The Olympus 17mm is the perfect build for the Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera. The most attractive thing on this lens is its sharpness. I never thought this lens could be that excellent in terms of optical performance both on the centre and on the borders. I admire how distortion is controlled on this Olympus lens; this optical defect can be ignored at all focal length and aperture as it is perfectly controlled on this lens. Vignetting can also be safely ignored as it is very low at any focal length and aperture on the Olympus 17mm. The only discouraging thing on this lens is how it controls chromatic aberration. Compared to other lenses it performs very poorly in this control. This optical defect is clearly seen at every aperture and focal length.
Some of the most admirable characteristics on this lens in terms of build quality are lightweight and compactness. Another thing that is really moving on this lens is its focusing and zooming power. The autofocus performance is fast, accurate and very silent.