Has anyone had a chance to really compare Panasonic's original :43: kit lens, the 14-45 f/3.5-5.6, with the latest version of Olympus's kit lens, the 14-42 f/3.5-5.6 II R? I'm considering picking up an E-PM1 and I have pretty much a full slate of Panny lenses - as you can see in my signature below - and I'm curious about how Oly's latest kit lens compares. Read: Should I keep the Oly lens and go to that versus the Panny whenever I'm not using a prime - at least on the E-PM1? You can't buy an E-PM1 body-only - at least not yet. I wouldn't mind experimenting with Panny's new power-zoom pancake on the E-PM1 but that's more money and, thus, for many months down the road. Any input is better than none, so thanks in advance.
I'd venture that the image quality is a wash between the two. If I were in your position, my decision would be purely financial. Sell the one that will give you more money, more quickly. Probably the Olympus, because it will be brand new, unused, and all the Olympus users in the immediate future are going to want to upgrade.
Panny 14-45 has OIS which will help a lot for video. Other than that it's bigger, heavier and I bet it focuses slower...
Here is a review between the pany and the old olympus model, I guess the performance of the new mk II would have improved Head-2-Head Reviews