Prime lens recommendations?

Take a look at the Panasonic primes first and then you can get creative if you want to .  Are you more interested in wide, "normal" or the short telephoto (42.5) that you mentioned?  It is all a matter of which focal length will suit best.  Good luck.

The 20 1.7 is indeed very sharp and therefore a logical consideration for a Panasonic body.  Having had both Pana and Oly bodies and having used the 20 on both, I can tell you that it performs best on the Pana bodies and I believe that it focuses faster.  It may be old in terms of when it was introduced, but it has not been surpassed.

Great advice from Steve..... I always fancied myself a prime shooter, sharper, better rendering, etc. but I am a zooms shooter at heart, sigh. The best advice above was to get a kit zoom or two, long and short and shoot them to figure out your focal lengths, or as Steve says perhaps to figure out if you are a prime or zoom shooter. Many of us have plenty of both but I'd bet we all fall predominantly into one category or the other.

Words from a closet prime shooter......

Bill

kevinparis wrote:

personally I find I can get a lot done with just the 17 and the 75... if I had to have just 2 lenses thats the ones they would be.

Same here, although a 42.5mm in the middle adds a lot of flexibility.

17.5mm, 42.5mm and 75mm are my favorite all-around kit.

Bill Wallace wrote:

Great advice from Steve..... I always fancied myself a prime shooter, sharper, better rendering, etc. but I am a zooms shooter at heart, sigh. The best advice above was to get a kit zoom or two, long and short and shoot them to figure out your focal lengths, or as Steve says perhaps to figure out if you are a prime or zoom shooter. Many of us have plenty of both but I'd bet we all fall predominantly into one category or the other.

Words from a closet prime shooter……

I'm definitely a prime shooter, but bought a 12-40mm recently for a trip to Morocco to cut down on lens swapping. (It was very dry and dusty in places, so I'm glad I did.) It covers near enough to my two favorite lenses (17.5mm and 42.5mm) and has excellent close focus so I could skip carrying a macro lens. So, my walkabout kit was a mix and match of zooms + prime: 7-14mm, 12-40mm and 17.5mm (for night shooting and VERY glad I brought it!). My girlfriend was using our 14-140mm II + GX1, so that was available for the rare times I wanted to go long.

So, yeah, one of the f2.8 zooms would be an interesting option, but still, with f2.8 max aperture, they're not that great in more challenging lighting situations, or for shallower depth of field.

LarsRost wrote:

I'm looking for advice choosing prime lenses...

Panasonic 14mm F2.5? Oly 45mm F1.8? Panasonic 20mm F1.7 perhaps?

I have these three and I'm happy with them all. The pancakes are very compact but still good performers, and the Olympus is great for subject isolation.  I'm sure you'll read more nitpick feedback (20mm is a touch slow to focus, 14mm is good but not stellar) but at the end of the day I've used them all to make photos and prints (up to 16x20) that I've been very happy with.

LarsRost wrote:

Hello,

A G7 will be mine in a couple of weeks and I'm looking for advice choosing prime lenses.
I am thinking about 2-3 primes in the 14-50mm range. I have read reviews but would like your real life experience. I shoot landscapes, street photography and everyday snaps/portraits of kids and family.

What about these lenses?

Panasonic 14mm F2.5?
Panasonic 42.5mm F1.7, Oly 45mm F1.8, Sigma 30mm F2.8 ?
Everyday lens in the 17-25 range... Leica 25mm F1.4 or, Panasonic 20mm F1.7 perhaps?

Kind regards
.lars

My real life experience.  Got a GM-1 along with the 20mm F1.7 to shoot low light/kids.  I like the size of the thing but it really isn't good for shooting kids in low light as it just doesn't focus fast enough to get many keepers.  When it does though it's awesome.  If I were to do it again I may have opted for either of the 25mm instead although larger.
My second lens was the Oly 45mm 1.8.  Love the thing for portraits.  Works well indoors and at low light.  Good working distance (unlike the 75mm) and focuses really fast.  It's not stabilized but given the price/size difference between it and the Pana 42.5 it wouldn't change my choice.
My third lens was the Oly 12mm 2.0.  This one wasn't even on my radar (I thought it was too expensive for what it is) until I started realizing I just couldn't get the indoor night shots that I wanted to get without it. It's doesn't seem as sharp as the 20 and 45 but that's not saying that much as those are both super sharp and I'm glad I have it when I need to go wider.
I'd recommend against manual focus lenses for street and kids/family shots.

Today I had the opportunity to test a G6 + Sigma 19mm, 30mm and 60mm.

• 60mm: Fantastic lens for its price. Amazing sharpness and nice bokeh.
• 30mm: Excellent! Sharp in center from wide open, edges are more than good enough for my use and pictures have great contrast/pop.  
• 19mm: Good, but not as good as the two others. 

So, I think my starter kit will be PanaLeica 15mm F1.7 + Sigma 30mm + Sigma 60mm.
If I don't get comfortable with 30mm I will replace it with something wider, preferably the PanaLeica 25mm F1.4 or Oly 25mm F1.8.

Kind regards
.lars

LarsRost wrote:

Today I had the opportunity to test a G6 + Sigma 19mm, 30mm and 60mm.

• 60mm: Fantastic lens for its price. Amazing sharpness and nice bokeh.

• 30mm: Excellent! Sharp in center from wide open, edges are more than good enough for my use and pictures have great contrast/pop.
• 19mm: Good, but not as good as the two others.

Cheap, but f2.8 isn't very flexible, or interesting, in a standard prime.

So, I think my starter kit will be PanaLeica 15mm F1.7 + Sigma 30mm + Sigma 60mm.
If I don't get comfortable with 30mm I will replace it with something wider, preferably the PanaLeica 25mm F1.4 or Oly 25mm F1.8.

Skip the 30mm and go straight for the 25mm f1.4. It's simply a better lens all around. Why waste time and money with stop-gap lenses when you KNOW what you really want.

I always tell myself that I'll sell my excess, unused lenses… 4 at last count… but they just sit…