Commodity prices are rising, not falling, so I would´t expect sensor prices to com down very fast in the near future. You can expect the price gap between FF and 4/3rds sensors to close a little bit from economies of scale, but no by much. Any cost savings from production efficiencies can apply equally to both formats.
That's kinda funny...how enthusiastic about
What makes you think Oly would bother to bring out such a turkey?
Why would you call it a turkey? Come to think of it, barrel distortion is not really an IQ defect, but a characteristic of the lens which in some cases is taken to an extreme to very good effect (fish eye lenses come to mind). The same could be said for vignetting, which is one characteristic that does´t bother me since I won´t be shooting this lens wide open. As for CA, well it can be corrected in SW, so while it bothers me it should´t be a problem for most people. So there you have it - as far as one can comment on a lens that isn´t on sale yet, all in all it could still be very useful to a lot of people if it is sharp.
Agreed about the risks, yet I am somewhat optimistic. Olympus has a good record of producing lower priced "standard grade" 4/3 lenses that keep cost and weight down through reducing maximum aperture, while maintaining fairly good IQ at the available apertures. Modern computerized lens design and automated manufacturing seems to make this viable. And for an UWA and with in-body stabilization, less speed and reduced shallow DOF options are not major sacrifices.
