Robin Wong: Olympus 17mm F2.8 Pancake – Is It Worth Getting?

Robin Wong:

This topic is also available in an article format, if you prefer to read instead of watching a video, go to my blog entry here: https://robinwong.blogspot.com/2021/0…​ I found a used Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm F2.8 Pancake lens and decided to add one into my camera bag. The Olympus 17mm pancake was the first Micro Four Thirds lens from Olympus, launched together with the first Olympus PEN E-P1 in 2009. Being the first generation M.Zuiko lens, it does have some issues, mainly on AF speed as well as flaws in lens image quality. During my short testing session, I found some corner softness, purple fringing in harsh light and the lens does not handle flare well. All this imperfections were later fixed and improved further in the newer Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm F1.8, which features a metal construction, brighter F1.8 aperture, much faster AF, and better optical design, rendering sharper images with better lens flaw controls (ED element to correct Chromatic Abberation). Nevertheless, if you can find one now, the Olympus 17mm F2.8 should be dirt cheap, and it has a truly compact design, with slim profile. Attaching it to a camera is as if you don’t have a lens on it at all, making the combination a truly portable, day to day use solution.