Olympus Zuiko 25mm F2 8 Review | 54 Data compared

The DPReview evaluation of the Olympus Zuiko Digital 25mm F2.8 Pancake lens, a 50mm-equivalent prime designed for ultra-compact Four Thirds DSLRs, highlights its exceptionally thin 24mm form factor, light weight, and consistent sharpness from maximum aperture up to F8. The lens is praised for its smooth 400-degree focus-by-wire manual focus ring and high resistance to flare. Conversely, the review identifies significant drawbacks, including notable barrel distortion, high chromatic aberration (red/cyan and green/magenta fringing), and an impractical, slow screw-in metal lens cap. Ultimately, it is recommended for its portability rather than superior optical performance, as it does not outperform the standard 14-42mm kit zoom.

The LensTip review of the Olympus Zuiko Digital 25 mm f/2.8 concludes that this pancake lens is a fully-fledged prime lens rather than a mere novelty toy, offering great value for Four Thirds system users. Evaluated on the Olympus E-420, it is highly praised for its exceptionally small dimensions, lightweight build, and solid, attractive body casing. Optically, the lens delivers very good image quality in the center of the frame and holds up with good quality at the edges. Additionally, the review notes that the autofocus performance is good, coma and astigmatism are sensibly corrected, and the lens handles work against bright light very well. On the downside, the lens is not without optical flaws, as LensTip identifies a couple of minor errors that slightly detract from its performance. The review highlights that the barrel distortion is a bit too high and there is visible vignetting across the frame. Furthermore, some users might find the maximum relative aperture of f/2.8 a bit too slow for a standard prime lens, though these cons are ultimate overshadowed by its strong advantages, making...

The Olympus 25mm f/2.8 Zuiko Digital is an ultra-compact, 95-gram "pancake" lens designed for the Four Thirds system, offering a 50mm equivalent focal length suitable for portable, small DSLR setups. Key strengths include an affordable price point, solid build quality with a metal mount, and impressive central sharpness even at f/2.8, making it a capable, lightweight standard prime lens. However, the design compromises result in notable cons, specifically high chromatic aberration and color fringing that increase as the lens is stopped down. Further limitations include 1.1% barrel distortion, visible vignetting at f/2.8, and a slightly sluggish "fly-by-wire" manual focusing mechanism.

The Olympus Zuiko Digital 25mm f/2.8 "pancake" lens is an ultra-slim standard prime lens designed for the Four Thirds system, offering a 50mm equivalent focal length due to the system's 2x field-reduction factor. Measuring only 23.5mm thick and weighing a mere 95g, its standout selling point is its exceptional portability. When paired with smaller bodies like the Olympus E-420, it creates a highly compact, lightweight setup that can easily fit into large pockets for everyday general-purpose photography. Additionally, its f/2.8 maximum aperture gathers up to four times more light than standard kit zooms at their telephoto end, allowing for faster shutter speeds in low light and better background separation for portraits. However, the lens does come with some notable trade-offs that buyers should consider. The primary limitation is its fixed 25mm focal length, which lacks the compositional flexibility of a standard zoom lens. While the f/2.8 aperture is faster than a kit zoom, it is still relatively slow compared to other prime lenses, which often feature wider apertures like f/1.8 or f/1.4. This somewhat limits its performance in extreme low-light...

The Olympus Zuiko 25mm f/2.8 "pancake" lens stands out primarily for its exceptionally compact and lightweight design, standing so low that it barely protrudes past the camera's pentaprism. In terms of performance, the lens delivers excellent image quality, achieving its peak resolution at f/4 with central sharpness exceeding 0.4 cycles/pixel. While there is some performance drop across the edges at wider apertures, stopping down to f/8 yields impressive, uniform sharpness across the entire image field. Real-world testing confirmed its reliability, showing that its modest f/2.8 maximum aperture is highly capable and poses no hindrance even when shooting in dimly-lit environments. However, the ultra-compact form factor comes with a few specific functional trade-offs. The lens utilizes a screw-in lens cap, which users may find fiddly and slow to operate when removing or reattaching at speed. Additionally, while it manages to include a physical manual focusing ring despite its miniature size, it lacks a depth-of-field scale. Photographers must also be cautious when stopping down past f/8, as further narrowing of the aperture introduces acute diffraction that noticeably reduces image resolution.

The Olympus Zuiko Digital 25mm f/2.8 pancake lens is an exceptionally compact and lightweight Four Thirds system prime lens weighing just 95 grams, making it an ideal companion for compact camera bodies like the E-400 series. Optically, the 5-element-in-4-group lens delivers solid budget performance, showing slight softness when shot wide open at f/2.8 but rapidly sharpening to its peak performance in the f/5.6 to f=11 range, effectively matching the sharpness of more expensive pro-grade zoom lenses. It boasts excellent color rendering, an impressive close-focusing distance of 20cm, a smooth rubber-clad manual focus ring, and an internal focusing mechanism that prevents the 43mm front filter ring from rotating. However, the lens does compromise on several physical and optical attributes due to its miniature design. It suffers from a noticeable amount of barrel distortion and displays distinct purple fringing/chromatic aberration in high-contrast corner areas. Its overall contrast is slightly lower compared to other Olympus lenses. On the physical side, the lack of an included lens hood, unusually short 43mm mounting threads that make circular polarizers prone to falling off, and a tedious...

The Olympus Zuiko Digital 25mm f/2.8 is an ultra-compact "pancake" lens, measuring under 24mm thick and weighing 95g, designed to provide a 50mm equivalent focal length. Key advantages include its lightweight portability, a faster f/2.8 aperture compared to standard kit lenses, a dedicated manual focus ring, and a non-rotating front element for easier filter use. However, the review notes that while sharpness is decent, it does not match higher-end alternatives like the Leica 25mm. Performance drawbacks include visible chromatic aberrations, moderate barrel distortion, vignetting at f/2.8, and a lack of weather sealing.