What's the deal with the newest version of the Olympus 14-42 II R in the E-P3 Kit?

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slowhands

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Olympus has announced and is shipping a new version of the 14-42 lens, called 14-42 II R. It seems to have the same specs as the second II version, but the external appearance is quite different. I can't see any real difference between the two, just looking at the specs, but the new version is the one that ships with the Olympus E-P3. I have not heard of any problems with the II version, so I'm just wondering what is new, other than cosmetics.

There were a couple of improvements in the II version that I thought were significant. It has a quieter motor, so there is less motor noise when shooting video. It is also said to focus faster. The other difference was in construction. The original version was sensitive to shutter closing vibration in shutter ranges from 1/100 to 1/200. The effect was a vertical smearing in only the top of an image. The lens was a little loose, and would shake due to shutter closing. The II version is more rigid and that problem went away.

Olympus PEN E-P1 Compact System Camera Blur - Full Review

Unfortunately they simplified the optical formula slightly, one less element, and as a side effect the close focusing distance got longer at focal lengths above 20mm. This is why the original lens had .26x magnification, the new version has .19x magnificaiton. Put another way, the close focus distance is 30 cm for focal lengths above 20mm, but is 25cm from 14-20mm focal length. That sounds minor, but if you do macro, you need to know that. The minimum working distance changes from 25cm to 30cm (8 to 10 inches) 5cm (2 inches) longer at 42mm, where you are likely to be shooting macro -- an unexpected quirk of the newer design. But the quiet motor and faster focus seem like a genuine improvement, so much so that I bought the newer lens for my old E-PL1 system.

Now this new version II R is announced, without explanation. Does anyone know why they did this?? I'm wondering if there was a bug fix, but I've heard no complaints about the old version.
 
I kept wondering why did Olympus release a new version of this lens, and I may have stumbled on the reason. The version II lens has an external bayonet mount, intended for mounting their wide angle, fisheye and macro conversion lenses. The II R does not seem to have this, judging from the pictures I have seen of this lens. So it won't mount those add on lenses.

I suspect the add on lenses were so heavy that they were causing a lot of warranty issues for Olympus, and they decided the added profit from sales of the add on lenses did not cover the warranty costs. That's just my guess, and I am open to other explanations. Perhaps they were hoist on their own bayonet.
 
I finally examined the II R version. It has the bayonet mount for the accessory lenses, hidden behind a removable dress ring. I still don't know what the differences are between the II and II R version. Olympus seldom changes a lens without some improvement, so my curiosity is still high.
 
That is good news. My wife is a realtor and uses the camera with the wide angle adaptor t shoot interior shots. Nice to know that this isn't likely going to break the lens or the camera. However, I have lost an excuse not to lend her the camera.
 
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