Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm f/4 Pro

This lens could replace both an ultra‑wide and a standard zoom

- Rod Lawton

£899/$1,099

Olympus’ 8-25mm f/4 Pro (16-50mm equivalent) is one of a rare breed of ultra-wide standard zooms. The only equivalents we can think of are the Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux Asph 10-25mm f/1.7 (20-50mm equivalent) and the full-frame Panasonic Lumix S 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6. Neither covers the same angles of view as this lens. So who is it for? Well, if you’ve ever felt your standard zoom doesn’t go wide enough and goes a little longer than you usually need, this is the lens for you!

Most standard zooms offer a 24mm equivalent angle of view, which is wide, but not that wide. The 8-25mm f/4.0 Pro zooms all the way out to 16mm equivalent, well into ultra-wide territory. It’s one of Olympus’s Pro lenses, which means it has a constant maximum aperture (f/4 in this case) and it’s built for optical quality and performance. There’s no image stabiliser, but Olympus bodies already incorporate one of the best stabilisation systems on the market, so that’s not an issue.