Olympus 8-25mm f4 Pro review by CameraLabs
Preorders:
Olympus 8-25mm PRO at BHphoto, Adorama, Fotokoch DE, Calumet DE, Park UK, Wex UK.
Olympus E-P7 at Fotokoch DE, Wex UK.
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CameraLabs reviewed the new lens and concluded:
The Olympus 8-25mm f4 Pro is a fresh and very welcome addition to the Micro Four Thirds system. There’s lots of ultra-wide or standard zooms in the catalogue, but few that effectively cover both ranges. The earlier Leica DG 8-18mm started very wide but often left you wanting to zoom a little longer. Then the Leica 10-25 sacrificed a little at the wide end to extend further while delighting with its bright and constant f1.7 aperture, but this made it a heavy and expensive option for most of us. With the 8-25mm f4 Pro, Olympus has successfully filled the gap between the two Leicas, starting as wide as one and ending as long as the other, but opting for a more modest f4 aperture to keep the size, weight and cost down. The retracting mechanism also allows the lens to shrink to a compact size without getting in the way of operation. The result is a lens that delivers a very flexible range from ultra-wide to standard coverage with useful close-up focusing and a compact size. Sure the f4 focal ratio on Micro Four Thirds means you won’t be enjoying shallow depth-of-field effects unless your subject is very close, but that’s about the only sacrifice to achieve what’s arguably one of the most compelling walkaround lenses in the system. If I had to choose just one lens for general use on a Micro Four Thirds body, the Olympus 8-25mm would be it, and it comes highly recommended.
