Decisive for the purchase was the compactness (meaning the Micro Four Thords system) compared to the alternatives of Panasonic (45-175mm, 45-200mm, let alone the 100-300mm) and the built-in stabilizer (to use Panasonic GF1 and Olympus E -PL3). In addition, it is the most affordable of these alternatives.
The focal length range of 150mm (ebtspr. 300mm KB) is perfectly adequate for everyday use. 175mm or 200mm not offer sufficient advantage (in my opinion) to justify the additional cost (45-175mm), or the extra weight and larger dimensions (45-200mm) in practice. For significantly longer focal lengths, like the 100-300mm encountered already at the limits of what is still meaningful freehand can be used due to the handling with the small camera bodies. 600mm KB are not without! (Only a few will be with a designed for compactness camera system with an unwieldy tripod on the go). In addition, the range between 45mm and 100mm is missing, so that the 100-300mm often simply been "too long", with its 100mm at the short end.
Who does not need the stabilizer, because it uses only Olympus bodysuits, would have the Olympus telephoto lenses as an alternative. Priced these are similar but there is a hint that the so-called. "Olympus Portrait Zoom Kit" at a few retailers in Germany. Content is the M.Zuiko 40-150mm, a camera bag and a memory card - to a little over half the price of the lens alone (!). No kidding, just google ...
Without stabilizer such faint lenses but to use only limited for users of Panasonic bodysuits unfortunately leads therefore no alternative to the Panasonic telephoto lenses over.
A star deduction, because the price of just 300 euros is quite high for a lens that is indeed solid, but no more than the bare minimum features (not high speed, no switch to the image stabilizer on / off - on Olympus body he is always out).
