Small Gem Kit lens for M 4/3

Adam, it's good to hear from another enthusiastic user of this lens.  I don't see much discussion of it, which a friend who put me on to it thinks is because it is only packaged as part of kits in North America.  Indeed, I purchased mine for $208 in January from a Japanese vendor on Amazon.  Amazingly, after I completed the purchase process on Amazon, the lens was delivered to my door here in Columbia, Missouri in about eight days!  The package even included a small amount of hard candy, presumably as a thank you for purchasing the lens.  A Japanese business custom?  I should note that mine has a metal base.  I had read that there were two versions of this lens:  one with a plastic base that I think was the one included in the kits, and the other was one with a metal base that was sold as a free-standing lens.  And the material used in the base is apparently the only difference between the two lenses.

I use the lens on my E-M5, and to my eye it looks to be exactly the size that a lens should look like on this camera.  As you note, although it isn't a pancake, it is still small and light.  And something I really like is that the most it extends anywhere in its range is one quarter of an inch (about 5 or 6mm).  I originally used the Oly 14-42R II that came with the camera, but something that always irritated me was the message to unlock the lens, something I invariably forgot to do.  That doesn't happen with this lens.  It's on when you turn on the camera.  And as far as sharpness goes, it is very sharp.  I found your comparison to the legendary Pany 14-45 especially interesting--and encouraging.  I've often been tempted by the Oly 12-40, but its size and weight just seem to defeat the size advantages of m43 cameras.  To me, the size of the Pany 14-42 MII is perfect, and I suspect the image quality in good light would be hard to distinguish from the 12-40 in a 13 x 19 print.  And for one-fifth the price!

As I said, I seldom see a discussion of this hidden gem, so your review was especially welcome and confirms many of my positive observations about it.

Al