bah, i figured it out. the olympus 35 to 100 has to be more complicated than lenses from other manufacturers because olympus has a telephoto flange depth . as the flange depth is 38.67 mm, anything shorter than that needs a retrofocus element (if i understand lenses properly, which i might not). that'll keep them from making a cheap 'normal' lens
the telephoto flange depth helps make edge to edge sharpness good and the vignetting well controlled (in addition to the fact that the more square 4:3 aspect ratio fits into a circle better than 3:2)
on a related note, the E-410 is a pretty darn sweet little camera. it's not all *that* much bigger than an S3 IS. but if i pick one up i figure i'll wait for the e-420, which fixes the strap lug and also gets rid of the CF and xD slots in favor of SD and a bigger battery (probably wishful thinking). and i was absolutely shocked at how small the 40-150 is. smaller than the canon 18-55 kit lens, i'd say.
