Really, Panasonic, I don't understand you.
Do you really consider the new F1.7 42.5mm lens your priority?
Your priority should be giving us some reasonably fast 100-400mm lens full of ED and aspherical glass!
That is where your focus should be. Not in making duplicates of lenses that are already available on the market.
It's not a duplicate as has already been mentioned. Panasonic prioritizes video as much as they do stills. Olympus doesn't, and their lens reflects this.
Not including IS in the lens reflects a decision to include it in the body.
The Olympus lens is useless for handheld video at the type of quality Panasonic offers. It works well for tripod video but it's a limited lens.
Due to the stills oriented nature of this forum, it's clear you're not able to see the deficiencies of the existing lens. This lens from Panasonic is not a duplicate but an upgrade. Of course, you're unable to see this because the improvements are nothing you're ever going to use.
I have no idea how you draw such conclusions. It's possible to notice differences in image and video quality even without being an expert.
And, clearly, you're incapable of putting yourself in anyone else's shoes.
The fact of the matter is that both Olympus and Panasonic have numerous lenses that could do with similar upgrades (that Olympus will never provide).
Another fact of the matter is that due to Olympus' decision to prioritize IBIS over video,
Why 'over'? the video improved with every new iteration of IBIS (maybe except for the E-P5, which was advertised as having an improved IBIS (who knows if that's correct) but AFAIK didn't have improved video). I tend to think that IBIS is prioritized higher than Video, as it's a differentiating feature for Olympus, but I wouldn't say over.
they're going to run into problems in the future due to the emergence of video as an important priority for the typical consumer.
Everything I read about the new IBIS (E-M5 ii) is very positive with respect to both stills and video. To the extent that it makes the camera more appealing for non professional consumers shooting hand-held compared to Panasonic's OIS-based offers.
I don't know why you think that improved IBIS comes at the expense of poor or limited video quality. The E-M5 had the first 5-axis IBIS and an improved video over the PEN cameras, then the E-M1, and now the E-M5 ii. So what's the basis of your claim and how do you explain the improvement in the E-M5/1/5ii?
If processing power / heat is what you have in mind then it would be nice to see some evidence. In a past interview a Panasonic representative said that the company won't invest in IBIS because it's not suitable for video. Probably there was a technological barrier at the time, but now it doesn't seem to be the case, as Olympus showed that you can get good video stabilization. I think that their codecs are not up to what Panasonic has, but that's understandable. Panasonic invested much more in Video since the beginning and it has the edge in this respect. However, the bit-rate of the E-M5 ii is fine for more users, which indicates that the processing pipeline is wide enough. Improving the codecs further, to utilize the bandwidth in a better way, doesn't necessarily mean much more processing power. And anyway, we don't really know where the limit is so I wouldn't make the claims that you make.
If they can't ever figure out a way to do high end video with IBIS, they're going to be in for some hurting in the future.
I don't think that Olympus targets high end video in any event, regardless of IBIS.
Fire whoever is in charge of your lens department. Because that person has no idea what m43 users truly want.
