That's awesome that you took the time to go back and find this 5 year old thread and update it.
I don't think you should sell the XZ-1. Even when you DO find a lens good enough to match the XZ-1's, you'll find that the rig is not nearly as portable.
Take a look at my Gear List. I have some good contenders for a walk-around lens for MFT. The 14-42 pancake motor zoom is the kit lens that comes with a lot of the Olympus MFT bodies, so people put them up for sale immediately when they go for some fancy f/2.8 zoom. The lens though is VERY compact and also very sharp.
As something that can match or beat the XZ-1's lens for range, take a look at the Panasonic 12-60 f/3.5-5.6. It's a great lens. Not compact like the 14-42, but it's not too big or heavy, either.
I have a couple of the Olympus primes: the 45/1.8 and the 17/1.8; they are good for their own reasons.
I previously had the Panasonic 20/1.7, and it was a bit sharper than the Oly 17/1.8, but it was a lot slower focusing; not a candid or snapshot lens. Still fast, compared to manually focusing, but quite noticeably slower than the Oly primes. I also prefer the 35 mm eq. focal length to 40.
When on vacation, I think my favorite combo is the Panasonic 12-60 and the Olympus body cap fisheye, which is so thin that it's free. This rig then gets me everything from an ultrawide to 120 mm telephoto.
Jurre van Wouw wrote:
I ended up never selling the XZ-1 and now, years later, I am finally planning to. I used the XZ-1 during the months my Olympus 12-50 mm f3.5-6.3 was being repaired for a decentered lens element, shortly after I had purchased it. After that I did not get around to selling it and paradoxically ended up using it as my 'low-light camera' as it actually did better than my Panasonic G2+12-50 mm combo! Now I am planning on selling/trading in the 12-50 mm to get a Sigma 19 mm f.2.8 or Olympus 17 mm f2.8 (maybe I will end up replacing the G2 as well as I like that the old Olympus E-P(M)s use the same batteries as their latest models).
XZ-1 selections 2017-2019 (new DPR album)
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-Jeremy
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"A book breaks the shackles of time."
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