OM System M.Zuiko Digital 20 mm f/1.4 PRO review - Summary

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OM System M.Zuiko Digital 20 mm f/1.4 PRO

10 January 2022

Maciej Latałło

11. Summary

Pros:

shapely, solid, weather-sealed casing,
excellent image quality in the frame centre,
moderate distortion,
properly corrected coma,
decent correction of vignetting,
nice out-of-focus areas,
silent, flash-quick, accurate autofocus.

Cons:

problems with chromatic aberration,
image quality on the edge of the frame should have been better,
a bit too high astigmatism.

I admit that, while writting this summary, my feelings were mixed. On the one hand the OM System M.Zuiko Digital 20 mm f/1.4 PRO is a shapely, well-put-together, weather-sealed lens that is able to provide excellent image quality in the frame centre and moderate vignetting. Its autofocus performance is also beyond reproach. On the other hand the lens had many average results in different categories of our test and two painful slip-ups, quite unexpected in an instrument of such a type. I especially can't understand why a standard lens with 11 elements inside, four of them made of low dispersion glass, deals just moderately well with both types of chromatic aberration.

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When you launch a new brand product you want it to be a great market success, showing you in the best light, exposing just your strengths; I feel OM Digital Solutions didn't manage to achieve such an effect, not really. Everything is additionally complicated by the price of the new lens, $800. It's more than the cost of the PanaLeica 1.4/25, three times more than the cost of the Panasonic 1.7/20, five times more than the price tag of the Panasonic 1.7/25. I might be wrong but I don't think the OM 1.4/20 will be a big market hit.