100-400 in spring?

Considering the squeeze from above

• Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 VR (300-750mm f/8 FF equiv. on DX)

and below

• 1 Nikkor 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 (200-810mm f/12.7-16 FF equiv.)

I can see why a MFT exec. might think this lens (200-800mm f/8-12.7 FF equiv.) would be needed.

It's a pity they couldn't get the maximum aperture at the long end down to f/5.6, especially since Nikon did.

Pricing this will be an interesting dilemma for Panasonic. With the Nikons selling for $1400 and $1000, one might expect the PanaLeica to sell for something in that range. However, since the 200-500 is the only way to get to 700m on a dSLR (or over 1000m EFL on APS-C) while retaining full AF for under $2k (just add a TC-14E III, total price $1900), I expect it to sell quite well, and Nikon should have no trouble recovering their development costs. With the smaller market share MFT has, Panasonic will probably need a higher price to avoid losing money. I'm expecting the PanaLeica to cost close to $2k. Hopefully, I'm wrong.