Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 7-14 mm F2.8 PRO Lens, Wide Angle Zoom, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G Series), Black

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At 10mm, the Pana-Leica does better at the fastest aperture and maintains an ever-so-slight advantage up to f/5.6. Chromatic abberations seems to be corrected well and so is the vignetting (but not the distortion). It seems that Olympus moved away from: "correct everything electronically" and now corrects a bit more optically (to the cost of size).

Zooming in, the disparity between the centre and corners of the frame reduces considerably, and at the 14mm setting the lens gives pretty even sharpness across the frame. In general the best results are obtained around f/5.6 and a stop either side. As usual for Micro Four Thirds, diffraction softens the image visibly at smaller apertures, and I wouldn’t normally use anything beyond f/8. The Olympus 7-14mm is certainly not designed for traditional macro photography, but with a close-focusing distance just shy of 8 inches, it's very good for dramatic close-up shots. When the Panasonic Leica 8-18mm f/2.8-4.0 was announced at Photokina 2016, Micro Four Thirds users soon began wondering how it would compare to the other premium wide-angle zoom for the system, the Olympus M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO. Though they don’t share an identical zoom range, they are both intended for the same genres: namely landscapes, architecture, and interiors.Feels great, looks great, works great – all in a lens that is reasonably priced. Well done Olympus yet again!

Olympus’s ZERO (Zuiko Extra-low Reflection Optical) coating is applied to minimize ghosting and flare, which can be particularly problematic with ultra-wide-angle lenses. Further defense comes from the integral petal-shaped hood, which also gives physical protection to the protruding front element. A typical downside of this configuration is that there’s no attachment thread for adding filters, which are often useful in landscape photography to which the lens is well suited. Finally at 14mm, the Leica has a slight advantage at the fastest aperture (f/3.6 vs f/2.8) and the performance becomes the same from f/5.6 once again.

The 7-14 PRO is a fine lens, I had one for a year and enjoyed it, but sometimes felt it was a bit heavy for my travel kit and often found myself needing to change lenses when it was not very convenient. And I was starting to look into adapters so that I could use filters, but was concerned about adding more even more bulk and complications to my kit.