(FT5) Rumor upgrade: Yes, the Olympus 17mm is coming!
We have to upgrade our Olympus lens rumor from FT4 to FT5. Other three sources (including Lepidi) confirmed that the 17mm f/1.8 lens will hit the stores in early-mid December. We expect an official Olympus press release any time soon. What I don’t know yet is if Olympus will announce “something else” along that lens…
As reported before the lens will have the same build quality of the 12mm lens and be priced at 550 Euro. I don’t know the price in Dollars yet but let’s make a rough estimation: The 12mm lens costs $799 at Amazon and around 620 Euro lowest price on eBay. Having that conversion rate as reference the 17mm lens should cost around $710.
Loading ...P.s.: Lepidi also got his 12mm Black limited lens.
JP
7 months ago |Nice, I wonder how much magnification it has.
vanilla_ice
7 months ago |ill buy it when it is black
Anonymous
7 months ago |… and weather sealed.
MikeS
7 months ago |…and makes toast.
JF
7 months ago |I’d prefer coffee !
Anonymous
7 months ago |Only Panasonic lenses can make toast. I hear they’re developing microwave versions, too.
squeegee
7 months ago |will it have auto-butter? if not I’m not buying it
digi2ap
7 months ago |…..I so dislike the silver finish too.
Ulli
7 months ago |me too, but when i manage to make some great shots with an “ugly” lens, i forget about that.
lnqo-M
7 months ago |All my m43 lens is silver, and is so pretty on my white E-P1 and black E-P2.
Bronica
7 months ago |I don’t like the manual focussing- mechanism.
On my 12mm the ring slips to easy, for example when I put may OM-D out of the pocket of my coat. For me no benefit – I lost pics caused of blurr. I had to fix the ring with a tape.
I’m wondering: Am I alone with this problem?
Anonymous
7 months ago |I don’t have your problem, in fact mine is pretty stiff. I wish it would be less stiff
Agent00soul
7 months ago |It never happened to me.
Bronica
7 months ago |Thanks a lot! Than I have to talk with Olympus.
OLY-SON
7 months ago |Are you looking for DAD ,.He’s not available right now
Would you like to talk with MOM
OLYMPUSSY
7 months ago |No SON ,.I don’t want to talk with any body right now,..
Kaydence
6 months ago |It’s a plsaerue to find someone who can think so clearly
Olympus
7 months ago |Hey ,.Whazz Up -BRO
whiskybravo (bean5y)
7 months ago |It happens to me! I only realise after I’ve taken a shot, seen that it is out of focus, and realised it has clicked over to MF!
Bronica
7 months ago |Is your lens a very early edition? My lens has the serial number ABD001961.
whiskybravo (bean5y)
7 months ago |I don’t have it with me now (considering I’ve been at uni for 36 consecutive hours designing a bloody cryogenic distillation column). But… I did pick it up as soon as it came out. So yes, probably.
Bronica
7 months ago |Poor man.
I’m writing a speech for my boss – not better.
Ok – it could be, that this is an issue by the early series. So Olympus can fix it – I have also guarantee on mine.
Anonymous
7 months ago |Yes, the ring moves too easily. I have the same problems with my lens.
Andreas Manessinger
7 months ago |I have the 12, 45 and 75, and this one will probably replace the 20/1.7 as the 12/2.0 has effectively replaced the 14/2.5. I have not yet sold it but I will.
Ren Kockwell
7 months ago |Strange but there is a picture of the 17mm f1.8 somewhere else which has a distance scale in feet and metres which this one lacks. Can’t remember where I saw it though. Maybe it was a mockup.
But tell me guys, how do your use the depth of field scale without a distance scale?
Miklós
7 months ago |You need to pull back the focus ring to make the distance scale appear.
lnqo-M
7 months ago |You need puch focus ring into for manuelefocus, and distance scale will look under F.number.
Anonymous
7 months ago |see here
http://www.ephotozine.com/equipment/item/olympus-m-zuiko-digital-ed-17mm-f-1-8-4826/news
or here
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/42515754
Yun
7 months ago |I already have the PL 25mm so it very unlikely I’m going to get it unless this lens produce something very special in reviews .
