Camera Labs

I have an e500 with the standard kit lenses (14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 & 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5). Neither of these are very useful for indoor/nighttime photography. I'm trying to see how much I should plan on spending for a faster lens of decent quality. Any suggestions which lenses I should look into, and how much I should expect to pay?

The best way to get a good low light boost with an affordable lens is a prime. You have many to choose from.

the 50mm F2 is said to be one of the finest lenses we have, and indeed it is a phenomenal quality lens and is a stop and a half faster than anything you have.
Problem for me is that 50mm is a bit too narrow for me; this focal length is not the most flexible for Olympus users.

The next option is the 25mm F2.8 pancake.
Its cheap, its fast[er], and its tiny. Quality is generally considered good, albeit not anywhere near the level of the 50mm. However the focal length is equivalent to human vision and is thus very useful.
F2.8 however is only about 2/3 a stop faster than F3.5

Theres also a Panasonic 25mm F1.4 but its nearly 1000 dollars

And then theres two Sigma primes made for us. IIRC one of them is a 25mm F1.8 and the other is 30mm F1.4 and theyre both just over 400 dollars when new.

I own the latter of those two, the 30mm F1.4 so obviously thats the one I will recommend to you because given your situation, thats the one I chose.

F1.4 is VERY fast. The lens is decent quality, about what you'd expect from your kit lenses as it is. The HSM motor moves the focus quickly, however it does hunt for focus time and again but with an F of 1.4 thats to be expected.

Basically it doesnt get much faster than F1.4 [not for Olympus at least] so if thats not fast enough, then you're pretty much SOL.

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E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

Hello shikari, and welcome to the friendly Camera Labs forum!
To enjoy your stay here please have a look at the house-rules!
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Atomics advice is very sound: get the Sigma 30/1.4!

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

I took a look at all these options a little while back and also hit upon the Sigma 30mm 1.4 lens as the best option. It has a great feeling build quality.

I guess another option, if you don't mind having autofocus, is to get an OM to 4/3 adapter ring, and then pick up an old OM series lens, something like their 50mm 1.4 sells pretty cheap on ebay. Of course, then you have a much narrower field of view (b/c of the 2x multiplication factor) and you don't have auto focus. But you can also pick up all that stuff probably for less than 100 bucks on ebay.

My reccomendation? The sigma 30mm 1.4 or the oly 25mm 2.8. Emphasis on the sigma.

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NO CAMERA RIGHT NOW
but I have a good tripod?
Support: Feisol 3402n with Kirk Bh-3
http://picasaweb.google.com/davemortimer

The adapter is a good idea, however I went with an M42 mount adapter instead of the OM. M42 has a much broader selection of VERY high quality lenses as it was a Universal mount and actually is to my knowledge the only Legacy mount for which lenses are still made in any significant numbers.

I have for the M42 mount a Zenit 58mm F2 lens [Awesome portrait lens] and a Ricoh [sears badged] 55mm F1.4


Of course, these lenses would have to be manual focus only, which is a problem with smaller viewfinders.

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E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

Problem with the 50/f2 is that it doesn't auto focus very well in low light situations. It starts hunting and it becomes a drag (literally). If you can get a focus, the f2 apperture is definitely helpful. By what I hear, the 12-60 is probably one of the better lens is achieving AF in low light situations. The 25/f2.8 is a little bit better than the 50/f2 when auto focusing in low light situations. But not much better.

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Olympus E620 | 25/2.8 | 50/2 | 12-60 | 14-42 | 14-54 | 40-150 | 70-300
Olympus E-P2 | Panasonic GH2 | 20/1.7 | 14-42 | 14-140
Leica M7 | M9 | 21/4 | 35/1.4 | 50/2.5 | 50/1.5 | 70/2.5 | 90/2
Sony NEX-3 | 16/2.8| 18-55
My FlickR!

The 12-60 hunts in low light too.

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E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

I've had more positive results on the e520 by switching from the 3 point autofocus to the center point focus. I find that my 12-60 hunts less in center focus mode.

_________________
NO CAMERA RIGHT NOW
but I have a good tripod?
Support: Feisol 3402n with Kirk Bh-3
http://picasaweb.google.com/davemortimer

Good advice for any lens really, even on my E3 I just use single autofocus, and its always center.

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E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

Me too for the E620. I don't use the 7 point AF.

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Olympus E620 | 25/2.8 | 50/2 | 12-60 | 14-42 | 14-54 | 40-150 | 70-300
Olympus E-P2 | Panasonic GH2 | 20/1.7 | 14-42 | 14-140
Leica M7 | M9 | 21/4 | 35/1.4 | 50/2.5 | 50/1.5 | 70/2.5 | 90/2
Sony NEX-3 | 16/2.8| 18-55
My FlickR!

Moving to the centre point for auto focus has been the single biggest improvement for my low light shooting. Also I have found my 40-150 lens hunts far less than the 14-42. Not sure if others have found the same.

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E-620 14-42/3.5-4.6 & 40-150/4.0-5.6 each with Hoya UV filters, Hoya polarizing filter, 4 gig 300X Lexar CF card, 2X 2 gig Olympus M+ xD.