DV Info Net - Has anyone had problems with this lens (Panny 14-50mm)?

Yes, the sticking happens. No idea if they've solved the problem on newly produced lenses. Luckily, the fix costs $0, provided you have a small philips screwdriver (which you should anyway):

1. remove the rubber zoom ring
2. remove the two metal stripes carefully
3. remove the screws which are direct in sight
4. now you can pull the front ring backwards carefully
5. you can see three more screws on the inner barrel of the lens. In my case, all these screws were loose
6. tighten the three screws - add low-strength LocTite (purple) if you like
7. re-assemble in the reverse order of the above steps

Because it sticks due to loose screws, you can usually get it to move to full zoom out by simply tilting the lens until the screws aren't causing an obstruction.

Not very difficult in the realm of lens repairs, and it's a bitchin' lens. It's my standard zoom on AF100 for quick jobs. Wonderfully sharp with gentle Leica-esque out of focus areas... at 28mm, I prefer it to my Elmarit-R 28 prime. Zoom and focus are delightfully smooth. OIS functions well. Great range, reasonably fast.

Downsides: the aforementioned loose screws, lots of plastic in the build, AF is slow enough to effectively not exist, aperture isn't constant (unless you count it as constant f3.5 with "bonus speed" on the wide end), relatively large, fully electronic focus and aperture, needs an adapter, unreasonably expensive new (although often available cheap used - especially if you find someone offloading a "broken" lens)

Despite my positive review, I'm not certain I'd get one now unless it was an exceptional deal... with the forthcoming SpeedBooster purported to work with DX lenses, the prospect of turning the mechanically and optically good Tamron 17-50/2.8 non-VC into an effective 12-35/2 is ridiculously attractive.