17mm Olympus Pancake Lens on GH1

This is the first micro four thirds lens I have bought for my GH1, I have a four thirds sigma but it needs an adaptor.

This little baby is made for the new Olympus Pen EP-1 but works just as well on the GH1 and it’s TINY!!

IMG_015517mm with 4/3 is 34mm in a 35mm equivalent. So don’t go thinking this is a wickidly wide lens. It isn’t. It’s as wide as the stock lens that comes with the GH1 but about 2 stops faster. It’s also really small, compact, f2.8 and works in full autofocus, albeit a bit noisy. This is a very nice addition to my slowly increasing GH1 lens collection.

I looked at the PEN but the lack of VF, poor video made it pointless. The GH1 does it all so well and more.

Very nice lens, just expected something more substantial for my money as it’s so light and wee!

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Main features of lens:

M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17mm f2.8

Main Features

1.Ultra-compact lens that delivers high image quality thanks to digital-specific design

1-1. Slim and lightweight pancake lens

Based on the double-Gauss composition used widely in standard lenses, the newly developed optics incorporated in this lens employ a retrofocus type configuration, in which a concave lens element is placed on the subject side to obtain a wide angle of view at a focal length of 17mm. In addition, a double-sided aspherical lens element is used to implement an ultra-thin wide-angle pancake lens with a depth of 22mm. With the sharp imaging characteristic of a single-focus lens and brightness of f2.8, this lens makes it easy to capture natural defocus images.

1-2. Excellent close-up shooting capability

Close-up shooting is possible at a minimum distance of around 15cm from the lens front. The possibility of positive challenge to the object will expand the field of photography.

1-3. Multi-coating on all lens surfaces

All the lens surfaces are multi-coated to ensure clear image quality. The multi-coating also ensures clear images even on backlit shots taken with the sun in the frame by reducing ghosts and flares.

1-4. Circular aperture diaphragm

The circular aperture diaphragm enables natural and smooth defocusing – one of the big advantages of large aperture lens.

2.Fine Focusing Operation

2-1. Fast auto focusing

The autofocusing speed is about two times higher than the ZUIKO DIGITAL 25mm F2.8 thanks to the new algorithm.

2-2. Intuitive Manual Focusing

Proper torque enables the intuitive feeling on manual focusing operation.

3.Dignified Exterior Design

The silver body has a sophisticated, classic design that is compact and portable.

8 comments

  1. I think I saw this same lens in a kit for the Olympus E-420, which claimed to be the world’s smallest dSLR. I believe with the conversion factor on the E-420, it equaled out to be a normal lens at a 50mm equivalent. Is that true with the GH1 as well? How does the GH1 video look with this lens?

    1. Nevermind. I just realized it was a 25mm (50mm equivalent) that was on the E-420. So this one you have is a 17mm? I guess they have started making more of these pancake style lenses, which is pretty cool.

  2. There’s a thread on this lens over @ DVXUser that I started because I was curious. Great to see your lowdown on it. I think I’ll be picking one up sooner or later…we’ll see what that Lumix pancake lens in the GF1 photos turns out to be though.

  3. Hello,

    I do not know anything about cameras, however i would like to purchase this lens for a gift.

    The Olympus pancake lens (ZUIKO DIGITAL 25 mm f2.8) will fit the G1 with no adapter needed?

    Thanks for your help!

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