I bought an Olympus DSLR system because of this particular Olympus 50-200 lens. With this lens, I was able to get excellent shots of many subjects. I was initially using a Canon DSLR system before purchasing the Olympus system. I was fine with the Canon lenses and system but this Olympus lens is what made me switch from Canon to Olympus. The lens is amazingly compact and small compared to the massive Canon 70-200 lens. The best part is that this lens can be used in many different situations including dim light interior. The fast and constant f/2 aperture is a godsend. I highly recommend this lens for anyone wanting to get sharp and contrasty pictures. When you combine this lens with the fantastic Olympus 12-60 lens, you will pretty much get what every photographers are looking for which is excellent image quality. I think this lens is worth the price.
Currently, I can say that the Olympus 14-42mm Micro Four Thirds is the best kit lens. The optical power on this lens is the one that actually attracted me most. The Olympus 14-42mm Micro Four Thirds has very many outstanding characteristics like; very good vignetting control, superb distortion control, very good chromatic aberration control, superb sharpness on the centre (at any focal length and aperture), good sharpness on the borders, extremely fast, accurate and silent autofocus performance and most importantly it is very cheap. Also, its lightweight and compactness characteristics are wonderful. At the first focal length, a slight barrel distortion is visible (this is a common problem to kit lenses). At the third focal length, it is reduced significantly and at its last focal length it can be ignored. According to Olympus Lens Review, vignetting and chromatic aberration can be ignored on this lens since they are not visible at any focal length or aperture. Also, the focus ring and zoom ring are very responsive.