Originally posted by wlachan Haven't had the chance to check out the Panasonic, but the Olympus E-P1 is a piece of well engineered product. The body feels like a solid brick and AF was faster than expected. Now where are the quality M4/3 lenses?
I dont think there will be any fast, constant aperture lenses in the near future. That said, the lens lineup for oly and panny are getting some updates this year. Panny is releasing a 100-300mm f4-5.6 w/ois, along with an 8mm fisheye and 14mm f2.8 pancake, to go along with the current 7-14mm f4, 14-45, 45-200mm and 20mm.
Oly is releasing a 9-18mm f4-5.6 which has a compact, fold down design like the 14-42mm kit lens they currently have, and also a 14-150mm which I think has a fold down design as well. I dont know if oly is releasing any new primes this year, but considering both brand lenses work on each other's cameras I would say there is a slowly growing, decent lens selection for m4/3.
Edit: the oly 14-150mm is definitely intriguing as a superzoom alternative. 65% smaller and 70% lighter than their closest standard 4/3 equivalent, the zuiko 18-180mm (which would put it at about 130 grams - maybe they mean only 70% of the weight, but I wrote it how it is in the press release, and there isnt a concrete stat sheet yet - the panny 14-140mm weighs 430g in contrast). The route oly is taking for m4/3 is distinctly different from panasonic, which makes buying even the matching focal length lenses a difficult decision (size vs. minimally better IQ)