wide lens for m43

[gollux]

I've been meaning to get a wide-angle lens, but I'm tied in knots about the decision. I've read through a ton of threads with advice about the various options, but I'd be grateful for any comments about my own case.


I have the Panasonic 20mm, the Olympus 60mm, and the Olympus 40-150mm, but the obvious gap is at the wide end. I have a trip to Europe coming up, so I'd like to experiment with a wide lens in town squares and other tight spaces.


Initially I had settled on the Olympus 9-18mm. I considered the Panasonic 7-14, but for me the gains in image quality didn't seem to be worth the extra size and weight.


Then I thought the Olympus 12mm might be a good compromise. I would lose the extra width offered by the 9-18mm, but the 12mm offered excellent image quality in a compact package. Plus, because I intend to use the lens for shooting interiors, the speed of the 12mm would be a real advantage.


Then I read more about the Olympus 12-40mm Pro. It matches the 12mm prime at the widest, and (according to some) its image quality is essentially equivalent. It's not as fast as the 12mm, and it's bulky, but now I'm thinking that the versatility and quality of the lens would make it worth lugging around.


The price difference between the 12mm and the 12-40mm doesn't seem that great, so that's not a factor. Any thoughts?

[WorkingClassHero]

I've just bought some Olympus gear as a lighter weight alternative to FF Canon I've been using the last 5 years. I got the 12-40mm Pro essentially as a replacement for my Canon 24-105L and have been very happy with the results so far. Excellent sharpness, colour and contrast, even shooting wide open. I also have a mate who uses the 12mm prime for underwater shooting and loves it.

So both great lenses. If I was working mostly outdoors I'd go with the 12-40mm, if you're going to do a lot of interior work where you cant use a tripod, maybe the 12mm prime is better.

[bconolly]

Yeah the 12-40 is a cracker. On my em-1 90% of the time. The flexibility is really handy from wide ish to portraits. The size of the primes is hard to argue with though. Good luck with the decision!

Brenden

[Virgil]

I can also vouch for the 12-40 Pro. Use it mostly on my GH5 very sharp and quick focusing. The manual focus clutch is also a great design for quick changes between auto and manual focus.

I also use a canon 24-70 2.8 II on my canon gear and I don't miss it when using my Olympus lens.

[stevyrob]

Laowa make a nice manual focus 7.5mm for MFT