Lens suggestions for museums old houses and galleries

I visit a lot of old country houses, museums etc and never feel I have the right lens. If has to be fast, no flash allowed.

I tend to use the Lumix 20mm 1.7, just wondering what others use.

My cameras are Olympus e-p5 mostly with a viewfinder and Olympus M10 mark 1.

Thanks

I use 20mm F1.7 for objects in such places.

Recently I also carry 7-14mm. It requires a bit more work, but allows to capture the interiors/space too.

Great post, good question, I never seem to have the right lens for these situations, I have often considered the 20 1.7 but have been put off by reports of noisy and slow autofocus. Will be interesting to read responses, thanks for posting.

For stately homes with an E-M1.2, I normally take my 12-40mm f/2.8 and a 20mm f/1.7 and a 45mm f/1.8 because they all fit easily in my camera bag.  However, I almost always finish up using the 12-40mm only.  I can hand hold that pretty well in all but the very darkest rooms and I normally wait until there is nobody moving in the shot.

I use HDR when there are bright windows in the scene (although that doesn’t always work well hand held).

Personally I have never found the 20mm f/1.7 to be noisy or slow focusing for the subjects that shoot with it.

Miss tilly wrote:

Great post, good question, I never seem to have the right lens for these situations, I have often considered the 20 1.7 but have been put off by reports of noisy and slow autofocus. Will be interesting to read responses, thanks for posting.

You can hear the worm drive AF mech operate in very quite conditions. The AF performance is fine, it’s just an old design which doesn’t zip between extremes of focus instantly like newer lenses do.

Never had mine fail to find focus reliably on either my GM5 or my G7.

Because of the AF design, the 20mm F1.7 doesn’t support continuous AF (AFC in Panasonic Speak).

I have the 20mm F1.7 and love it, I tend to use it a lot for video in lower light interiors. I do use it in MF a lot but I'm ok with its AF most of the time that I use it.

When I had the first E-M10 Mark one I had the Sigma 19mm F2.8 on it most of the time. It was the combo I took when walking through downtown shops and farmer markets.

Lately I just use the Olympus 12-40mm F2.8. I find it meets my indoor low light picture needs but to be clear I'm using newer OM-D cameras with better IBIS than the first E-M10.

With my E-M10 III I've went through dimly lit museums with only the 14-42mm EZ and not been disappointed but its got very good IBIS which can make up quite a bit for the slower lens.

vanfred wrote:

I visit a lot of old country houses, museums etc and never feel I have the right lens. If has to be fast, no flash allowed.

I tend to use the Lumix 20mm 1.7, just wondering what others use.

My cameras are Olympus e-p5 mostly with a viewfinder and Olympus M10 mark 1.

Thanks

Although I have faster and wider, i normally travel light when visiting country houses, so normally only take the tiny cheap and feather-weight Olympus 9-18, its not fast but its more than adequate on a stabilised body.

Obviously I am more interested in the space than close ups of objects.

My preferred camera strangely enough is the Panasonic GX8, as its tilting evf easily allows me to adjust the height at which I take the photo.

vanfred wrote:

I visit a lot of old country houses, museums etc and never feel I have the right lens. If has to be fast, no flash allowed.

I tend to use the Lumix 20mm 1.7, just wondering what others use.

My cameras are Olympus e-p5 mostly with a viewfinder and Olympus M10 mark 1.

Well it depends on what you mean by not having 'the right lens'.

With a fixed focal length lens (i.e. a prime lens), you have to compose the photo to suit the focal length you are using. Generally in museums, you don't have much room to back up, so you want a wider angle lens.

Though in the larger museums you can back up, you just have to wait for a lull in the crowd so you get an unobstructed view of your subject.