The Pana 42.5 is the most wanted lens for 2013 , likely to get it without any doubt .
Fuji’s incoming 85mm F1.4 is tempting too , might be my next system to invest if Pana or Oly can’t do much in it’s camera departments .
Juraj
7 months ago |Oly 12,17,75 glasses are great, but for me: Lumix 14, 20 and Oly45 has a much better price / performance. At least if they were sealed! Maybe … My OM-D cry… (don’t like 12-50)
Anonymous
7 months ago |We’ll see. If reviews but IQ up there with the 75mm then probably
Miklós
7 months ago |They should have make a 17/1.4 instead. This one is a way too close to the much cheaper 20/1.7.
kesztió
7 months ago |+1
Ulli
7 months ago |but then it would be even more expensive lol
Incessant Troll
7 months ago |i would pay $3000 for this lens and $700 for the lens hood if they can figure out how to make it metal
Jacky
7 months ago |It is metal
Anonymous
7 months ago |Only $700 for the hood? What a cheapo. Its not Olympus’fault you can’t afford nice things!
Anonymous
7 months ago |Buy several, they make fabulous bracelets!
KI
7 months ago |Admin; You forgot “Maybe” in your poll.
btw; any rumors about when we’ll see more weathersealed lenses? … or will they release a PDAF supported body first and then recommend the MMF-3?
Anonymous
7 months ago |doesn’t someone quote $499 for USA market?
Erik Aaseth
7 months ago |“What I don’t know yet is if Olympus will announce “something else” along that lens….”
The “something else” is the following:
* Lens hood only as an expensive add-on
* Black special edition at premium price in about a year
IOW, business as usual. Yikes Oly, you really must change this idiocy!
But the bare lens will surely be a good one, I’m sure.
lnqo-M
7 months ago |What by a E-P5.
cameras like a cat
7 months ago |What? 550 €? The Pana 20 mm, F 1,7 is around 300 €
JP
7 months ago |I had the 20 mm, and while it produced good results, it had a number of issues. Its focus sucks for video, the manual focus is barely usable and in comparison to the 17 mm, it is not wide enough. Oh and the Olympus will have better IQ. And will be made of metal. And will be able to pull focus without going activating it electronically. And it is much more quiet for video. And focuses faster.
JF
7 months ago |“will be able to pull focus without going activating it electronically”
E-M5 has a very nice feature: you can choose S-AF + MF in order to have autofocus and MF ring ativated together…
JP
7 months ago |Yes, but you do not have to set it to S-AF + MF. You can just leave it on S-AF and drop in to MF by pulling the ring. I do it a lot, it is very cool. Frankly, though, that feature seems like it will be even more effective on the 17 mm as I don’t typically need to manual focus my 12 mm shots.
lnqo-M
7 months ago |The a big point for me is realy fast focus, and good manual focus if i need this.
Will
7 months ago |Totally should have gone all out and made an f1.2 for this lens, i’m sure it’ll be good quality but there’ll be next to no DoF options to play with, which to many I guess will be fine, but considering the 20mm f1.7 would give you more (even though it itself doesn’t give much option of slim DoF).
I just feel m43 has great lenses, everyone knows that, but a lot of people don’t buy in because of the DoF business. Even if it cost $1,500 and ran at a loss (which it very well might not!) a 17.5mm f1.2 would become a legend. Kind of like the Leica Noctilux, i’m sure it’d be bigger, heavier, and obviously more expensive but, well, I’m not so interested in this lens since the 20mm f1.7 seems to me to beat it on paper.
nobody
7 months ago |Just face it: if minimal DOF is what you’re after, m43 simply isn’t the best camera system for you
Bob B.
7 months ago |Your name says it all!
MAFAv8r
7 months ago |@Bob B
Name calling, groan. That is why people say this is an Olympus fanboy website.
What is wrong with saying that mFT is the wrong system for someone? Most people here have chosen not to buy Canikon for that exact reason, their system is not for us.
