Olympus 25mm 1.8 or Panasonic 20mm 1.7?

Marty4650 wrote:

The Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 is an excellent lens, but it has been reported to be slow in focusing and to exhibit some banding on certain Olympus cameras. The EPL6 is one of those cameras. It might do better with a newer OMD version or the new Pen F.

I use both brand lenses, and my experience is that some Olympus bodies (my own EM5, and probably your EPL6 too, since they use the same sensor) are not designed to correct for the CA and purple fringing that some Panasonic lenses can produce. This is pretty easy to correct in post processing, but you can avoid it completely by buying a very similar Olympus lens.

Again, this is my own personal view. For street shooting, 20mm or 25mm is too wide. I much prefer 17mm, or even the wider 14mm lenses. If I didn't already own the 14mm and 17mm lenses, I would rush out and get the PanaLeica 15mm f/1.7, which is a superb lens by all accounts. Superb, but pricey!

The 17mm f/2.8 really is an underrated lens. It really renders well, especially outdoors and in good light. But it is disappointing indoors, with less than perfect light. I sold off my copy and replaced it with the 17mm f/1.8, which I find generally more useful, even though not as compact.

If you want a 50mm equivalent lens, then the Olympus 25mm f/1.8 is hard to beat. Based on the few reviews I have seen for the Panasonic 25mm f/1.7, it doesn't score as well. The major issues were corner sharpness and build quality. But it still is a very good lens. At $99 it is a real bargain, at $250.... not so much.

If you are on a tight budget, the Olympus outlet storehas refurbished 25mm f/1.8 lenses available for around $319. They don't have any right now because they sold them all out on their recent President's Day 20% off sale. If you aren't in a hurry to get that lens, just bookmark that site and keep watching it. Some more will turn up.

Good luck!

From what everybody has been saying in this thread. I decided to get the Olympus 17mm 1.8. I played around with my kit lens yesterday and I tend to gravitate towards the wider end of the spectrum. I've also thought about getting the Panasonic leica 15mm, but on my EPL6 the aperture ring is useless and I think I would rather have the manual focus that the 17mm features. So I'll save up for a little bit and get the 17mm. thanks