Tried 20mm f/1.7 on GX7 - focus is not as slow as I thought

It's a kit lens, and I've seen people saying it's slow to focus, today I tried it on my GX7 and found it not as slow as I thought, it IS slow compared to other lenses I've used, but not to a level that I cannot bare.

I was using RX100 before for travel, it was light and small, when I started using GX7 the lenses became larger and larger (14mm, 25mm f/1.4, 12-35mm f/2.8) and I often miss the feeling when I was holding RX100 with one hand walking on street taking random photos. The 20mm lens, although still heavier, brought some of the feeling back.

These photos were taken on my way home after work, either when I was walking or waiting for traffic light, I used the high contrast BW artist mode and they are out of camera JPEGs without PP.

Note: it was dark when I took the photos so I guess they should be all f/1.7 although not checked.

And an excellent decision to render them to B&W. A basic outfit can very rewarding.

It may have been a "kit" lens, but in 2010, you could not buy a better M43 prime. Still one o the best in my book.

The one place where the 20mm really shows its old age is low contrast areas at night, but tell it where to look with touch focus, and it gets right to work.

You done good with them shots.

I use it on an OM-D E-M5 it's not slow enough for me to complain about it. Auto focus is quite acceptable really, it's just not as fast as some of my other primes like the Olympus 12mm F/2.

True, it was sold as part of a kit, but to call it a "kit lens" is quite a stretch. The Olympus 17mm f/2.8 is a kit lens as people understand the term. The 20mm is better than many primes in MFT in terms of IQ.

It's only really slow to focus when you're trying to refocus across great distances or trying to refocus constantly (to shoot moving subjects, with or without C-AF), I haven't really noticed it hunting more than any other lens (tho some swear it does)...

It does focus hunt slower tho (since it has to refocus across the whole range when it does), which might be why it sticks out in people's minds whenever it does happen to hunt. Basically it's reputation as a slow focus lens is sometimes exaggerated or misconstrued.

The 20 1.7 has been much maligned for being slow to focus.  I have not found it to be a problem and have enjoyed using it since it's inception.  Sharp, small and light.  All the things that M4/3 is supposed to be.

The 20/1.7 and the GX7 make a great pair!  The newer bodies are much improved with this lens.  The GX7 focuses much more quickly than the GH1 I first used the 20 with, and does not have the hunting problem, except on rare occasions.  The low light focus ability of the GX7 coupled with the 1.7 aperture compliment each other, and there is always the touch focus ability on the screen if you really get into trouble.