Suggestions needed: Olympus OM-D with 12-50mm or Panasonic Leica 45mm Macro lens?

[MarkHerm]

Hi!
I plan to upgrade my underwater photography kit from a Panasonic LX3 to an OM-D setup (Nauticam housing). I pretty much decided on the Panaonic 8mm Fisheye with the Nauticam dome but I am unsure what to buy additionally.
I see two different options at the moment which are about the same price range
1) I could buy the Panasonic/Leica 45mm Macro lens with a standard flat port or
2) I could get the port and zoom gear for the Olympus 12-50mm which I got anyways.

Both options cost almost the same as the port and gear for the 12-50mm is quite expensive. Option 1) would probably give better (closer) macro shots while option 2) seems to be more versatile as a i-don't-know-what-I-am-going-to-see lens with some macro capabilities (an additional diopter could be added later on though).

What would you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

If you chose the 12-50 it will not be as good as a macro lens on the 50 end and it will not be as good as a wide angle lens on the 12mm end. What it will do as you said is give a range like a compact camera that will cover many subjects. The idea of going with an interchangeable lens camera is to interchange the lenses. If you are hard core macro I would go with the 45 macro or wait to see How much it will be to outfit with the Olympus 60 macro coming soon.

Phil Rudin