Fast prime help

rponiarski wrote:

I have the trio of Sigma primes (19mm, 30mm & 60mm), which I use quite often, but have been thinking of getting a faster prime lens for my E-P5 (they are fine for my E-P2 as that is used only in daylight). I have been thinking about the Olympus 25mm f1.8 or 17mm f1.8, or the Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4 or 15mm f1.8. Pros and cons of each would be nice to hear. I tend to use my 12-32 Panasonic mostly for street shots, but would like something for interiors and lower light situations....

Until I gave them to my son, I had the 30mm and 60mm Sigmas. They are great as short telephotos and portrait lenses but can be a pain indoors. I personally have never been thrilled with the 50mm focal-length so I can't tell you about either 25mm.

I have the 17mm and the 12mm. I always used a 35mm for street shooting but now I've come to prefer the 12mm over the 17mm. Both lenses are great for street shooting. They both have the snapshot feature so with either lens, if you pull back the focus ring, prefocus to 3 meters, and set the aperture to f5.6 or f6,3, everything from about five feet to infinity will be in focus.

I don't have the 15mm f/1.7 but all the reviews and user comments are very positive. One thing I asked about was if the aperture ring and the AF/MF switch worked on Olympus bodies and several people who have the lens responded that they do not. Still it's right in the middle between the 12mm and 17mm and would make another great street lens.