Anonymous
7 months ago |And what the fuck does that have to do with ‘Olympus fanboys’ ? Its not exactly like ‘Panasonic fanboys’ don’t make stupid comments.. or fanboys of about every brand in existance for that matter.
So is there any problem with saying bob b is wrong or that his ‘joke’ wasn’t very funny? Not at all.
But no, you had to use the occation to spew Olympus hatred instead.
That in fact makes you much worse then this bob b guy.
bart
7 months ago |But what does bob b’s silly comment have to do with being an olympus fanboy? I’d rather say a m4/3 fanboy if anything… but hey, never miss a chance to piss on Olympus either directly or indirectly… I hope, but doubt, that you realize your own ‘name calling’ here is easily much worse then what bob b did.
Ulli
7 months ago |lots of people are hammering on the disadvantage regarding to narrow dof for m43, but i dont believe that the majority of photographers shoot alot with narrow dof. Still, its possible within this format.
whiskybravo (bean5y)
7 months ago |You answered your own question. A bigger heavier lens on micro four thirds? I know what you mean, but we like micro four thirds because it’s micro.
If you want shallow DOF, get a Pentax 67
bart
7 months ago |If you must have shallow DOF with a somewhat wide angle of view, m4/3 isn’t for you, you want a substantially larger format.
Surely one can get more shallow DOF with very fast lenses also on m4/3, but at the very short focal lengths needed for wide-angle with a m4/3 camera, the way DOF is distributed in front and behind the subject is typically not what is desired for shallow DOF. It is however very much what is desired when using hyperfocal distance to get as much as possible in-focus. The ‘issue’ is that at 17mm, a much larger part of the DOF is behind the subject, which makes it more difficult to ‘blur the background’ even if you do manage a very shallow DOF.
So, if you must have that, go for as large a format as possible, such that your wide angle of view lenses will use relatively long focal lengths (at around 50mm the distribution of DOF is already close to 50% in front 50% behind).
If on the other hand you try to get as much as possible in-focus, you’ll want that shorter focal length and uneven distribution of DOF because it moves critical focus somewhat to the front, which generally results in more details on foreground objects without any perceivable loss of detail on further away objects.
Anonymous
7 months ago |Or just shoot with faster lenses.
bart
7 months ago |Read more carefully mr. Anonymous, your point was addressed already.
Miroslav
7 months ago |“Will you buy the 17mm f/1.8 lens for 550 Euro?”
Yes, but in black.
silv
7 months ago |just add more or less $70 you can have a panny 20mm and oly 45mm this is really bang for the buck lens lol
sderdiarian
7 months ago |+1. They need to produce more lenses like the 45mm at $400 range. I’m happy for those who can throw $2500 into 3 Olympus primes (12mm, 75mm and now this), but many have other ways to spend their money.
The FT 12-60 at under $1000 now seems an incredible bargain; when will they produce a similar quality/priced zoom in mFT? Never, and why should they when people willingly part with more money for less convenience/flexibility.
bart
7 months ago |That 12-60mm is a bargain indeed, much more so then most people realize. The same is true for the 50-200.
But it being a bargain didn’t really help Olympus DSLR business much, as per statements from their accountants, this business has not been profitable, whereas according to those same accountants, the m4/3 business actually is.
So I suppose from a business point of view, those primes make a lot of sense.
Also, what I don’t understand about people like you is why you complain about having choice.
If you don’t want to spend $550 on that 17/1.8, noone is forcing you. Rather, if you still must have a 17mm prime, there is a much cheaper (and less good) 17/2.8, or if that is too slow and not good enough for you, there is the slightly less ‘wide’ 20/1.7
Now there will indeed be people who will spend $550 on an even better lens, and it would be totally stupid for Olympus to ignore that.
But again, why do you have such a problem with choice? Because you believe you must have that 75/1.8 but can’t afford it?
Go buy a manual focus 85/1.8 and an adapter for 1/3 of the money instead.
Sure, Olympus should also release more lenses of a similar quality and in a similar price range as the 45/1.8, but that is another issue alltogether, and doesn’t mean at all they shouldn’t try to tap into the market for more expensive lenses.
