What fast 35mm eqiv. lens would you recommend for m43?

Henry Richardson wrote:

Bots_Revenge wrote:

Thanks! I would avoid f2.8 lenses because I already have some of the best and also because f2.8 doesn't provide shallow enough DoF with short lenses. If There was a 17mm f1.2 lens and it was good, I'd buy it.

I haven't read through the whole thread, but it seems like you have eliminated all the options for m4/3 since none are good enough for you. I think you are in the process of convincing yourself to switch to Fuji, Sony, Leica, Canon, Nikon, or some other option. It seems like it is the only solution. Expensive to switch, but in order to get a fast 35mm equivalent that meets your requirements it seems the way to go.

You're making a valid point. So far I see no better system than m43 for my needs.

- Fuji is slow to focus, has few lenses that also are bigger

- Sony's lenses are even larger and there are too few worthwhile

- Leica - pff, with those prices and only MF - not going to happen anytime soon

- Canon (mirrorless) - they are nowhere near as good in IQ and lens options

- Nikon (mirrorless) - same as Canon

- Samsung - haven't checked them out yet.

Still - I'm staying with m43 and I'm trying to pick the best possible lenses that match what I'm trying to do. Most likely I'm going to buy the 17mm f1.8. Obviously we managed to go through all other alternatives.

Thank you all! I'll write soon when I make the purchase.

Read the reviews of the 17mm 1.8 with an understanding that this lens was reviewed after such gems as the 75mm, 12mm, and the (ridiculously cheap for what you get) 45mm were released. It may have suffered by comparison........It is 1/2 the price of the first two, and produces beautifully rendered photos. I have never found the sharpness to be an issue with this lens

Advent1sam wrote:

Bots,

I have found the 20mm mk1 very nice for low light on the Gx7, it is actually faster than ever on the Gx7 although it wont be upto the 42.5, you should try it in a shop or sale or return first? I use it in burst mode and electronic shutter and burst away, it acquires focus fast and as people are blinking and moving you can pick the bets of the bunch from the bursts, they don't even know your clicking away. I use the sandisk 95mb sd's to speed the write up a bit too. The 20mm is still a sublime lens and surprisingly gives very little up to the 35mm width. On the Oly em5 it used to have a banding issue even as low as iso800, not sure if it does on the epl5 and you may find focussing a little pedestrian on that too.

The 20 was going to be my suggestion as well. I have it on my GX7 often, great combo. It will be close to the desired 35mm equiv, and is fast at F1.7. It is also insanely sharp, underratedly so. Since so much in terms of resolution is determined by different factors its sometimes hard to judge a lens's performance. I like to offer examples that show the most i can wring out of a lens, usually with flash.

The 20 is very sharp even wide open. For the OP, it's not very expensive, it's very small and agile on a GX7, it's light weight, it's extremely well off in IQ. If i were shooting a wedding, this would be a must have for MFT.

Just a non keeper sample.

Since PP can cloud real lens performance, here are the sliders. Modest sharpening, no lumi NR. This lens is stellar.

Thanks man! I appreciate your input.

I remember my 20mm f1.7 being very slow to focus on my E-PM2. Well... my 75mm f1.8 is also very slow on my Oly bodies although not as much as the 20mm f1.7. I have to try one on my GX7 to see if it also becomes insanely fast.

Bots_Revenge wrote:

xerophytenyc wrote:

I'm not looking to recreate the DoF of FF primes but at least to be close to the standard zooms.

Voigtlander hands down should be the best as it is fast and sharp, rendering is fantastic. With a little practice, focusing can be very quick with the help of focus peaking. As long as you're not trying to photograph kids running around you should not have difficulty focusing. Beyond a few feet the focus range moves quickly on the lens, no need for lots of turning. Maybe try manual on one of your existing short FL lenses and see how it works for you.

I have tried manual focusing but the "focus by wire" system adapts to the speed I'm turning the ring so if I try to remember where a certain position of the ring puts the focus plane, once I turn the ring back and forth the position will not match. This is an advantage of the Voigtlander indeed.

I have to test it but I'd rather have a lighter lens than that piece of chunky metal.

Remember that you can use zone focusing with the Voigtländer 17.5mm's distance scale. Since you hit infinity at 4 or 5 feet it's quite easy.

Often I'll set the scale dead-center on the infinity mark, with the aperture on f5.6 and shoot from the hip. It's a truly special lens!

Bots_Revenge wrote:

I'm considering buying a 35mm equiv. fast prime for my m43 bodies. My plan is to shoot weddings with 35mm, 85mm and 150mm primes on three bodies - 2x GX7 and E-PL5. Most times I may be using only two bodies with 35 and 85mm.

My current prime setup is 12mm f2, 25mm f1.4 and 45mm f1.8 (now is 42.5mm f1.2).

I'm seeing three options:

1. m.Zuiko 17mm f1.8 - appears to be tremendously mediocre in terms of sharpness except in the absolute center

This simpy isnt true. At least my experience is not this at all.

2. PL 15mm f1.7 - looks sharper, but I really would have liked it to be further away from 12mm so that I don't feel like I've cropped 5% off my 12mm lens - I'd prefer a 35mm equiv instead of 30.

3. Voigtlander 17.5mm f0.95 - as I hear it's very sharp, but weighs way too much and I'd rather have AF instead of straining my eyes with the dynamic nature of weddings.

From the options I seem to have I'm disappointed because the Oly and Pana lenses just don't seem to be what I want. The Zuiko is closest to my preferences but when put next to the Nocticron and the 75mm f1.8 it isn't nearly sharp enough to match them.

