The Leica 25mm is no doubt a very capable lens, but it is getting a little long in the tooth at this point. While its feature-set was state of the art by the time it was released, competition in the space has been fierce since then, and there’s been no shortage of stellar lenses for the MFT system that have certainly raised the bar. By sitting at a very respectable price point, the Leica 25mm is defining itself as a premium lens, but in order to remain competitive in that segment, some features should probably be added, perhaps as part of a hypothetical Mark II redesign.
The Room for Improvement section is spot-on. On my Olympus OM-D E-M1, the 25MM Panasonic is the lens that’s always attached and I swap out others if needed but it’s insanely great for portraits, low-light and especially beer bottles (something I take a lot of photos of).
I’d say the 20mm f/1.7 was replaced by the 25mm f/1.4 in my eyes mostly because of the autofocus speed and the build quality. I agree with almost every positive remarked on this lens except for the fact the reviewer claims the lens cap is easy to remove and put on even with the lens hood locked on. I disagree. The lens cap is a pain in the butt to put on and off but it’s probably my extra-large fingers that are to blame.