click here) posted part two of the new 17mm f/1.8 lens review. That time his focus is on the Low Light performance of the lens: “The Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm F1.8 lens is a great lens, it is sharp, very technically well controlled, and works very efficiently. It is also not a lens I will fall terribly in love with, unlike the M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8 or even the 75mm F1.8 lenses.”
Sounds like this lens is good…but not really grabbing the hearts of the reviewer!
And speaking of the 75mm f/1.8 lens…Olympus dealer Cameraland is selling four new Olympus 75mm lenses with a $100 rebate on their [shoplink 34983 ebay]eBay Store (Click here)[/shoplink]. To get further info about deals on that lens just join our little new Slidoo eBay website (Sign in with FB account and set your search).
P.S.: For the lens buy the cheaper third party hoods are already made on sold in US ($7 on amazon), US ($32 better quality), [shoplink 34663 ebay]Germany (ebay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 34664 ebay]Hong Kong (ebay)[/shoplink].
22 Responses
Some nice pictures Wong took.
You are not Adriaantie. Stop faking our luminary’s wise commentary.
Is this the correct page for 43 rumours, seems something has gone wrong above me…..
Ha ha. That’s funny. 😀
On a different point, the 75mm lens deal from Cameraland can be beat by the 20% cash back offer here in Australia. http://www.olympus.com.au/Learn—Explore/Current-Promotions.aspx
Is Adriaantie aware they were shot with a u43 camera and lens combination???
Good question 🙂
is our honorable troll back,..welcome home bro,.
Robin isn’t in love with the 17mm because that FOV does not fit her particular style of street shooting. I would not write a conclusion like that to an otherwise excellent review.
At present I shoot a D800, but I have my eye on the OM-D for a second lightweight camera.
I enjoy his (Robin’s; *not* her!) personal style, and find it interesting that he would not consider a 17mm 43 lens for street shooting. For other people, a 17 mm (ca 35mm equivalent FF lens) is the perfect focal length (e.g Pekka P appear to think so).
I think the opinion on this will depend on a lot on (1) the use (street shooting vs other type of interests) and (2) personality (some are good at talking with total strangers and get permission to take pictures; others like a more distant approach with, say the 75/1.8).
Myself, I have been relatively happy with the Panasonic 20/1.7. The AF is somewhat slow, and the color tends towards blueish/cold. Would I consider the new Olympus 17/1.8? The reviews for the 17/1.8 have been positive, but not raving. In addition, it is somewhat disappointing that (a) it is longer (by 1cm), (b) the nearest focal distance is 5cm longer, and it is not weather-sealed.
I might still consider buying it, depending on how frustrated I get with the AF of the Panasonic + the slightly blueish color. I have not had high ISO banding problems with the 20/1.7 yet.
Robin is not the only one who is at odds with the 35mm equivalent focal length; Ming Thein expressed a similar disconnect in his review of this lens:
“I’ve personally never been a fan of this focal length – it simply doesn’t fit with the way I see”
http://blog.mingthein.com/2012/11/17/olympus-zd-17-1_8/
Perhaps Olympus have not paid/ rewarded/ encouraged him enough this time and are therefore only getting a half arse kiss. Come on OLympus you know how it works if you want your pet advertisers sorry reviewers to pucker up you have to dish out the goodies I know times are hard lol
I think this lens makes a good case for itself in comparison to the 20/1.7. If one appreciates the super fast AF, the all-metal construction, the mechanical manual focus with internal focusing, (and the age of the 20) it’s much easier to quantify the $145 retail price difference.
I owned the 20 and never really liked it much, so this lens is very tempting. For the record, I own two Oly lenses (14-42 & 45) and two Panny lenses (14 & 25), plus a glass-case full of adapted MF lenses of every brand. I don’t care about brands. I prefer what I prefer based on features and price. I think this lens has a good set of features for the MSRP price.
Olympus has released a nice product at a good price that is not necessarily an optical masterpiece like the 75 or 60.
So this lens is so bad you have to pay a reviewer to deliver this? Seems like an honest review to me. I am still on the fence as a 20/1.7 owner which I am quite happy with. I think your comment is insulting to Robin and all those who make an effort to do these reviews. Of course the get paid through advertising but that is based on the volume of hits.
-weld
he has received direct free gear from Olympus did you ever read the idiotic E5 “soul” blurb
Sorry this reply is for hyderpark above. Apologies.
I agree on both of them .
17mm focal length is not for me too , my shooting habit should in 90mm to 200mm .
So I’ll skip on this lens .
Pana’s incoming 42.5 is a must for me .
This is the focal length I love especially in portraits .
I have owned the 20mm for two years, and it was my favourite lenses for street shooting. Last year I sell it and buy de PL 25mm. This is a super lens but for street shooting I miss my 20mm, so after looking the pics of Mr Rovin I think this will be My next lens. The IQ is similar if not best of the 20mm and the AF looks very fast, and I like the quality construction and the silver finish 😉 ,
so It´s posible that the 75mm be a jewell, but this focal lenght is not for me…..so wellcame 17 1.8 ¡¡¡ to my bag.
I understand where Robin’s coming from (and Ming Thein too). Perhaps it is an Asian thing and the way they (we) view the world? The 17mm (35mm equiv.) was always a strange FOV for me since it was neither wide enough for landscapes or close enough for portraiture. I much prefer the 25mm f1.4 for my general purpose – take a few steps back for a wider view or go in close to get subject separation without too much distortion.
I guess the 17mm is the same boat with the 20mm f1.7 where some people couldn’t love the FOV.
Saying that, the 20mm is one of my most used lens because it has the great combination of being sharp, fast and compact too (plus good value), and the thing people don’t mention about the FOV is that it is perfect for indoor group shots.
That is why I will get the 17mm with the faster AF and better build quality. It will breathe new life to my E-P1 with its faster focus and matching silver… yep, call me superficial!
I normal not like so to FF 35mm FOV (so XA i will maybe like 50mm better there), but after 17mm F2.8 pancake i see the is nice to streetphoto and the i not like is DOF so i pointview to large for, isolation of situation, occurrence and event on street. But that 17mm F1.8 have very short DOF more like a 30mm so i can see, so will be nice for me. 😉
It is v, to do environmental portraits – with the 25mm, or street shooting – with the 17mm or the 14mm. V. different exercise, there is a random element and you must ‘steal’ the image as HCR explained.
However the most important feature of the new 17mm, is not that it is good for street, but also for LANDSCAPE, because it has even resolution across the frame.
Agree, absolute good for landscape, think this can be nice to play by in sunshine from early morning to late evening.
OK I had a keyboard cursor problem.
What I meant is that it is a well rounded lens, especially if you look at the maker’s chart a very straight line to the very edges.
My only objection is that the EU price is too high, but give it a year and it will come down.