I bought the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens a few years ago, and I tended to find it was too long for a lot of the indoor shots I wanted to take (mostly people shots). So I looked around. There are some main contenders for relatively cheap wider fast lenses:

• Olympus 17mm f/1.7: First of all if you are buying used, make sure you get the version with the f/1.7 aperture, and not the older f/2.8 aperture version. This lens tends to be inconsistent in terms of reviews, with some reviews claiming it to be a good lens, and some claiming it is a little soft. Note, it has a manual focus clutch ring, that when you move it into the manual focus position, it will not auto focus. So you have to get into the habit of making sure it is in the correct position. If you do want to manually focus, the focus clutch rings can be helpful. If you live in the USA, this lens often appears in the Olympus outlet page as a refurbished lens.
• Panasonic-Leica 15mm f/1.7: This lens is a bit wider than the Olympus lens, which can help. It tends to get better reviews than the Olympus lens. This lens has a ring to set the aperture, but on Olympus cameras, that ring is ignored. It tends to be a little more expensive than the Olympus lens, but I found a used copy cheaper than the Olympus refurbished price for the 17mm and picked it up. I really like this lens.
• DJI 15mm f/1.7: The drone maker DJI has some drones (Zenmuse) that use micro 4/3rds lenses, and it makes a version of the 15mm lens. Now, the conventional wisdom is it is made in the same factory as the Panasonic-Leica 15mm, but some claim that the lens coating is a bit different. If you buy it new, it tends to be more expensive than the PL-15mm, but if you search around the used sites, it is often cheaper than the PL-15mm lens.
• Sigma 16mm f/1.4: Sigma makes 3 lenses in their ART lenses for micro 4/3rds (16mm, 30mm, and 56mm). The Sigma is slightly faster (but not enough to really change the exposure characteristics). Note however, this is a big lens. It was originally built for cameras with larger sensors. So if you like the pocket sized lenses like the 20mm, this lens isn't for you. I just bought one for my E-m5 since this is one of the few lenses in the under $500 category that is splash proof, but other than taking a quick picture of my dog, I haven't used it yet. Since you don't own splash proof cameras, that aspect may not be an issue for you.
• Samyang/Rokinon manual focus 12mm f/2.0: If you are willing to manually focus, you might want to look at these lenses.
• Olympus 12mm f/2.0: The Olympus 12mm is somewhat more expensive than the 15-17mm auto focus lenses, but it is considerably wider.
• Olympus pro, Panasonic-Leica fast lenses: If you are willing to spend $1,000 or more there are other options such as the Olympus 17mm f/1.2 lens, and the Panasonic 12mm f/1.4 lens.
• Wide angle zoom lenses: The recent Panasonic 10-25mm f/1.7 lens is one solution to carrying a bag of prime lenses, but note it is a large, heavy, expensive lens.  The Panasonic 8-18mm and Olympus 7-14mm lenses can help if you need much wider photos.  Note the Panasonic 7-14mm lens tends to have purple flare issues with some Olympus cameras.  Also very wide angle lenses have certain characteristics that you have to factor into your shot.
• Fisheye lenses: These are specialized lenses.  You need to investigate whether the fisheye lens will provide the images you want.
• Olympus 45mm f/1.8 or Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7: Sometimes the issue isn't a wider lens but a longer lens.  For shooting performers from the audience, I often times find that the 45mm is better due to the distance between me and the performer.  If you are shooting JPG, Olympus cameras tend to have an option that you can bind a button to be a 2x digital zoom toggle.  I find the Olympus implementation of the 2x digital zoom to be very good, and I often use the toggle to get a quick doubling to capture far away shots.
• Macro lenses: Sometimes the issue is you want to get close to capture details, and a specialized macro lens like the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 lens can help.

Beyond that consider taking panoramas (multiple images merged together) to make a wider image. I don't shoot panoramas, but I know some of the Olympus cameras have panorama modes that can help automate the process, and you can do it manually. There are various post processing software out there that will help you build the panorama at different price points (including free).

Miss tilly wrote:

Great post, good question, I never seem to have the right lens for these situations, I have often considered the 20 1.7 but have been put off by reports of noisy and slow autofocus. Will be interesting to read responses, thanks for posting.

