Looking for a wide 10-12mm in Micro 4/3 recomendations

In 2019 we are planning a trip to England. Based on my experiance there in 2003 with Canon FD equipment I want equal to the view of a 24mm or wider lens.

 

As I am planning on traveling with my Olympus OM-D5 and currently only have the 14-42mm kit lens. I would like to either add a zoom that includes 10-12mm on the wide end or a prime in the same range. On the long end of things last time I took a 200mm nFD and used it exactly 3 times and this time we won't be on a river cruise on the Rhine with castles and fake railroad tunnels worth taking photos of. So I'm not worried about that end of things.

 

Not interested in a fisheye or close to a fisheye of any kind.

 

These will be "family travel photo's" nothing special I don't need the best lens in the world for this. Just something I can afford that will allow some nice interior shots of castles and churches etc.

 

SO what you guys like" or have experiance with?

I have used the Olympus 9-18mm lens and found it quite sharp, actually better than the 14-42mm kit lens at similar focal lengths. It is the least expensive super WA zoom available for M43 but it still not cheap. You may want to consider renting it for your trip instead of buying. The lens is also small and very light. Panasonic and Oly have better (more expensive, larger, & heavier) WA options but there are of course trade offs. For a long lens, the Olympus 40-150mm kit zoom is cheap (about $100), light & small, and is sharper than it has a right to be at that price. Unfortunately the only non fisheye prime is the Laowa 7.5mm lens, but its manual focus, cost about $500, and I have not yet seen anyone offer it for rent.

Considering the cost of travel, I think you would love having another zoom that i includes a fairly wide angle with a decent aperture. Me, I would look for a buy on a Panasonic Lumix 12-35 zoom. It will far exceed your expectations. Might even get one of the Mark I versions as a mint used optic. Fixed 2.8 is nice to have. Lens is well sealed and moderate size. Would go well with the camera. A thought. Zooms are the thing for me. On trips anyway. Make sure you have a little flash for the interiors where flash is not prohibited. Lots of models are on offer at all price ranges to fit the camera's TTL system. Good luck and have fun planning, as that is the fun part of travel too..gs

Well I'll be damned I just checked the only place in Oregon I could think of that MIGHT rent something not Canon or Nikon AF And holy smokes they do rent the 12-35 in both versions $90 a week. SO well within the budget compared to at 3 times that for the two weeks for buying something.

 

Thanks Ken I would not have thought about renting.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with Gerry. Don't worry about flash. You probably won't have the time or space to set it up properly. And you certainly aren't going to have a problem with either slightly noisier images or motion blur. Remember that the Olympus cameras have very good IBIS.

Lensrental has the Pany 12-35mm f2.8 for $64 a week (not including shipping and any additional insurance coverage you may want). They also have the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 for less than that, and all the super WA lenses mentioned. I can highly recommend Lensrental and the Oly 12-40mm lens, which is sitting on my EM-5 most of the time. I would agree with Karim on the use of flash in large interior spaces. I find that the EM-5's IBIS is generally reliable to around 1/10 shutter speed with short lenses (like a 12-40mm). I do not like the look of direct flash, except for fill in bright daylight conditions. Edited December 31, 2017 by Ken Katz

WOW never knew anything about Lensrental.com Yes they can certainly take care of what I need for the trip. You guys are great.