OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 25mm F1.8 II Review

I had the opportunity to test out the new 25mm f1.8 II lens from OM System this month alongside the OM-3, so I decided to produce this hands-on review. It's a really cool little lens, and I've thoroughly enjoyed shooting with it over the course of February. While this was intended primarily as a video review, I will go over very quickly some key things I liked best about it, as well as the few downsides to it in the following article. I will also share some of my best images captured with the lens.

• Excellent image quality, with just a little vignetting wide open.
• Great build quality, water resistant and tough.
• Pairs really nicely with the OM-3, both in terms of aesthetics and from a handling perspective. It's just the right size for small M4/3 cameras.
• Autofocus seems snappy enough
• $500 seems a tad steep for a 50mm f/1.8 equivalent, but it's such a nice lens that I think it's probably worth it.
• Lens cap is the only real downside, very cheap and flimsy. Difficult to attach/remove (especially when using the lens hood), falls off easily, and doesn't offer much protection. If you buy this lens, get a better lens cap to go with it.
• There's some vignetting when shot wide open, and It's been pointed out to be that there's some chromatic distortion in a few of the images included in the above video. It's very difficult for me to see myself due to my colorblindness. 

Overall, it's a great little lens! I've included lots of sample images in the video above, and you can find more in this "photography adventure video" I made for the OM-3:

Still photo gallery - note that these were captured as RAW images to which I applied basic edits in Lightroom.

You can also check out my full review of the OM System OM-3 on SlashGear.com

If you're interested in purchasing this camera gear, I would appreciate it if you did so using my affiliate links. Doing so helps support my ability to continue testing and reviewing lenses such as this!

OM System OM-3: https://amzn.to/4biueHH

OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 25mm f/1.8 II: https://amzn.to/3F6vCkE