Close look: The new Olympus 25mm f/1.2 PRO lens

September 28, 2016
reviews
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Let’s have a closer look on the new Olympus 25mm f/1.2 PRO lens. The lens can be preordered now at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, GetOlympus. Amazon.de.
It is the first f/1.2 lens from a new line of lenses. More lenses will be released in 2017. The full presentation page of the lens can be found at GetOlympus (Click here).

Three Olympus Visionaries tested the lens:

Review by Robin Wong.

The Olympus M.Zuiko 25mm F1.2 PRO lens is an incredibly high performing lens, delivering high level of contrast and sharpness even shooting at wide open F1.2. The bokeh is smooth and creamy, rendering images with great depth and 3D look. Lens technical flaws are well suppressed and controlled, exhibiting almost no trace of distortion, chromatic aberration or flare issues. Having a minimum focusing distance of 19.5cm from the front of the lens can create some dramatic close up shots.

I foresee size and weight to be a popular complain, but honestly, it is almost impossible to create a compact-sized F1.2 lens that is super sharp at F1.2 with superbly fast autofocus. Also, price will be an issue, and this is a subjective comment which I will avoid.

Lens test in Cuba of Oly 25mm and 12-100mm by Neil Buchan Grant:

Its combination of extreme sharpness, contrast and creamy bokeh means that you end up with consistently beautiful results. Using it, I certainly felt I could do justice to my subjects better than with any other lens I’ve previously used.

Lars Johnson writes:

I shot some of these photos with manual focus because focusing in auto mode was difficult having a see through curtain covering the models face. Worked very nicely even the depth of field is super narrow at f/1.2.I’m very happy with the sharpness even at aperture wide open. Also nice tones and good contrast.

Few more image samples got at Dpreview. A chinese review can be read at Sapphire Kerr. And below the official introduction video:

Olympus preorders:
E-PL8 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, GetOlympus. Amazon.de. ParkCameras.
25mm f/1.2 PRO at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, GetOlympus. Amazon.de.
12-100mm f/4.0 PRO at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, GetOlympus. Amazon.de.
30mm macro at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, GetOlympus. Amazon.de.
FL-900r flash at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon.de. ParkCameras.

Panasonic preorders:
G85: BHphoto. Adorama. Amazon. ParkCameras. WexUK.
FZ2500: BHphoto. Adorama. Amazon. ParkCameras. WexUK.
Lx10: BHphoto. Adorama. Amazon. ParkCameras. WexUK.