Bruno
7 months ago |Panasonic 20mm F/1.7 is much more attractive ($) alternative…
-
7 months ago |yeah, with loud and slow AF. I have to admit that this 17mm is more expensive than I expected but thene again I am sure that it will have the same reference class as the 45 and 75mm, hence I will probably get it – together with the 60mm macro
Mercurio
7 months ago |Agree with you, that is what I have and I won’t replace it,
Salty
7 months ago |It’s a shame that it’s not weather sealed. I would have thought a small prime would be reasonably easy to weather seal.
Pentax offers weather sealing on cheap kit zooms.
As it is it’s too expensive for me. In a focal length already has a number of cheaper, similar alternatives.
Don Pope
7 months ago |I’m still hoping for a $599 or lower price tag.
If it is more than that I might get the Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 which is now selling for $499
I rented it for a recent vacation and was very impressed by it.
Bob B.
7 months ago |I have the Pany 20mm…which I may sell to buy the Oly 17mm…I am sure the Oly will focus faster and I own the Pany 25mm….so this would make better sense to me.
mikeronesia
7 months ago |Will Oly ever go faster then 1.8 for m4/3′s? I just don’t see this lens as a viable alternative for me.
avds
7 months ago |Do not forget that the 12mm is sold on ebay for around $700 new, which is a $100 discount off US retail price. At $600 this new lens should be quite attractive for those who would be ready to forfeit local warranty. However I’d like to see its IQ and weight. If it’s much more heavy than the 20/1.7 or doesn’t offer a very obvious IQ improvement over that lens, I’ll skip – I don’t think it would be wise to pay additional $300-400 just for faster AF if the rest is nothing new or sub-par. It should really excel to be attractive.
Andrew
7 months ago |Looks like a fine lens. Add me to the list of people who might be interested if I didn’t already own the Pany 20/1.7. As it stands, there are other lenses I’ll buy first: 12/2.0, 60mm macro…
Anonymous
7 months ago |So, when Olympus figures out that people want black lenses (I think they already know) then the price of used silver ones will be really cheap and those that bought them and want to get a black one, like they wanted in the first place, will have to sell them dirt cheap, in order to get rid of them. I don’t like buying things that I don’t want, specially when I know they will be hard to sell afterward, without really loosing my ass.
Anonymous
7 months ago |Sounds like an interesting sales technique. If you can’t sell as many lenses as you want, then figure out a way to sell the same lens twice to the same customer – brilliant. As long as the customer is too dumb to figure it out.
danl
7 months ago |I have and love the 45mm but need a wider fast prime. It looks to be between the Panasonic Leica 25mm and this lens. Given the price difference and the fact that 25mm might be a better next prime focal length, it looks like this one will lose.
QBNY
7 months ago |This is true. The PL25mm will be my next lens. Still, I’m not getting rid of my 20mm. It’s just been too good to me. Noise and slow Manual focusing doesn’t even phase me. End results please me and the work I’ve done with it.
Anonymous
7 months ago |Judging from the different Olympus forums, around the web, I would have to agree that the Olympus users are about the dumbest people on the planet, so Olympus shouldn’t have to difficult a time achieving their goal, of selling the same lens twice to them.
adaptor-or-die
7 months ago |I can only see good in the growing list of MFT zuiko digital system of primes, [as well the upsurge of other optic makers.] The OM legacy glass was a rich choice of focal lengths. And w/prime lens shooting, you don’t simply lump all focal lengths together. 12mm, 14mm, 17mm, 20mm, & 25mm sound close in MFT. But each focal lenth has it’s own niche. Apply the old school 2X focal equivalents and all these primes are fairly traditional niche choices. The range of primes available in Zuiko Digital glass is already impressive. A high spec 25mm is due on the list, that would be the one to make bright f/1.2 … or f/1.4 at least
Bobafett
7 months ago |+1 =)…and oly please add a weathersealed m43 native zuiko fast zooms such as 12-35mm f2.8 at least or better f2. If f3.5 then give me pancake zooms such as sony’s 16-50mm.
