E-M5 fun and frustration at the same time

Not necessarily - it's a matter of interpretation.

"Showing signs of wear optically" could be interpreted in either of the following two ways:

1. The lens is starting to look worn (what I imagine the OP meant)

2. The lens is starting to perform worse, optically, than when it was first purchased

I agree, however, that 'optically' is not a good choice of words here since it's ambiguous in when describing a lens, and on a forum discussing camera gear, doubly so.

tex