Pan-Leica & Oly 25mm Glass Comparisons by Robin Wong

Robin Wong wrote a really good article comparing the differences between the Pan-Leica 25mm f1.4 and the newly announced Olympus 25mm f1.8 lens. It's a long read, but it laid out a lot of pros and cons of both lenses.

The Pan-Leica I own is an awesome lens, the CA and edge sharpness don't bug me as much, and I don't have the focusing problems Robin faced during his review, but it's good to know that at half the price, the Olympus 25mm f1.8's only con against the Pan-Leica is an ever so slight difference in bokeh, but everything else (at least, on an Olympus body with camera correction), it's able to match or exceed the Pan-Leica in performance.

DOF between the f1.4 Pan-Leica (Left) and f1.8 Oly (Right)

So which bugs you more? If you're a pixel peeper, and complete edge sharpness is your primary concern, I think the Oly is perfect, if low light shutter speed is what you're going for, the Pan-Leica will add that edge for you at a price. That said, the Olympus 25mm is no slacker, and probably worth the purchase for those seeking to get their first 50mm equivalent.

You can read the entire article in his post link HERE.