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As we get to smaller apertures, the Panasonic retains a slight lead in the center at f/2.5, but by f/3.5, the lenses are just too similar to worry about. Likewise in the corners, the Olympus stays visibly sharper throughout, though by f/3.5 the differences are extremely small. The Olympus 8-25mm F4.0 Pro is an unusually versatile lens with no direct competitors within the Micro Four Thirds system. In terms of its focal range, the nearest alternatives are either Panasonic's Leica-branded 8-18mm F2.8-4.0 or 10-25mm F1.7. Less-direct rivals include the Panasonic 7-14mm F4 and Olympus' own 7-14mm F2.8 Pro.
The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. Nor are there really any good alternatives available to Micro Four Thirds shooters in this focal range. The closest option, Panasonic's Leica 10-25mm F1.7, is of course much brighter and offers better depth-of-field control, but it's also a far less portable and much more expensive. Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Despite a very solid, all-metal construction which would satisfy professional photographers, the 8-25mm tips the scales at just 411g (14.5oz). That gives it just enough heft to balance nicely without being front-heavy both on more compact bodies like the E-M1 III and larger ones like the E-M1X.Look in our list of tested lenses or in our list of tested micro-43 lenses to compare the performance of this lens with other lenses.
Olympus OMD EM5– Most folks own the EM5, and believe us when we say that you won’t want to take the lens off the camera. Please Support The Phoblographer The Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital 25mm f/1.8 lens takes small 46mm filters, and comes with a standard Micro Four Thirds mount that is, thankfully, made of metal. This is good news given that the lens construction is predominantly plastic. Olympus does not claim any sort of weather resistance for this lens, and indeed you cannot see a rubber seal around the mount. Covering a 35mm-equivalent focal length range of 16-50mm and boasting surprisingly good macro performance, it shows great promise as a versatile, single-carry lens for landscape, street and travel photography. Note: Panasonic produced an earlier 25mm lens as part of their Leica partnership. This “PanaLeica” 25mm features an impressive f1.4 aperture and produces great results. It issomewhat older however, so doesn’t focus nearly as fast as the two newer models and is a bit bulkier. But if fast aperture is your priority, it’s still worth taking a look at. Up front, you'll find 72mm threads with which to attach your choice of filters, and the front element also includes a fluorine coating to aid cleaning, if the lens gets splashed or smudged.Here too there’s not much to remark on. A barrel-shaped distortion of half of one percent is so low that you in practice you will almost never see it. Most probably, there will not be any software correction needed for distortion. If you do want to correct any distortion with software, then this lens scores even higher in terms of image quality, but I doubt whether you will see the difference. Color bokeh, magenta edges at sharp contrast transitions in front of the focal point and green edges at contrast transitions behind the focal point, often appears with bright lenses (. The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column.
No optical image stabilization is provided, although you can of course rely on the in-body image stabilization of your camera, if available. (We found the E-M1 III's in-body stabilization alone sufficient not just to shoot or record video handheld, but even to give very stable walk-and-talk video footage.) AF Speed. When out on the street shooting these lenses I though for sure that the Olympus would smoke the Panasonic with Auto Focus, and that was not the case! Both lenses focused fast on my E-M1, and to be 100% honest, I saw no difference in speed when out in the street at night using both. The Olympus may have a slight edge overall, but it is not a night and day, and for some will not even be noticeable. Remember though, this is on the E-M1 which may be helping the lenses to focus fast. So I give this one a Tie with a SLIGHT edge going to the Olympus. It also takes an even smaller, more affordable 67mm filter size, but opts for a stepper motor-based autofocus drive. And once again, the 8-25mm F4.0 Pro offers noticeably better macro specifications. Since the success of the Olympus OM-D E-M5, Olympus has decided to continue in the direction of system cameras for the serious amateur photographer. This kind of photographer enjoys using high-quality, dedicated, fast lenses. Together with the Olympus OM-D E-M1, the first lens in the Pro series was released (the Olympus 12-40 mm f/2.8). And with the introduction of the Olympus OM-D E-M10, the Olympus 25 mm f/1.8 from the Premium series was presented. When it comes to lenses with a fixed focal length, an amateur photographer now has the choice of a few feather-light, compact and also fast Olympus lenses from the premium series with a fixed focal length and an f/1.8 aperture. In the first case, I’m thinking about the 17 mm, 25 mm, and the 45 mm, which all have a suggested retail price of under 400 euros. The Olympus 75 mm f/1.8 is, given its higher price and less common focal length, more a lens for connoisseurs and prosumers.Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.
At f/1.8, sharpness in the centre of the frame is already excellent, and clarity towards the edges of the frame is good. Stopping down improves performance across the frame, with sharpness in the centre reaching outstanding levels between f/2 and f/8. Clarity towards the edges of the frame reaches excellent levels between f/5.6 and f/8. So if you're looking for smooth, nondescript bokeh, this isn't the lens for you. But then we're talking about an F4.0 ultra-wide lens for Micro Four Thirds here, so that's not really to be expected in the first place. You're not really going to get big bokeh balls unless you're shooting wide-open and near to the 25mm telephoto, so if they're what you're looking for, opt for a lens with a stronger telephoto and/or a wider aperture with a more uniform circle-of-confusion.
Introduction
See the full size files below from each lens at apertures from 1.4 to 1.8 to 5.6..the Panasonic does not appear to be any sharper than the Olympus here:
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