Yes, this is a silly question, they are quite different from each other.
Having a new OMD-E5 which came with the 12-50 kit lens.
I've since bought a 60mm Macro (Haven't had much time to master this).
and a 75mm 1.8 which I think is amazingly fast and sharp, but has limited use as far as what exactly to use it for.
I was thinking about a Olympus 17mm 1.8 or 12mm 2.0? (very different prices, different uses) What is the better lens and which is more useful, faster focusing and sharper (Yes, it depends on what the use is, so lets say general "walk around and shoot lens").
Thanks for any responses.
Mitch
Unrelated Extra credit question: I understand that stabilization is in the body on the OMD, and Lens on the Panasonic's, does this present a problem?
Like you say, very different lenses. The 12mm f/2 is pretty much flawless. It's a great lens for landscapes and even night skies due to the fast f/2 minimum aperture.
I just bought the 17mm f/1.8 for use on my E-PM2. Some reviews have been leaning negative but for a walk-around, general lens this thing is excellent. I took it back country skiing last weekend just to try it out. There's some PF but nothing LR couldn't fix with one or two clicks.
If I could only pick one lens between these two it would probably have to be the 17mm because I love the 34mm (equiv) length for versatility but I'm glad I can have both of 'em!
Bonus question: Not really. You can turn off the OIS on a Panasonic and the OM-D will take over. The newest Oly bodies have a setting to either default to IBIS or OIS, whichever you choose.
(and even when I used to use a Pany 45-200 on an E-PL2, shots turned out fine even if I forgot to turn off the lens' OIS)
On the OMD, if the the Panasonic lens has an OIS switch, you'll need to turn one of the IS systems off, or you'll get blurry images. Since the Om-Ds IS is so good, I generally turn off the lens IS. If the lens doesn't have a switch, the camera will select one or the other. I believe default is to use the IBIS.
17 all the way for general walkabout. The 17 is in many ways the lens I wish I had several years ago when I had my G1 (now I shoot NEX, and the ZA 24/1.8 lives on my NEX-7. That pretty much matches the FoV of the 17/1.8 on m43).
