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Hands-on with the Olympus 17mm f/1.2 Pro: A super-fast lens for everyday needs

By Alvin Soon - 3 Feb 2018

Hands-on with the Olympus 17mm f/1.2 Pro lens

The 17mm f/1.2 Pro, 25mm f/1.2 Pro, and 45mm f/1.2 Pro are virtually the same size and weight. The 17mm f/1.2 Pro is as hefty as the 45mm f/1.2 Pro; I had to use it with the Olympus E-M5 Mark II’s optional hand-grip attached. Otherwise, the setup felt unwieldy. I can’t imagine using this lens with a camera like the Olympus Pen-F, which has no front grip.

The 17mm f/1.2 Pro with its lens hood attached.

The lens is weather-sealed and feels solid in the hands. There’s a manual focus clutch, which you can pull down to engage manual focus. There’s a single Function button on the lens, which is customizable.

Pull down the manual focus clutch to immediately engage manual focus.

The Olympus 17mm f/1.2 Pro isn’t the fastest 35mm-ish equivalent in the Micro Four Thirds lens stable. That honor belongs to the Voigtländer 17.5mm f/0.95, but that lens is manual. The Panasonic 15mm and 20mm both have a maximum aperture of f/1.7, while the Olympus 17mm maxes out at f/1.8.

The Olympus 17mm f/1.2 has an official US retail price of US$1,199. Update: The Olympus 17mm f/1.2 is now available in Singapore with a retail price of S$1,798.

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