Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/2.8 Pancake Lens Review

Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17mm f/2.8 Handling and Features

Pancake lenses are designed to be small and lightweight. This lens certainly achieves that aim, only weighing 71g and protruding only 37mm from the camera body. When coupled with the Olympus PEN E-P2 used for testing, it makes a compact and almost pocketable combination, if you have large enough pockets, that is.

Autofocus is fairly snappy, and the manual focusing ring has a smooth action and is well damped, which makes applying fine focus adjustments relatively straightforward. Closest focus is 20cm, which allows you to get close in for frame filling shots, and is ideal for shooting in cramped environments.

A 37mm filter thread is supplied, which does not rotate during focusing. This makes the lens ideal for use with graduated or polarising filters. High quality plastics with a silver finish have been used for much of the lens' construction and the lens mount is metal, which helps to convey an overall impression of good build quality.

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