Thinking of something narrower: Panasonic 42.5 F/1.7, Olympus 45mm F/1.8 or Sigma 30mm F/2.8

Hithertoo wrote:

I'm thinking about getting a narrower prime, for closer crop photos. I have the Olympus 12mm F/2 and Panasonic 20mm F/1.7. 30mm is a little different to 20mm and will give me 60mm instead of 40mm, the other options are the 42.5mm and 45mm which are just about the same at around 85 to 90mm, or there abouts. The Sigma is the cheapest option.

I've discounted the Olympus 60mm and 75mm options as they're really too long for indoor use, I've tested it out with my 14-42 at 30mm and 40-150 at 45mm, I can't really decide. I've got a slightly obscure normal lens at 40mm so I could go with a 60mm or an 85mm or 90mm option. I really can't decide, the Sigma option is very cheap, and I like a slightly wider lens, but it just might not do it for me.

I considered the 30mm second version of the Sigma earlier in the year, but I wasn't impressed by the size or the handling, although the optical quality and focusing speed both seemed very good. If you haven't handled the Sigma, I'd recommend doing so. At the discounted price at that time, I decided not to purchase. I wasn't considering the 45mm at the time because I was more interested in wider lenses at that point, but it struck me how much more compact that lens is than any of the Sigma ones (19mm, 30mm, 60mm).

More recently, the 45mm was being discounted and I got tempted, mostly because I was becoming a bit more interested in getting better indoor portrait shots. I can only recommend it: it not only collects more light, but the sharpness is a step above the 14-42; I feel that not having a kit lens with this sharpness sells the system short, but I guess Olympus wants to make money from lenses, too.

For a while, the first version of the Sigma was on sale at a retailer in my region (presumably old stock that they'd discovered/acquired), which might have better ergonomics, but I would have to handle it before considering a purchase. I've mentioned before in some post or other that Sigma would be more competitive if their MFT lenses were smaller. (Apparently, making these for Sony users is very lucrative, however.)

As for whether 30mm or 45mm is right for you, I can only report that 45mm does seem a bit close for a lot of situations, and you might end up needing to back up for a shot. 30mm, then, might be more convenient as a general lens, although I personally wouldn't trade the 45mm for the 30mm for what I use it for. After trying the 30mm, I did think that I might end up holding out for the 25mm f/1.8, and would be considering the Panasonic 25mm recently released as an alternative now, but I'm happy with going the other way. Then again, I have spent a lot of time wandering around with the 40-150 and being mostly happy starting at 40mm.