The M.Zuikio 20mm F1.4 Pro ($799) is the first lens to bear OM System branding. If the M.Zuiko and OM of it all didn’t clue you, OM System is the new name for Olympus cameras, a rebranding that comes after an imaging division spin-off. The design team hasn’t lost any steps during the transition—the M.Zuiko 20mm is a good performer all around, balances well with compatible cameras, and is weather sealed. The lens faces some stiff competition from lesser-priced alternatives, however, including our Editors’ Choice award-winning Sigma 16mm F1.4 DG DN Contemporary for around $450, but you may find the M.Zuiko to be worth the premium it if you love its angle of view.
An Underserved Angle
The M.Zuiko 20mm F1.4 Pro covers about the same view as a 40mm full-frame prime, one that makes for a roomier frame than lenses like the M.Zuiko 25mm F1.8 (50mm equivalent), but just a bit tighter than a moderate widely wide option like the M.Zuiko 17mm F1.8 (35mm equivalent). The in-between look is a good fit for photographers who want a bit more room in the frame than a standard lens provides, but not too much more.
It’s not the only 20mm out there for Micro Four Thirds. The Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 II is a long-running alternative with a slim, pancake form factor (1.0 by 2.5 inches, 3.1 ounces), available today for around $300. The M.Zuiko 20mm is a more typically shaped lens, with a cylindrical barrel form factor that’s a bit too tall to be considered pancake. It comes in at 2.4 by 2.5 inches and 8.7 ounces.
The M.Zuiko 20mm balances well on most Micro Four Thirds cameras, including the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III I used to review the lens. Weather protection is included too, so you can use the lens in inclement conditions when paired with a sealed camera. The front element sports an anti-smudge fluorine coat to help keep it free of droplets when working in the rain or snow, and has a 58mm accessory thread if you want to add a protective or creative filter.
OM System bundles the lens with standard front and rear lens caps, as well a plastic petal-style lens hood. The hood ratchets on and off with a twist and reverses for storage. The accessories are the only plasticky bits included—the lens barrel itself is aluminum.
Autofocus and Handling
The M.Zuiko 20mm’s autofocus motor works quickly and quietly, good news for still photographers and videographers alike. There’s no visible focus breathing either; the angle of view stays the same even when the plane of focus shifts, so you can feel comfortable using the lens for video shots that rack focus from one subject to another.
The manual focus ring takes up most of the barrel. OM System finishes it with knurled metal ridges, matching the feel of Olympus Pro line lenses like the 17mm F1.2 Pro and 25mm F1.2 Pro. The M.Zuiko 20mm skips the focus clutch used by its F1.2 compatriots, though—there’s no on-lens control to swap between manual and autofocus. Instead, you need to take the extra step of diving into the camera menu to make the swap.
If you’re a full-time autofocus user the extra step isn’t something to worry about, but it’s more of a pain to swap focus modes than with a clutch or toggle switch. And the manual focus experience is worthwhile. The control ring offers some pleasing resistance and has a nonlinear response, a plus for setting focus with precision. Videographers may want to stick to autofocus—the nonlinear response makes it harder to repeat the same focus rack from take to take.
The clutch isn’t the only Pro series feature missing. Other lenses in the family include a configurable L-Fn control button on the barrel, but OM System dropped it from the M.Zuiko 20mm.
Focus is available as close as 9.8 inches, good enough for a pretty standard 1:9 life-size reproduction ratio. You’ll have no problem leaning in for a snapshot of a friend or pet, but don’t look to this one for photos of bees pollenating flowers or the like. It’s a limitation that’s par for the course with a bright prime. Look at the M.Zuiko 30mm F3.5 Macro if you want a lens that brings tiny objects into clear view.
The M.Zuiko 20mm skips optical stabilization, but it’s not really expected, or necessary here. Olympus cameras use in-body stabilization as a rule, and the feature is included in most newer options from Panasonic too. With the E-M1 Mark III, I had no trouble getting blur-free images at shutter speeds as long as a 1/4-second, and managed a few good 1-second results with extra care. With stabilization this good, subject motion is a much bigger concern than shaky hands for long exposure work.
M.Zuiko 20mm F1.4 Pro: In the Lab
I paired the M.Zuiko 20mm F1.4 Pro with the 20MP Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III for testing in the field and in the lab. It scores well on Imatest’s resolution evaluation, delivering results in the very good range wide open (2,200 lines) and excellent from f/2.8 through f/5.6 (2,500 lines).
Micro Four Thirds sensors are a bit more prone to diffraction than full-frame models, so we see a little bit of resolution loss from f/8 through f/11, but results are still very sharp. You will note a softer overall look at f/16, the smallest f-stop available.
You may still want to use f/16 from time to time, though, to get a sunstar effect in landscape shots. The M.Zuiko draws multi-point highlights at f/11 and f/16. It’s not the best lens we’ve seen for sunstars—the starbursts aren’t perfectly defined, even at f/16—but it’s capable of delivering the look.
There’s no distortion or visible vignette to detract from images. In-camera corrections take care of both for JPG photography, and the Raw images have a built-in profile, so you won’t have to wait around for Adobe or Phase One to make one.
I was surprised to see quite a bit of lateral chromatic aberration in photos when working at f/2.8 and wider settings. The effect shows as false purple color, and is most visible around areas of very high contrast—bare branches or telephone wires against a clear sky are the classic example.
With the M.Zuiko 20mm, the lateral aberration cuts through in-camera corrections, showing up in JPGs. Photographers who work in Raw are likely used to removing false purple color from images—it’s often just a matter of clicking a checkbox in Lightroom Classic. Here you’ll need to go a little further and work with the defringe tool to wipe purple halos away. I didn’t run into any instances where I wasn’t able to process the fringe away, but there’s more chromatic aberration here than we expect from a Pro line lens.
The 20mm F1.4 captures images with softly defocused backgrounds when used at a wider f-stop. There’s not much bad to say about the quality of the blur (the bokeh). Highlights show soft edges and are fairly round at f/1.4 and f/2, but give way to more defined, slightly octagonal shapes at f/2.8 and f/4. Generally speaking, the lens does a good job with backgrounds, even tricky ones with loads of foliage.
The Olympus Tradition Continues in OM System
Photo enthusiasts who’ve relied on Olympus gear for years are sure to pay a bit of attention to the M.Zuiko 20mm F1.4 Pro, the first lens released under the new OM System banner. We’re happy to say it’s just as well made as earlier efforts. The all-weather, aluminum-barrel construction we’ve come to expect from Olympus Pro series lenses endures, and anti-smudge fluorine is a welcome touch.
Size is reasonable, too, as the lens is a better fit for smaller cameras than those in the M.Zuiko F1.2 Pro series. It drops the manual focus clutch feature from those lenses, though how much that matters depends on how you use your camera. If you’re a full-time autofocus user, you won’t miss the clutch one bit.
We’re generally happy with the optics—details are sharp, the background blur is pleasing, and autofocus is speedy and silent. Purple fringing is more of an issue than with other lenses, and while you can suppress it by stopping down the aperture a bit, you’ll sacrifice the softened background look to get there.
There’s much more good than bad here, though we’ll count the M.Zuiko 20mm F1.4 Pro’s $799 price among the latter. There are some very good alternatives available for fewer dollars, including the M.Zuiko 17mm F1.8 ($499), a metal barrel prime with a focus clutch, and our Editors’ Choice, the Sigma 16mm F1.4 DG DN Contemporary, for $449.
