bs1946
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Re: What Pana Lens is worth considering Over Olympus lens if you use OLY body?
3
Robert Evagelista wrote:
Trying to compare the closest Focal Length and Aperture Lenses Between Pana and Oly.
It appears that the Panasonic Lenses OIS is significantly driving the cost of each Lens purchase.
Question
1.What Pana Lens is worth considering Over Olympus lens if you use OLY body?
I found 1 focal length range is cheaper in Panasonic.
That is the Panasonic 14-42 f/3.5-5.6 (165 USD) vs Olympus 12-50 f/3.5-5.6 (500 USD)
Comparison:
Pana is 1.5x more expensive

I have an E-M10 and a GM5 that I use my lenses on.
As for the first two, there are some things you are not taking into account. First off, the Panasonic-Leica 15mm does not have OIS. Secondly, the Olympus 17mm is currently on sale; the regular price is $499. Then if you consider the fact that the Panasonic-Leica 15mm includes a metal hood and a storage bag, while you have to buy the metal hood from Olympus as an add on for $50 and there is no storage bag, the price difference starts to shrink. You're also paying an up-charge because Leica's name is on the 15mm. Panasonic builds the 15mm and nobody knows how much input Leica had in the design, if any.
I have both of these lenses. They both have blazing fast autofocus and excellent image quality. The 17mm has a full metal body and is smaller than the 15mm. The 17mm has the Olympus snapshot feature; pull back the focus ring, the camera goes into MF, and you have a distance scale for zone focusing. That's a big feature for street shooters and works on both Olympus and Panasonic bodies. The 15mm comes with an aperture ring which can be handy but, it only works on Panasonic bodies. For my part, I bought the 15mm in a post GM5 acquisition GAS attack. After the initial new lens excitement died down, I find that I tend to use the 17mm more often and I also have the 12mm f/2.0 which is my favorite on the E-M10.
The Olympus 45mm f/1.8 versus the new Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7; again, the price difference is deceiving because Olympus has all of their lenses on sale until September and the 45mm is normally $399. I have the 45mm but, all I've seen of the 42.5mm is pictures and user comments. The 45mm has been around for quite a while, it is one of the most popular M43 lenses, and is used with both Olympus and Panasonic bodies. The one downside of the 45mm is the cheap plastic build quality of the body but optically it is superb and the autofocus is virtually instantaneous. The 42.5 seems to have a much nice body that is all not cheap plastic and it comes with a hood. From the various samples posted, the image quality is a virtual tie.
I have the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8, which is back in the box on the shelf and I had the Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 until I sold it. Both are excellent lenses and they were all I used with my E-M10 for about six months. I chose the Panasonic 35-100mm over the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro because it is quite a bit smaller and lighter. That was worth more to me than the extra 50mm on the Olympus. If I did not have the 12-40mm f/2.8 already, I would also buy the Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8; again because it is smaller and lighter than its Olympus counterpart. All four lenses offer excellent build quality, excellent image quality, and blazing fast autofocus, plus they are all f/2.8 in their entire range. I never turned on the OIS on the 35-100mm because it's redundant on an Olympus body and not as good as 3-axis or 5-axis IBIS.
The rest of the lenses you listed are apples and oranges, different focal ranges, some are older, some are newer, and it's not as even a comparison as the primes you listed.
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Bill S.
"If you’re a pixel peeper that lives and dies by looking at your images at 100%, you’re living in an archaic age that doesn’t really exist anymore." Chris Gampat