Olympus Announces M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 EZ

"Olympus has announced a new 12 - 50 mm Micro Four Thirds lens with some interesting features."

Interesting barely describes it for me. Bizarre is more apt for me. A lens that has pro features like weathersealing (which something the PEN series lacks; perhaps Olympus will have a higher grade PEN camera in the near-future?), coupled with decidedly consumer features like a power zoom and a rather small aperture that becomes even smaller rather quickly at the longer end of the zoom. While the power zoom mechanism can be disabled, I am still wondering why it is even there in the first place. It makes sense on the compact lenses like the Panasonic 14-42 zoom which is aimed at the compact camera upgrader, but this, I am left a little befuddled. Ships in January for US$500. More details at the read link.