Olympus Announces Ultra Wide Zoom, 7-14 f/2.8 PRO Lens

One of the most notable shortcoming for the Micro Four Thirds format camera has been unavailability of high performance ultra wide zoom lens that is suitable for video shooting.  There are currently two choices; Olympus 9-18mm and Panasonic 7-14mm

Both of these lenses are fairly slow and not optimized for video recording.  Olympus announced the development of 7-14mm f/2.8.  At the first glance, it does resemble Panasonic's 7-14mm f/4, but this will be a lens in totally different league based on the spec and the quality of preceding PRO labeled lenses by Olympus.  It is also expected to be dust and splash-proof in a compact size.

So far, the only downside is the planned production time which is sometime in 2015.  It could possibly priced to be out of reach for the most potential buyers.

Personally I would like to more mid range lenses price around $300-$500.  An updated version of Oly's 9-18mm is something I hope to see in the near future.