20mm Panny vs. 17mm Oly

If you can wait a little bit (was supposed to be out in November) and can handle the extra $80, then the new Panasonic 14mm/f2.5 may be the best choice for you.

 

I had the 17mm for a while and now have the 20mm. Both are suitable for what you describe - I think that the 17 focussed a bit faster (and was a bit quieter). OTOH, it's also less light-sensitive, so a higher ASA is needed. These days, when I need a wider FOV, I use the 14-42; it's a remarkable lens; I only wish it were a stop faster throughout.

 

If you're indoors at bars, parties, etc that extra stop of light gathering will be critical IMHO.

20/1.7 FTW

 

DJ,
I have both and use both as anything longer is to long for me.
The 20 is contrastier and somewhat sharper than the 17. The 17 has better color separation and a very Summicron kind of contrast.
The FOV is already understood.
The 17 focuses faster on the Pens. Not much faster but faster.
I don't go out without both. If I had to choose the 17 would win only due to FOV.

I am not saying that either lens is better. They both due the job very well.
That's the reason I have both. The new 14 will be in my pocket soon enough but will not replace anything. It will just make the 6 mm spread between lenses more manageable.

 

DJ, correct you are. 6mm is the world.
At a party, 6mm is a blessing, especially in a 20x20' or smaller room!

 

That is what I would like to know too. It is tough choice because I want the lens for the same indoor low light purpose. But I am conflicted with faster shutter speed vs FOV.

 

Whatever you don't have at the time is the one you will want.  

With the advent of the Panny 14/2.5 I would not eliminate that from the discussion.

Even though I have the 20/1.7 if I could only have one lens, I would probably get the 17/2.8. The FOV would win out over the speed bu a nose.

Part of my strategy was I would get the 20/1.7 now and add the Panny 14/2.5 later (next year).

 

See here's the thing. The decision should be made on FOV. I'm not saying speed etc isn't important because it is. The real issue is the way you see.

Get the lens that see's the way you see, naturally. Software and camera setup will take care of the rest.
For me...it's the 17 as this is as close as I can get to 35mm on 35mm.
So, it's a natural spacing to 20mm and then to 14mm. I have the 20 and will get the 14 almost immediately.

Youse should look at your favorite images in your organizing software. Then choose 30 that you like the most.
Then, check the exif data and see what focal length the images are and pay attention to the most often used. Then you now have a temporary Natural FOV.

That's the lens you should seek out. The software will correct for speed etc.

 

I agree, too many nowadays get fixated on lens speed, rather than field of view. When it comes to shooting in cramped conditions, you can't 'zoom with your feet', so having a wider field of view means you're more to get the full picture. The 17mm is plenty fast in dim conditions and the camera will make up for things with ISO etc.

Cheers

Ray

 

I'm sitting in my 12'x16' office, and at 11' back can see the entire 12' wall through the 20/1.7. To be clear, I'm not saying get the 20/1.7 solely because it's fast. I'm saying there is a range of focal lengths that will work for you, among them, I would choose the 20 because it has many things going for it - sharpness, speed, etc.

Panasonic says the angle of view is 57*, so sounds about right. If you're trying to take a "portrait" of a group of people, I can't think of many situations where they are spread wider than you can get back from them.

Now, if you're trying to take in the entire room with your back to the wall, I can see where going wider would make sense, but distortion is going to be more of a problem - where is the balance point between a nice rectilinear image with balanced proportions and angle of view?

Much easier to stitch a panorama than try and get someone's nose back to fitting on their face

 

Hey all,
I want to know whether the max aperture can open to 1.7 when 20mm was mounted on the ep1. Someone told me there has been a firm bug for ep1 so that max aperture could only be 2.8. Is that ture?

 

Not aware of the bug - my Pana 20mm (thanks BBW!) certainly does f1.7 on my EP1.

Lovely lens.

 

For me, the FOV is too close to worry about. The f-stop difference is not.

 

I don't own the 20mm lens, but I've tried it on my E-P1 in several shops. I have many photographs of cameras on shelves as a result, and I can confirm that f/1.7 is indeed perfectly possible.

 

You're welcome, I hope you enjoy the lens. I think you'll find it plenty fast enough for lower light shooting indoors, at least I did when paired with my E-PL1. The saving grace here is the E-PL1 takes pretty decent photos in the 400 to 800 ISO range.....

 

funnily enough i have taken shots at two indoor night time parties this past 5 months, and the panasonic shots came out way better. not only was the focus heaps faster (due to it's light gathering ability making it easier to pick up contrast) but it didn't need non-handheld speeds to take the shots, it also allowed me to use lower iso.
yeh, the fov is a bit more limited, but for me it more than paid off not having to use flash and having a higher percentage of shots in focus - and in focus more quickly.