An ultra-wide lens is still missing to complete my MFT set-up. However, I just realized that the money to buy the Pana would almost suffice to get me a Nikon D3200 together with the Sigma 8-16. Amazing! Eventually I buy the Sigma and determine first whether I can live with manual focusing on my GH1.
There are a couple of threads on dpreview and fredmiranda that tend to favor the olympus 9-18. The 7-14 is clearly better optically but it has a few annoying flaws:
a) price
b ) can't take filters
c) in certain cases nasty purple fringing or flare that is hard to remove in post processing
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The 9-18 is cheaper smaller and punchy just lower resolution in the corners (and not as wide). Not sure about the distortion factors.
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These comments are hersey as I do not own either lenses or use either lenses (though if I don't switch to fuji I might pick up the 9-18 one day).
I own the 9-18 and it's quite a pleasant lens. It's a nice performer but I'm sometimes skeptical about its retracting construction, some play appeared over time. It doesn't seem to have a visible effect on IQ but I still wish it had a conventional construction. Other than that, lightweight, silent, really nothing to complain about. 9mm is wide enough for me because I still don't have proper 12-xx lenses (the 12-35 doesn't have a wide enough range for my taste and the 12-50 is totally unimpressive optically). If you would end up owning the 12-35, I'd probably think it's not worth swapping to a 9mm lens.
