Olympus 14-150II: a great travel lens

Paul Graber wrote:

Surely the significant thing - more so than any minor difference in quality - is that if you use the Oly lens on the Panny body, you won't have any image stabilisation?

Apart from any differences in IQ--and I haven't seen any comparisons between the Panasonic and the Oly 14-150II on any of the serious lens test sites--there are two more differences between the lenses: price and weatherproofing.  The list price of the Oly in Canada is CN$600; with a $200 rebate--I bought the E-M5II at the same time--and a $50 store discount, I paid $350.  The price of the Pana from the same store, with a $150 discount, is $850--a BIG difference.  The difference in weatherproofing is that the Oly has it, whereas the Pana doesn't.  Of course this makes a difference only if the camera is weatherproofed, too.  The E-M5II is weatherproofed, but that doesn't help unless the lens is the same. None of my other m4/3 lenses have weatherproofing. With the 14-150II weather is something I don't have to worry about.

About image stabilization: this is something I thought about.  I appreciated the IS of the Pana 45-175, but the IBIS of the E-M5II is better.  I'm not a "fanboy" of Olympus or Panasonic (having owned both), and if Panasonic came out with a camera that leapfrogged over the E-M5II (or its successor in the Olympus line), I would be giving it serious consideration.  However, Panasonic has already abandoned its policy of rejecting IBIS, so a new flagship camera from them is likely to include IBIS, although perhaps not as effective as what the E-M5II has.  Anyway, I'm willing to take my chances.

Bob