Best Prime Lens to Buy in the Format

Hello all, I am planning on getting a Panny G7 in the next few weeks. I'm going to be getting it with the 14-42 kit lens and soon after buying a telephoto. I want to get a prime lens for my camera both for better low light performance and also for a simpler and smaller package. I am looking into sub- 500 dollar primes which I feel has a good selection. What is the best prime for the job? Thanks!

Rupert The Camera Man wrote:

Hello all, I am planning on getting a Panny G7 in the next few weeks. I'm going to be getting it with the 14-42 kit lens and soon after buying a telephoto. I want to get a prime lens for my camera both for better low light performance and also for a simpler and smaller package. I am looking into sub- 500 dollar primes which I feel has a good selection. What is the best prime for the job? Thanks!

Best at that price range? It depends entirely on your preferred angle of view. I personally am a 50mm (Full Frame) fan, so I would select the Panasonic Lumix 25mm 1.4. This is a unique, special lens worth seeking out.

If you like a bit wider then I would get the Olympus 17mm 1.8 or Panasonic 20mm 1.7.  Again depends entirely on your preferences. Personally again, I like the Panasonic 20 due to the size.

At your price range you can probably pull off two lenses, buying used, such as a Panasonic 20 + Olympus 45 1.8, which is a pretty powerful little combo.

Greg

Rupert The Camera Man wrote:

Hello all, I am planning on getting a Panny G7 in the next few weeks. I'm going to be getting it with the 14-42 kit lens and soon after buying a telephoto. I want to get a prime lens for my camera both for better low light performance and also for a simpler and smaller package. I am looking into sub- 500 dollar primes which I feel has a good selection. What is the best prime for the job? Thanks!

Get two: Panasonic 42.5 f1.7 for portraits (has OIS in contrast to Oly's 45 f1.8) and a Panasonic 20mm or 25 f1.7.

Badwater wrote:

Rupert The Camera Man wrote:

Hello all, I am planning on getting a Panny G7 in the next few weeks. I'm going to be getting it with the 14-42 kit lens and soon after buying a telephoto. I want to get a prime lens for my camera both for better low light performance and also for a simpler and smaller package. I am looking into sub- 500 dollar primes which I feel has a good selection. What is the best prime for the job? Thanks!

Depends on what you're using the prime for. A 15mm f/1.7 is the ideal lens for street, indoor photography, and video. A 42.5 f/1.7 is a great portrait lens with huge bokeh ability. Both are small.

Thesw two are my constant carry kit.  I always have mu gx85 and these two lenses with me.

Rupert The Camera Man wrote:

What is the best prime for the job?

What job?

Answer that question and maybe you'll get some useful answers. As it is, you might simply throw a dice. There's really no bad primes in the system, so whatever you'll get will be at least good. Will it be useful? That's another story.

ekaton wrote:

Rupert The Camera Man wrote:

Hello all, I am planning on getting a Panny G7 in the next few weeks. I'm going to be getting it with the 14-42 kit lens and soon after buying a telephoto. I want to get a prime lens for my camera both for better low light performance and also for a simpler and smaller package. I am looking into sub- 500 dollar primes which I feel has a good selection. What is the best prime for the job? Thanks!

Get two: Panasonic 42.5 f1.7 for portraits (has OIS in contrast to Oly's 45 f1.8) and a Panasonic 20mm or 25 f1.7.

Second that!

Personally I prefer the angle of view of the 25mm f1.7 over the 20mm F1.7. The 25mm is also cheaper.

I do want a 42.5mm f1.7 for portraits, and a for particular video setup (it's the ideal length to get the entire stage of the kids school play in 4k, meaning I can crop and zoom in post).

The 25mm and the 42.5mm could probably be obtained for around your budget, but for you, you are probably best off to wait and try out what focal lengths you like, and then plan your primes around that.

As a side note, consider the 12-60mm (if you like wide angle) or 14-140mm (if you like tele) instead of the 14-42mm kit lens if you can afford either of them. They are far more versatile than the basic kit lens.

What he said.

On the wide end, the PL15 F1.7 is an excellent lens, period. But it is expensive. For much less money you can go slightly wider, a stop slower, and less sharp with the Panny 14mm F2.5. Less sharp, but with plenty of people who like it. Full disclosure, I went with the more expensive PL15.