RSilva
7 months ago |It would make a lot of sense to sell this lens with the new pro pen as a kit for street photography, it would be a hot seller.
Fish
7 months ago |At $500 US, I would get it. At $700 it is too expensive.
Anonymous
7 months ago |I’d buy it to replace my 20/1.7 if it were closer to $500 USD.
LovinTheEP2
7 months ago |If it were 1.2 for that price, I would have considered it. It’s tooo similar for me with the 20/1.7 and at least in that form factor you get a pancake. I wish Pana would update the 20 already with better focus.
Too expensive for the speed of the lens with no IS. If it were a 1.2… then the extra speed over the fantastic 20mm and more normal 35mm would be a very tough choice to say no.
Disappointed but I’ll pass. Was really hoping they were updating the 17mm to improve IQ and speed but not losing the pancake and also keeping the price sub 500.
smileblog
7 months ago |Okay, I’m READY!
Craig Richardson
7 months ago |This lens needs to be black and include a lens hood. The price will just crash in 6 months and I’ll pick it up then.
Keith
7 months ago |New E-PL5 with 17/1.8 and 45/1.8 will be an amazingly compact / quaily setup
MiklerGM
7 months ago |I’m new to MFT world. I already have a 45mm/f1.8 and 12-50 kit and i want wider fix
I can’t decide what should i buy next PL25 f1.4 or Nokton 25mm f0.95
And i want 17mm too. But i prefer it to buy for 550 USD than 550 EUR
jevfp
7 months ago |I would say go with the VC F.95/25mm if you don’t mind with the size and manual focus, both are great optically,but the PL DG 25 is far more cheaper,.so you may use your spare money to buy another lens,.like the Lumix 14mm f2.5 or wait for the new F1.8/17mm Olympus
QBNY
7 months ago |Just remember, the Nokton is a manual only lens. I would go with the PL25mm.
Bronica
7 months ago |This lenses are completely different. There are reasons to have both.
Bur me for instance – I have the Pann 1,7/20mm for Snapshots on the street. It’s very compact and always with me. Overall it has a very good optical quality. But it is slower than the Panaleica 25.
I use also the Nokton 0,95/25. The aperture is really a new dimension – using a OM-D – there is no night anymore. It’s also very good for video. It’s usable wide open and tack sharpv at around f4 – one of the best lenses in this system. It’s also beautyfully made – fully comparable with the “arts” for Leica M.
So: You should ask yourself – snapshot or composing. Compact or Video? Then decide. Both Lenses – the Panaleica and the Nokton are really good.
Jevfp
7 months ago |If you use Oympus Body,.Both OM-D or E-PL5 ;, There is feature LIVE VIEW MODE =BOOST,.is like there is no limitation if its combine with the Voightlander F.95 both 25 or 17 even when you shoot in PITCH BLACK situation
mokin27
7 months ago |I buy when $550
QBNY
7 months ago |Check eBay in a few years then, used. This lens will hit the floor at $700.00 or more. Easy pass. TOO expensive and too shiny for my taste. Olympus is hurting themselves with their ridiculous pricing, ‘Scuse me, over pricing. At least throw in a Hood for the few who’ll buy this overpriced lens. Is that too much to ask, Olympus? Throw ‘Em a bone!
OneQuarterSensor
7 months ago |More junk for the suckers… Whoops I meant: more jewels for the pros… Of sucking
simon
7 months ago |so am I the only one that thinks the images are not really sharp?
OneQuarterSensor
7 months ago |No mate, I am with you, and many more people are, too. But what do you expect in a forum full of marketing trolls?
Candybar
7 months ago |Argh, when will this les finally hit the shelves man?! I have some money left in the bank and I want to buy this lens before the economical crisis hits me hard too. No, it’s not the same or almost the same as the Pa aspic 20mm f/1.7 because it will focus super fast and silent. The Panasonic is very slow and noisy. A thing from the past. I’m curious about the distortion and sharpness on the new 17mm f/1.8. Give it tome now! I want!