My questions are:

1. Am I missing some alternative? Is there any other lens to consider?

2. Do any of the three lenses have any other strengths to consider?

3. Which lens in your personal opinion is best for the job?

James Pilcher wrote:

Enrique: How can you live with such a terribly soft lens? It's obvious that in no way can it make a good photo. What was Olympus thinking?

On the other hand, it's on my short list. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.

All kidding aside, it's true that a soft lens will work. Sometimes. But a sharp lens can always be made to take a soft shot, a soft lens cannot be made to take a sharp shot if it's needed. Why limit yourself if you don't have to?

Bots_Revenge wrote:

I'm considering buying a 35mm equiv. fast prime for my m43 bodies. My plan is to shoot weddings with 35mm, 85mm and 150mm primes on three bodies - 2x GX7 and E-PL5. Most times I may be using only two bodies with 35 and 85mm.

My current prime setup is 12mm f2, 25mm f1.4 and 45mm f1.8 (now is 42.5mm f1.2).

I'm seeing three options:

1. m.Zuiko 17mm f1.8 - appears to be tremendously mediocre in terms of sharpness except in the absolute center

2. PL 15mm f1.7 - looks sharper, but I really would have liked it to be further away from 12mm so that I don't feel like I've cropped 5% off my 12mm lens - I'd prefer a 35mm equiv instead of 30.

3. Voigtlander 17.5mm f0.95 - as I hear it's very sharp, but weighs way too much and I'd rather have AF instead of straining my eyes with the dynamic nature of weddings.

From the options I seem to have I'm disappointed because the Oly and Pana lenses just don't seem to be what I want. The Zuiko is closest to my preferences but when put next to the Nocticron and the 75mm f1.8 it isn't nearly sharp enough to match them.

My questions are:

1. Am I missing some alternative? Is there any other lens to consider?

2. Do any of the three lenses have any other strengths to consider?

3. Which lens in your personal opinion is best for the job?

Both versions of the 20mm F1.7 are excellent, but their AF is a little slow.

There are other ways to get a fast 17mm other than voigtlander. The Tamron F 24mm F2.5 ($100, flare prone) on a cheap focal reducer, and the Samyang 24mm F1.4 work as 17mm F1.8 and F1.0 respectively.

At my sister-in-law's wedding, I used the 24mm F1.4 and a 50mm F1.2 to give me near 35mm 85mm standard focal lengths. It DOES require practice, but I can get shots manually focusing now that i wouldn't try with AF. In addition, the light gain and bokeh when you want it is incredible.

http://beomagi.blogspot.com/2014_04_01_archive.html

If the wedding is close, I wouldn't recommend jumping on a new thing - but consider it for later when you have the time to try it. I use an EP3 - I have no high resolution eye-piece, and the rear screen isn't that high a resolution either.

Today Olympus lent me one 17mm f1.8. From about a hundred snapshots that I took in different conditions I'm becoming convinced that the reviews and test images that I've seen represent the reality. The lens is about sharp enough in the center wide open and soft closer to the corners.

I'm not impressed with the AF speed although it is fast on the GX7. I will conduct more tests also on the E-PL5. I should note that I do have an E-M1 so I'm not using "toy cameras" out of ignorance and low budget. I'm also selling my E-M1 for a growing number of reasons in order to replace it with another GX7.

From what I see from the lens, if I buy it, I'll always have the feeling that I have some compromise of a lens compared to others I have. I'm even considering putting my 12-40 f2.8 on one camera ant the 42.5mm f1.2 or 75mm f1.8 on the other.

Today I shot with the GX7 and 12-40 under bright sunlight and again saw that on the GX7 the 12-40 is about twice as fast to focus compared to the already blistering speed on the E-M1. On the Panasonic it's just explosive fast.

I'm not convinced by the performance of the 17mm f1.8. I will try the 15mm f1.7 next and also the Voigtlander which is my last choice due to price, weight and required effort to focus. I shall try it before dismissing it.

Bots_Revenge wrote:

I'm considering buying a 35mm equiv. fast prime for my m43 bodies. My plan is to shoot weddings with 35mm, 85mm and 150mm primes on three bodies - 2x GX7 and E-PL5. Most times I may be using only two bodies with 35 and 85mm.

.......

3. Which lens in your personal opinion is best for the job?

15mm F1.7 - fast becoming my favorite for people shots. The fov seems well adapted to capture a small group at close quarters without perspective distortion, and focusing is fast.

With video, and the weakest digital teleconverter function, it changes from FF equiv 30mm to a FF equiv 72mm  -  great flexibility.

I was looking for a high quality 35mm equivalent for my GX7 and EM1. I tried  what is supposed to be the best, the 15mm, not 35 but quite close. I found that it was not good enough, particularly for the price. The lack of a good 35mm equivalent is, to me, the main hole in the m43 system. Anyhow, since I needed a very good 35, I ended up buying the Fuji X100 ( not the 100S). I'm very happy with it..

Enrique

Enir4 wrote:

I was looking for a high quality 35mm equivalent for my GX7 and EM1. I tried what is supposed to be the best, the 15mm, not 35 but quite close. I found that it was not good enough, particularly for the price. The lack of a good 35mm equivalent is, to me, the main hole in the m43 system. Anyhow, since I needed a very good 35, I ended up buying the Fuji X100 ( not the 100S). I'm very happy with it..

Enrique

I agree that now that I've stumbled upon wanting a good 35mm equiv. lens I see the hole. All my other lenses are spectacular. The 17mm f1.8 just isn't and makes my shots look like they are coming from a P&S camera. This is embarrassing for me. I shoot alongside with people with 5D mk IIIs and I like to hold no punches.