Olympus 25mm 1.8 or Panasonic 20mm 1.7?

Looking for a multipurpose, street/walking around lens. I currently just have the E-PL6 kit lens, the 9mm fisheye body cap lens and the Olympus 45mm 1.8.

I mainly shoot product photography such as toys, figures etc.. 45mm works fine for isolating the figure from the background. but not great when I go out and do tourist type shooting. the 9mm fisheye is way too soft for me and mainly used to play around with filters. Kit lens is ok but I prefer the faster primes.

I bought the 45mm first instead of a normal prime mainly because I thought I was gonna get a 25mm for 99 dollars since that will most likely not happen, now I'm scrambling to look for a normal prime to take on vacation this march.

I don't have any experience with the 20mm but I'm delighted with the Olympus 25mm f1.8. I often take close-ups of my pizzas and the results are magazine-worthy. It's also effective for portraits and even landscapes. The bokeh is very nice and its sharp, detailed, etc. It's every bit as good as the 45mm.

All I can tell you is that the 20 1.7 is very sharp and that it has good contrast.  It seems to have difficulty focusing with some of the Olympus bodies, but I use Panasonic bodies so it has been fine for me.  In fact, I own two 20 1.7 lenses.  I guess that means that I like the 20.  The 25 1.8 Olympus is probably a fine lens.  Your choice is between the Full Frame focal length of 40 or 50.

I have both and like them for different purposes. Also, they are different FOV. The 25mm will be tighter. Good if you want to be further away from a subject. A 17 (the 2.8 is decent enough for street) or 17.5 would also be good but you would need to get closer at times to a subject as they are wider FOVs (I have a 17.5). But it does make for a more intimate and being there type of photo, and can be used for say, landscapes or interiors too. The 20, then, would be a good balance, but on an Oly body, it's a little slower in low light to lock focus. Now that I have a Panny body too, my old Panny 20 stays there and never goes back on my OMD. My 25 stays mostly on my OMD. Things to keep in mind. Oh, and I would suggest you try a zoom and then see what feels best for you at all those focal length and then buy the one that fits your street subject comfort distance.

I tried both and kept the Panasonic 20mm. For me, I liked the images better. Yes, the focus is a little bit slower but really not an issue, at least for me. The Pannasonic is also more compact than the Olympus, a nice plus. The Panasonic feels cheaper(more plastic) than the Olympus but all in all, the Panasonic 20mm is a great lens, especially for the price.

generikku wrote:

I have both and like them for different purposes. Also, they are different FOV. The 25mm will be tighter. Good if you want to be further away from a subject. A 17 (the 2.8 is decent enough for street) or 17.5 would also be good but you would need to get closer at times to a subject as they are wider FOVs (I have a 17.5). But it does make for a more intimate and being there type of photo, and can be used for say, landscapes or interiors too. The 20, then, would be a good balance, but on an Oly body, it's a little slower in low light to lock focus. Now that I have a Panny body too, my old Panny 20 stays there and never goes back on my OMD. My 25 stays mostly on my OMD. Things to keep in mind. Oh, and I would suggest you try a zoom and then see what feels best for you at all those focal length and then buy the one that fits your street subject comfort distance.

good to know that the 20mm is slower on Oly bodies. I would love to get the Oly 17mm but its slightly over my price range.

As others have said, go with the focal length you prefer.

I have the 25mm Oly and it is superb - I really cannot fault it. Optically it is outstanding. Mechanically it's plastic but still well put together with metal mount and nice smooth focus action. It focuses instantly and accurately. There is nothing to not like about it.

But... it is imho a tiny bit long for a general purpose walkabout lens. It's decent for portraits though.

The 20mm would be a better general purpose lens imho, and cropping the images to 25mm equivalent FOV is not much of a crop.

jsaras wrote:

I don't have any experience with the 20mm but I'm delighted with the Olympus 25mm f1.8. I often take close-ups of my pizzas and the results are magazine-worthy. It's also effective for portraits and even landscapes. The bokeh is very nice and its sharp, detailed, etc. It's every bit as good as the 45mm.

Good to know. I'm loving my 45mm it quickly became one of my favorite.

Chippy99 wrote:

As others have said, go with the focal length you prefer.

