Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 25mm F1.2 Pro

Andy Westlake examines a premium large aperture prime for Micro Four Thirds cameras that promises attractively blurred backgrounds

- Andy Westlake

The defining characteristic of Olympus and Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds system has always been low size and weight, thanks to the use of a sensor that’s slightly more than half the area of the APS-C format, and a quarter that of full-frame. But this brings drawbacks with respect to low-light shooting and achieving shallow depth of field. Olympus’s response has been to produce three f/1.2 primes in its top-end Pro range, whose ultra-large apertures should go some way to offsetting the smaller sensor size. Here we’re looking at the 25mm, which nestles between 17mm and 45mm optics in this trio.

Simple optical theory tells us that the Olympus 25mm f/1.2 should provide a similar pictorial effect, in terms of angle of view and degree of background blur, to a 33mm f/1.7 lens on APS-C or a 50mm f/2.4 on full frame. But while we fully expect to pay a premium for an f/1.2 optic, its current street price of £1,199 stands in contrast to the Canon EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM for APS-C, or the full-frame Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S. Both of these promise greater background blur on paper, but cost a lot less at £499. Also lurking in the wings is Panasonic’s recently revamped Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4 II Asph, which offers a maximum aperture that’s just a one-third stop slower than the Olympus, for half the price. So is the Olympus 25mm f/1.2 the best that Micro Four Thirds users can buy, or an over-priced trinket?

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