[matthew]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and obvious enthusiasm for this lens; too bad that it's going to need to be replaced. Something tells me the wait will be even harder the second time around.

I imagined it would just satisfy me because it "goes wider"...yet can see already that it has the capability of changing the way I shoot if I allow it. ... I used to decry zooms as being jacks of many trades and masters of none of them, being quite cynically locked into the discipline of primes; but to be honest this is the first lens I've felt so..interested in.... and oddly enough I feel a learning curve coming on.

It's interesting to me to hear you say that. The lens that I've used that has had that effect on me, and that I frequently hear the term "learning curve" applied to, is the ultra-wide for the Olympus system. (I do most of my tech-talk on the Oly boards, naturally.) I'm really looking forward to hearing your continued experiences once take two arrives.

Now, if only Irma would hurry up and buy one for her 5D....