But for shooting in a museum, that isn't an issue.  Sure if you are doing video or trying to track fast moving kids, it is an issue.

I have sometimes used the 20mm, but the 15mm is better due to wider FOV, IMO.  And for capturing building interiors, 7-14 or 8-18.

vanfred wrote:

I visit a lot of old country houses, museums etc and never feel I have the right lens. If has to be fast, no flash allowed.

I tend to use the Lumix 20mm 1.7, just wondering what others use.

My cameras are Olympus e-p5 mostly with a viewfinder and Olympus M10 mark 1.

Thanks

I was just at the Frederic Church House, Olana, yesterday and used the Olympus 17mm f/1.8.  It was pretty dark in there and the lens worked well.  I've also used it to photograph many other homes for calendars with great results.

Here's a shot from a very dark dining room, handheld with the M1 MKII.

vanfred wrote:

I visit a lot of old country houses, museums etc and never feel I have the right lens. If has to be fast, no flash allowed.

I tend to use the Lumix 20mm 1.7, just wondering what others use.

My cameras are Olympus e-p5 mostly with a viewfinder and Olympus M10 mark 1.

It depends on the museum, what you're looking at and what the crowds (UGH) are like.

My favorite museum lens is the Voigtländer 42.5mm. Yeah, it's manual, blah blah blah… But I've found that for lower light, the extra reach across a gallery, when you can't get anywhere NEAR something and for shooting details of paintings, sculptures or small objects, it does everything I need. Not to forget it's rendering and color signature. Yes, I'll also use a wide angle when the need arises… 17.5mm and 7-14mm f4.

Following shots with GX8 and Voigtländer 42.5mm

Etruscan Museum, Rome…

Vatican Museum, Rome

Uffizi Gallery, Firenze

Guess who?

My standard museum lens, love it.

maljo

I use 1.7/20 for places you've mentioned.

20 mm FL is sufficient for almost all situations, distortion is well under control, and because subjects are always static and IS compensates handshake pretty well, almost all shots are keepers.

And not to forget that ISO could climb up to 600 that is OK to me.

Your Panny 20/1.7 has the "fast" part covered.

Add a wide angle prime or zoom for interior room views. Wide angle lenses don't need to be as fast, due to the short focal length; it's much easier to hand-hold them steady.

Your subject matter is mostly not moving, so a camera with decent body-integral image stabilization + either of the above lenses will cover you.

I was not into wide angle zooms for a shamefully long time. It seemed to me they were expensive and hardly ever useful. Then, I got my current phone, an LG G6. It has a dual lens camera, a "standard" (28mm e.) and a proper wide angle. Now, I use that darned wide angle as much as the standard! It compliments a kit zoom on a camera really well. I'm definitely going to add a wide angle lens of some sort to my µ4/3 bag as soon as I can afford it. They're so useful for crowded streets when I want to fit a big church but can't back up any more, and for crowded interiors.

vanfred wrote:

I visit a lot of old country houses, museums etc and never feel I have the right lens. If has to be fast, no flash allowed.

I tend to use the Lumix 20mm 1.7, just wondering what others use.

My cameras are Olympus e-p5 mostly with a viewfinder and Olympus M10 mark 1.

Thanks

Depends on how dark the areas are.  I'll use the 12-35 f/2.8 II or 15mm f/1.7.  Because I shoot 4K video, the shutter must be 1/40 or faster.  Thus, I often end up using the 15mm prime.  If it's just photos, the 12-35 f/2.8 II will work.

There are several ways to skin that cat. A wide aperture might be OK in some situations, whilst on others you might want a greater depth of field.

What I do is to select a shutter speed of 1/40 or 1/60. I then pic an aperture that will give me the depth of field that I want. I set the camera to auto ISO and use high speed burst to give me 10 to 20 identical pictures. Then I use Affinity to stack those images. That removes the noise. It can also remove any evidence from people walking in and out of the frame.