OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II review: The old dog learned a new trick – but lost an old one

The OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II is a long overdue update to one of the classic Olympus lenses, and adds two very welcome new features – but it also takes away a signature feature that made the OG so great.

Launched back in 2012, the original Olympus M.Zuiko 25mm f/1.8 was a diamond of an optic – but it lacked weather sealing and you had to buy the lens hood separately. Thankfully the OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II addresses both of these points, but does so at the expense of the manual focus clutch featured on the Olympus lens.

Since the optical construction is identical in both lenses, this poses an interesting question for prospective customers / upgraders: is the ability to shoot in inclement weather more important than the ability to zone focus, especially for a 35mm equivalent lens that's perfect for street photography?

OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II: Price & availability

The OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II is available from February 27 with a $549.99 / £479.00 / AU$649.00 retail price.

To put that in perspective, the original Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 lens is currently available for $279 / £325 / AU$486. Bear in mind that the Olympus version is not weather sealed, and doesn't come with a lens hood, but it does possess a manual focus clutch and distance scale – which the newer OM version does not.

OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II: Specifications

OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II: Build & handling

This is where all the differences lie between the new OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II and the original Olympus version of the lens, given that the internal optics are the same in both.

To recap, the OM version now boasts weather sealing, with five internal seals to protect your system from dust and moisture. While it still boasts satisfyingly solid metal construction, the new lens is actually 8g lighter than the old one despite the addition of the sealing – but there's an important reason why.

As you can see from the side-by-side images below, the OM lens no longer has the manual focus clutch mechanism and distance scale featured on the Olympus lens – no doubt the reason for the weight reduction.

It may well be that this mechanism simply wasn't possible to seal without re-engineering it; there are other OM and Olympus lenses that have a weather-sealed clutch, such as the OM System M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro II, but those optics were designed from the ground up to accommodate seals. Since the 17mm was never built with sealing in mind, I'm inclined to think that this may be a design restriction rather than a churlish choice to remove a useful feature.

Also worth noting is that, with the OM version being 2.1mm longer and featuring a new bayonet mount for the included lens hood, some lens caps that fitted the Olympus version will no longer fit this new one (including the metal LC-48 Olympus PEN lens cap).

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OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II: Performance

Since the optical construction in the OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II is identical to that of the old Olympus lens, so is the optical performance. And while this isn't quite the superstar that the OM System M.Zuiko 25mm f/1.8 II is, it's still an impressive little lens.

This is a lens that I love shooting with wide open; even at f/1.8, center sharpness really shines and there's only a whisper of fringing. This is especially important for Micro Four Thirds lenses, where subject separation and shooting in low light can be challenging, so the fact that it performs so well at its maximum aperture makes me very happy.

Indeed, it's my favorite 35mm equivalent lens to work with on any system – even though corner sharpness isn't quite as impressive, as you'll need to stop down to around f/4 to get top performance. For the kind of work I do, though – environmental portraits, reportage and street photography – I've got no complaints at all.

There's no doubt that losing the manual focus clutch feels like a loss. There is, of course, a fly-by-wire focus ring, and it works just fine. But not only did the old clutch have a distance scale for zone focusing – it also had hard stops at either end. Still, while it took a little getting used to, it was absolutely possible to shoot street photography with the standard focus ring (and if you've never used the old Oly lens, obviously you won't miss it).

If you're a video shooter, I'd recommend that you test this lens out before buying it to see how it behaves. Some copies of the original Olympus version made a grinding kind of noise while autofocusing during video – but it wasn't a universal problem.

My copy of the new OM version didn't make those noises while constantly focusing, so it's possible that the old focus clutch was the cause – but given that the internals are otherwise identical, I'd recommend testing the copy of the lens before you buy it.

OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II: Sample photos

OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II: Verdict

In pure performance terms, the OM System M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 II is still one of my favorite lenses. It's unbelievably small and light, super sharp wide open, quick to focus – in every respect, a great lens for everything from street and travel photography to environmental portraits and content creation.

You do, however, need to determine what's more important to you: having weather sealing or having a manual focus clutch. Street purists will scoff and stomp and insist on the latter, but I think the weather sealing – and the included lens hood – on the new OM System version will appeal to more people.