What's a good 20mm-30mm lens?

[Cory Braun]

I'm looking for a good lens between 20mm and 30mm so I can have a good medium lens. I don't care about the autofocus or how light the pancake panasonic 20mm lens is, so I feel like I could get a different lens for much less. I don't need the extra features, I just want a good sharp lens, with good contrast, and color. I'm looking for something less than $400 or maybe a little more but obviously the less expensive the better. Any help is appreciated.

 

[thisisapocalypse]

Are you looking for a zoom or a prime? Do you need good low light performance? Do you currently have any adapters for third party lenses (i.e. Canon FD, Nikon)?

A Canon FD 28mm f/2.8 goes for virtually nothing on eBay and is a good lens, and f/2.8 is decently fast. These usually sell for $50 or less on eBay.

The Canon FD 24mm f/2.8 goes for more, but it's wider and probably a slightly better optical performer than the 28mm. These usually sell for $100 or less on eBay.

Those are your inexpensive options. They are manual focus with manual apertures and you'll need an adapter.

The Canon FD 20mm f/2.8 is very good and usually goes for about $200 on eBay.

If you need faster lenses I'd still stay with Canon FDs.

There are f/2 versions of both the 28mm and 24mm that are very good, and usually sell for about $200 or less on eBay.

There is an f/1.4 L version of the 24mm, but it is rare and quite expensive, price depends on condition but they can range from $500-1000.

For zooms, there are two Canon FD zooms that come to mind. The 24-35 f/3.5 L and the 20-35 f/3.5 L - both are good lenses, price is all over the map but the 24-35 definitely sells for less because of its limited zoom range - I'm sure you could find one if you watch for a while in the $300 range.

My honest opinion, however, is that if you need something f/2 or faster, the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake is a great value for the money, yeah, it's small and light, but that's not it's only selling point - a 20mm at f/1.7 is a darn fast lens and you won't find anything faster than that at 20mm in an older prime...period, only recently did Sigma come out with a 20mm f/1.8 lens, and I believe that's the fastest 20mm lens for traditional 35mm SLRs - the Panasonic is one of the fastest 20mm lenses ever produced outside of the super fast Zeiss Cinema Primes, and even those don't get much faster than f/1.7...plus with the Panasonic you get autofocus, it's very sharp, etc., while I understand that AF and weight are not your primary concerns, they are net positives and you never know when it might come in handy. It may seem expensive at $400, but that's actually, in my opinion, a remarkable price for what is arguably one of the best and fastest 20mm lenses ever made which also happens to be super light and has autofocus.

The Olympus 17mm f/2.8 in m4/3 mount is also not to be overlooked - it's close to your 20mm range, it's relatively fast at f/2.8 and sells for about $279.

 

[mojo43]

Lot's of info, nice response thisisapocalypse !!

 

[Cory Braun]

Thanks for the response. Yea, I should have been more specific.

Are you looking for a zoom or a prime? Do you need good low light performance? Do you currently have any adapters for third party lenses (i.e. Canon FD, Nikon)?

I am looking for a prime and the faster the better. I currently have a Nikon adapter and a Nikon 28mm f/2.8 E Series (along with other lenses) but I'm not very pleased with the 28mm that I have.

A Canon FD 28mm f/2.8 goes for virtually nothing on eBay and is a good lens, and f/2.8 is decently fast. These usually sell for $50 or less on eBay.

The Canon FD 24mm f/2.8 goes for more, but it's wider and probably a slightly better optical performer than the 28mm. These usually sell for $100 or less on eBay.

Those are your inexpensive options. They are manual focus with manual apertures and you'll need an adapter.

The Canon FD 20mm f/2.8 is very good and usually goes for about $200 on eBay.

If you need faster lenses I'd still stay with Canon FDs.

There are f/2 versions of both the 28mm and 24mm that are very good, and usually sell for about $200 or less on eBay.

There is an f/1.4 L version of the 24mm, but it is rare and quite expensive, price depends on condition but they can range from $500-1000.

Do you have any recommendations for Nikon lenses?

For zooms, there are two Canon FD zooms that come to mind. The 24-35 f/3.5 L and the 20-35 f/3.5 L - both are good lenses, price is all over the map but the 24-35 definitely sells for less because of its limited zoom range - I'm sure you could find one if you watch for a while in the $300 range.

