Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/2.8 Lens

by Olympus

• 17mm 2.8
• wide lens
• for Micro 4/3 system

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 0.9 x 1 x 1 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002CGSYM6
• Item model number: 17mm Lens
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 15, 2009

Product Description

Color: Silver

From the Manufacturer

This wide-angle pancake lens has a convenient focal length (equivalent to 34mm on a 35mm camera) for shooting everything from landscapes and portraits to close ups. A slim design, with an overall length of just 22.5mm, ensures the camera remains compact and easy to carry even when the lens is mounted. With its digital-dedicated design and superior performance, this lens maximizes the camera’s performance for clear, high quality imaging.

Product Description

17mm Olympus M. Zuiko Digital Lens for PEN series cameras. Micros Four Thirds mounts only.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Olympus PEN + this lens + optical viewfinder = Modern remake of the rangefinder September 17, 2009

By Michael A. Duvernois TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Color Name:Silver

This is small lens. That's its main claim to fame, not the speed at f2.8, nor the focal length, the equivalent of about 35mm in 35mm photography. But on the small Olympus PEN body, this lens gives you a small package that takes quite good pictures without messing around with a zoom. In particular, it works well as a walking-around street camera, much like an old Leica or a Canon rangefinder of the 1950s/1960s. (See also the optical viewfinder which has image lines specifically for this 17mm lens.)

I tried this package out, camera, lens, and viewfinder, and got a good number of excellent images walking through crowds of people downtown. It's wide enough to catch people in their immediate environment. The camera is unobtrusive and really helped with the casual picture taking. I'd strongly recommend the setup to folks looking for a forgiving digital imaging setup with modern features but much of the ease of handling and casual ability of old rangefinders (without having to focus of course).

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I was very pleasantly surprised January 8, 2010

By Harry M. Shin VINE™ VOICE

Color Name:Silver

1. I should technically give this lens a 4 star, just because 5 stars should be reserved those extraordinary lens (ex: Zeiss Distagon 21mm 2.8).

2. With that being said, I just like this lens: it's light, it's obviously small, and it's a no brainer for all EP-1 /2 users to have this lens (or the panasonic pancake). Even though I have the 14-42mm kit lens, it's just... fun to slap this lens on the EP-1 and take shots. One of the unexpected joys and surprises of using this lens, that it made me think of the "good old days" of using prime lens 100% of the time and at the same time, has made me rethink my overall strategy of whether or not to utilize more primes etc...

3. For me and for the photography I utilize the EP-1 for, the 17mm is "good enough" in re: focusing speed, sharpness, color / contrast etc... With "pixel-peeping", I'm very happy with the output image quality.

4. All in all, a great lens for all EP-1 / 2 users to have simply because it brings back the joy of photography. I really hope that Olympus / Panasonic continue to develop more compact prime lens.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Underrated, tiny lens April 19, 2010

By Amin Sabet

Color Name:Silver

The M. Zuiko 17/2.8 has a bit of a bad rap because people often compare it to the outstanding Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens. However, 17mm is very different from 20mm, and if you want that "standard wide" angle of view (similar to a 35mm lens on a 35mm frame camera) in a tiny lens, this is the one. Fortunately, it is plenty sharp, and the distortion and color fringing are easily addressed (automatically for Olympus in-camera JPEG shooters as well as by some 3rd party RAW converters). Although I use my Pana 20/1.7 more often, I enjoy using the tiny M. Zuiko 17 when I want that angle of view. It's a good little performer. You can see some samples taken with this lens here: [...].

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Compact Compromise September 12, 2009

By K. Tanaka

Color Name:Silver|Amazon Verified Purchase

The Oly 17mm f/2.8 pancake for micro four-thirds is just about as small and light a lens as you'll find. It's basically a 35mm focal length on its native cameras. Its sole advantage is its size. It is far from optically perfect, with fairly strong chromatic aberrations and some corner softness (surprising, given its crop factor of 2). Still, the Oly E-P1 does recognize the lens and post-processes its images specifically to improve as much distortion as possible.

All things considered, I can't really claim that this lens is an excellent optical value for anyone who doesn't really need the compactness it offers the E-P1. The 14-42mm kit lens is a better performer at this focal length, also very light, and far more versatile. But if you're willing to make compromises for smallness this is THE lens for you.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Pancace Lens October 21, 2009

By Anders Utgaard

Color Name:Silver|Amazon Verified Purchase

The 17mm f/2.8 lens for Micro FourThirds system is a classical focal length, approx 34mm. As a primary lens for the EP-1 it does excactly what it is supposed to do, provide a quick, easy to use lens, with good quality images. Updated to software 1.1 the autofocus speed and precision is improved, but even so the lens is a little slow to focus. Manual focus is easy, precise and gives very good results.
Pros: lightweight, solid, good colours.
Cons: not as sharp as te 14-42 mm zoom.
Good primary lens for the EP-1.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Olympus M.17mm f/2.8 Lens December 19, 2011

By Gadget Hound

Color Name:Black|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this lens for my Olympus E-PL1 before leaving for my recent vacation to Disney World and Epcot. I used it to take handheld night stills of the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle and a handheld video of the finale fireworks at Epcot - both turned out fabulous!

I had previously considered the Panasonic version, having read multiple glowing reviews about how much better it is than the Olympus lens, but went with the latter mainly due to the price difference, smaller size, and lighter weight, and I'm glad I did. If the Panasonic is really superior, I doubt very much if that difference would be apparent in almost all photos for all practical purposes. The Olympus lens is, in my experienced photographic opinion, excellent and a real bargain at it's price point.

In summary, this is an excellent lens for the E-PL1, which in turn is also an excellent digital camera - some bargains are still available for this camera and, paired with this wide-angle lens, is a very nice compact and lightweight outfit. I did take my Canon 40D DSLR and complement of lenses on the trip, but I seldom elected to lug it around electing instead to carry the very lightweight Olympus instead. My back and neck thanked me for it!

I'm enthusiastic about this lens and can recommend it highly.