Moving to the mid-wides, You have the 17mm F1.8 (see me note about the 2.8 below), sigma 19mm f2.8, sigma 16mm f1.4 (heavy, very high quality), and Panny 20mm f1.7. All are good lenses. The sigma 19mm is dirt cheap and while slow (f2.8) it is sharp when wide open (at 2.8 it is as sharp as anything else at 2.8).

Standards are the 25mm F1.7 and f1.8 from Panny and Olympus. General consensus online is that the Oly is slightly better, but Panny is much cheaper. PL25mm f1.4 is a great lens (I have one), but the new Sigma 30mm F1.4 is sharper. Sigma also makes a 30mm f2.8 that should not be discounted if you like slightly tighter compositions and want to save money.

On the longer end, the 42.5 f1.7 and 45mm f1.8 are excellent (I have the 45mm f1.8 and it is my second most used lens). The Sigma 60mm f2.8 give you reach that your kit lens doesn't, and while f2.8, can still provide a very shallow DoF (headshots with one eye in focus and the other out). All three are winners. The Panny 42.5 is probably the best bet for you as it has DfD (faster focusing on your body) and a more traditional "portrait" fov.

For your $500 you can have all three Sigma 2.8s, or a Panny 25mm f1.7 and a Panny 42.5m f1.7. I'd probably go the latter, as those two focal lengths make up 95% of the shooting I do.

The only lens I'd avoid is the Olympus 17mm F2.8 Pancake. I say this having owned one. It does lovely colour but handles high details terribly. Detail turns to mush. Panny 14 f2.5, Oly 17 f1.8, Sigma 19mm f2.8, or Panny 20mm f1.7 are all better choices.

Me too! 20 + 42.5 or 45. Light kit and versatile.

20/1.7 doesn't support AFF and AFC and can take a long time to focus in low light. 15/1.7 is better. And agree about 42.5/1.7 - must have.

Rupert The Camera Man wrote:

Hello all, I am planning on getting a Panny G7 in the next few weeks. I'm going to be getting it with the 14-42 kit lens and soon after buying a telephoto. I want to get a prime lens for my camera both for better low light performance and also for a simpler and smaller package. I am looking into sub- 500 dollar primes which I feel has a good selection. What is the best prime for the job? Thanks!

Unfortunately as others have mentioned, you left way too many options open.

The 75mm 1.8 by Olympus is famously sharp.

I hear great things about the 15 1.7 for panasonic.

the 30mm 1.4 and 16mm 1.4 by Sigma ALSO have great reputations.

That's as far as I know/have heard, and I will leave others to provide more suggestions and the option to agree/disagree with this

(side note: I've rented an oly 17 1.8, and I also like that lens as an option to the 15mm i mentioned above)

Dave Andrade wrote:

Unfortunately as others have mentioned, you left way too many options open.

The 75mm 1.8 by Olympus is famously sharp.

I hear great things about the 15 1.7 for panasonic.

the 30mm 1.4 and 16mm 1.4 by Sigma ALSO have great reputations.

That's as far as I know/have heard, and I will leave others to provide more suggestions and the option to agree/disagree with this

(side note: I've rented an oly 17 1.8, and I also like that lens as an option to the 15mm i mentioned above)

30 mm Sigma is really big and heavy.  I can't recommend it. Panas 25\1.4 is more preferred until you really need 30 mm not 25 mm.

Max Polonski wrote:

20/1.7 doesn't support AFF and AFC and can take a long time to focus in low light. 15/1.7 is better. And agree about 42.5/1.7 - must have.

I wanted to chime in and say that I also hadn't heard many good things about the 20mm 1,7, either.

Or, to be fair, I heard that it had a few issues, and that there were better options.

ekaton wrote:

Get two: Panasonic 42.5 f1.7 for portraits (has OIS in contrast to Oly's 45 f1.8) and a Panasonic 20mm or 25 f1.7.

I've got two of these and love em!  the 25 f1.7 i got new for $147 and the 42.5 f1.7 I got demo used for $250 i think.

My absolute favorite lens is the 42.5 f1.7

Okay so I probably was a little general in my original post. I guess what I had in mind when I originally wrote the post is a lens that would kind of simulate a cheap film camera like a disposable camera or a consumer film camera from the 70s- 2000s or so. a "Point and shoot lens" for lack of a better term. I have a lot of experience with those types of cameras from when I was younger and I think especially since I'm a beginner a familiar focal length will simplify things. I think I'm looking somewhere between the 15 and 50 mm (35 mm equiv.) focal length. Correct me if you feel I'm wrong on anything though. I plan on buying other primes but I thought it best to start with that range of lenses.