My honest opinion, however, is that if you need something f/2 or faster, the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake is a great value for the money, yeah, it's small and light, but that's not it's only selling point - a 20mm at f/1.7 is a darn fast lens and you won't find anything faster than that at 20mm in an older prime...period, only recently did Sigma come out with a 20mm f/1.8 lens, and I believe that's the fastest 20mm lens for traditional 35mm SLRs - the Panasonic is one of the fastest 20mm lenses ever produced outside of the super fast Zeiss Cinema Primes, and even those don't get much faster than f/1.7...plus with the Panasonic you get autofocus, it's very sharp, etc., while I understand that AF and weight are not your primary concerns, they are net positives and you never know when it might come in handy. It may seem expensive at $400, but that's actually, in my opinion, a remarkable price for what is arguably one of the best and fastest 20mm lenses ever made which also happens to be super light and has autofocus.

One other thing I am concerned with about the Panasonic lens is that it seems that the f stops and focus is all controlled electronically, so will this mean it won't work if I switch away from Panasonic? Also, there's always the chance that Panasonic's future dSLRs won't work with it. If I get a Nikon prime and end up switching to the 7D it will still work as long as I get an adapter. That's a huge concern for me, because I'd hate to invest $400 in a lens that only works with this one camera.

The Olympus 17mm f/2.8 in m4/3 mount is also not to be overlooked - it's close to your 20mm range, it's relatively fast at f/2.8 and sells for about $279.

I'll check out the Oylmpus, thanks.

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

 

[D90GH1_eric]

"Do you have any recommendations for Nikon lenses?"

What is wrong with the 28/2.8 E lens? In the 20-30 mm range, Nikon only has f2.8 lenses, such as the 24/2.8 and the 20/2.8. Since I don't know why you don't like the 28/2.8, it is hard for me to say which one of these would work for you, except for their obvious differences in fl. I have the AFD version of the 24/2.8. Once I have the Panasonic 20/1.7, I no longer find the 24/2.8 useful b/c of the relatively slowness, weight, and distortion. It is hard to find any lens in the 20-30mm without distortion while distortion of the 20/1.7 is corrected by software and the outcome is truelly remarkable. I think you are wasting time looking for alternatives that simply won't work as well as the 20/1.7 on the GH1.

"I'll check out the Oylmpus, thanks."

Neither the CA nor the distortion of this lens will be corrected by GH1 and it is not as sharp in the corner as the 20/1.7. dpreview has reviewed both lenses and you should really start from there.

 

[thisisapocalypse]

One other thing I am concerned with about the Panasonic lens is that it seems that the f stops and focus is all controlled electronically, so will this mean it won't work if I switch away from Panasonic? Also, there's always the chance that Panasonic's future dSLRs won't work with it. If I get a Nikon prime and end up switching to the 7D it will still work as long as I get an adapter. That's a huge concern for me, because I'd hate to invest $400 in a lens that only works with this one camera.

That's a very fair point and good to know - it's pretty unlikely that you'd be able to use the Panasonic lens on any other camera, unless it's got an m4/3 mount, and as you observe, there is just know way to know what the future of the m4/3 mount is going to look like.

If you're looking for something that you can later use on the Canon 7D, then you probably do want to look at Nikon primes, Contax primes and Rollei QBM mount primes (and I think there are a few others), these mounts would work well with the Eos mount + adapters.

There are 28mm f/2.8 Zeiss lenses for both Contax and Rollei QBM mounts and they usually don't go for too insane a price - there is a 28mm f/2 available too, but it's quite expensive as its a fairly famous lens. There are 25mm and 21mm Zeiss lenses in Contax and Rollei mounts too...but they are usually quite expensive and aren't super fast. There's a great Zeiss 18mm f/4 lens, but again, very expensive and not super fast.

I can't speak so much to the Nikons as I'm much less familiar with their offerings, but I'm sure someone else on here can give you more of the lowdown on the Nikon offerings.

Thanks for clarifying your other reasons and concerns for the Panasonic 20mm lens - those are totally valid - although I think if you have a project that calls for a GH1 and a 20mm lens, you probably can't do better than that combination, it's really a matter of whether or not you make money doing this and whether or not you are comfortable investing in a lens that may have a limited usable life - but who knows...the m4/3 mount is very cool and hopefully it will stick around for a long time.