I have the 25mm Oly and it is superb - I really cannot fault it. Optically it is outstanding. Mechanically it's plastic but still well put together with metal mount and nice smooth focus action. It focuses instantly and accurately. There is nothing to not like about it.

But... it is imho a tiny bit long for a general purpose walkabout lens. It's decent for portraits though.

The 20mm would be a better general purpose lens imho, and cropping the images to 25mm equivalent FOV is not much of a crop.

I'm leaning towards the 20mm, but I might also consider getting a 17mm 2.8. but not sure if I should wait till I can afford the 1.8 version.

thk0 wrote:

I'm think the Oly 9-18mm + 25mm (hope to acquire soon) + 45mm would be a good and very small kit.

T.

I haven't bought a zoom lens in a long time. the Oly 9-18mm intrigues me thou.

Oly 25/1.8 is an excellent lens by all accounts. But having experience with Panasonic's 25/1.7, I'm thinking that a 20mm would be more versatile for general use. I find that 25mm is often a bit too tight in-doors, for example. My Sigma 19mm fits those situations better (but I still rarely use it, because I don't like it). It's similar for outdoors, a 20mm lens might be better suited for casual street shooting kind of thing.

It very much depends on your personal preference and shooting style. The big advantage of Panny is it's size. It should be a good match for your E-PL6 and make it kinda pocketable. It's probably gonna be just a few mm thicker than with that fish-eye bodycap.

Can't go wrong with either

They're both very sharp

The Oly AF is slightly better (faster) than the Panny

The Panny is slightly wider thus is not as 'normal, and is a tad flatter (but larger in diameter)

Take your pick

I have both and have sold off the Panny since I use these for street photography and the Panny is just too slow of AF

Cheers,

dv312 wrote:

Can't go wrong with either

They're both very sharp

The Oly AF is slightly better (faster) than the Panny

The Panny is slightly wider thus is not as 'normal, and is a tad flatter (but larger in diameter)

Take your pick

I have both and have sold off the Panny since I use these for street photography and the Panny is just too slow of AF

Cheers,

I use the 35mm and 40mm lens a lot on my Nikon. which is closer to the 25mm on m4/3. I'm starting to wonder if it would benefit me more to save up a bit more and get the 17mm 1.8.

Or so I've read. If I didn't already have my 17.5mm or 20mm, I would gladly get the 17mm 2.8. If street is your thing, that's plenty fast enough. Many old 35mm film lenses were 'only' 2.8. And on M43 you get deeper depth of field so that 17mm will be better than the 20mm if you like to zone focus or prefocus. Sure, the 17mm 1.8 or 20mm 1.7 will be better for bokeeeeh!!! but for street shots I find myself stopping down between 2.8 to 5.6 more often than not as I'd rather have the background for context in street shots. But, if night time street shots are your thing, yeah, then by all means save up for the 17mm 1.8.

tehkei wrote:

Chippy99 wrote:

As others have said, go with the focal length you prefer.

I have the 25mm Oly and it is superb - I really cannot fault it. Optically it is outstanding. Mechanically it's plastic but still well put together with metal mount and nice smooth focus action. It focuses instantly and accurately. There is nothing to not like about it.

But... it is imho a tiny bit long for a general purpose walkabout lens. It's decent for portraits though.

The 20mm would be a better general purpose lens imho, and cropping the images to 25mm equivalent FOV is not much of a crop.

I'm leaning towards the 20mm, but I might also consider getting a 17mm 2.8. but not sure if I should wait till I can afford the 1.8 version.

I have the 25mmf1.8 and the 17mmf2.8. The 25mmf1.8 lives on on EM10 whereas the 17mmf2.8 is on my GM1.

As your EPL6 is compact(like my GM1), I'd consider pancake lenses if you want absolute compactness. I bought the 17mmf2.8 + 14mmf2.5(occasionally coupled to a 0.75x wide converter) to go with my GM1 for smallest possible setup. There were a couple of times I almost bought the 20mm to complete my pancake trio on the GM1 but the 20mm doesn't flush well on the GM1 body and I already have the 25mm for those time when I need the f1.8 aperture. If the GM1 is my only body, I'd go with the 20mm and be happy with the trio.

Edit: My GM1 + 14mm/17mm for street photography mostly.  20mm/25mm would be too narrow IMO.