All the largish high-end bodies typically handle well IMO, they've got lots of room for lots of dedicated controls. I think my D300 is great, handling wise. But it is bigger and heavier than the mFT gear, and I typically only use it these days for things where I want to use a lens that I don't have in mFT mount. Or where I want to use it when the weather is bad, because the 12-50 is the only weatherproof lens I have for mFT. Otherwise I pretty much use the E-M5, or if I want a shirt-pocket sized take-along, the E-PL5 with a small lens.

So despite the great controls on large pro/prosumer DSLRs, I really like the E-M5 and E-PL5. There's not enough real-estate to put too many more controls on, but then this makes the bodies small, so that's the tradeoff. The onscreen control panels help a lot. The E-PL5 does pretty well, it handles like an E-PL2 (the closest other thing to it that I've personally used) which wasn't too bad. If you want to stay in manual most of the time, I think the E-M5 is easier at that point. Since I use the PAS modes mostly on my E-PL5, I'm ok with it, but setting up a shot in M really isn't THAT big of hassle. But if you're shooting quickly and changing settings frequently in M, the E-M5 seems less fiddly to me.

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I have both an E-M5 and an E-PL5. They serve different purposes. The E-M5 has better controls, better EVF built in, etc. The E-PL5's IQ is nearly as good, its flip screen is more flexible, and it's so "pocketable" with my Lumix G 14-42 pancake zoom that I don't need lower-IQ P&S cameras any more. With my tiny 15mm Oly lenscap lens on the E-PL5, I can even carry it in a shirt pocket. So it's the E-M5 when I can carry a gadget bag and need more than one lens, E-PL5 as my "pocket pal" when I want quality photos without carrying any extra gear, and when my smartphone's camera isn't good enough.

The current Olympus and Panasonic bodies have very fast AF when used in AF-S, manually selected focus point. If you can anticipate the action, and keep the AF sensor area on the subject, you'll generally get in focus pictures. More random motion, where you have to depend on AF-C and camera tracking, will much less successful. The EVF presents its own challenges, because the refresh rate may not be able to keep up with the action.

FWIW, I keep some of my Nikon gear for this type of subject and also when I need on camera flash. (The TTL flash metering of the Olympus cameras has a distinct time delay, that for me, is unacceptable for people photography.)

OMD controls are about the best I've used (besides pocket cams, I've also shot XPro 1, Nikon and Canon apsc dslrs and canikon full frame. Th d700 came closest to the OMD), excepting that its a bit small. But its well thought out. The EPL5 is just a completly different camera. If you need FULL and EASY control, the OMD is better, but the EPL5 is quite nice, and you can adjust EV and one other parameter (like aperture in A mode). If that works for you, and tou really want compact, the EPL5 is sweet. IBIS is what it is. The OMD is the best in the world. I've only had my EPL5 for about a week, so I'm not sure if the IBIS is as good as the EP3, which was solid, or more like the EPM1, which created more issues than it solved.

The EPL5 (and the EPM2 for that matter) have the Olympus wireless flash capability.

What are you trying to do? I have my EM5 setup to operate just like higher Nikon bodies: shutter with thumb, aperture with finger.

I believe that comment was regarding his E-PL5, not the E-M5... which is exactly why the E-M5 would answer that complaint. :)

Yes, this is exactly what I meant about the OM-D controls as well. It's not always about having all the real-estate to add more buttons in, it's about having what you really need in the right place. All your most important controls are at your fingertips with the OM-D, although that is an admittedly cramped space.

Which is exactly why I have more Pen Minis than any other camera body. :) In fact, when the Mini first came out I felt it was just what I had envisioned from the system to begin with. The OM-D on the other hand, was exactly what I had always wanted to see in an E-System DSLR, lol. In fact, back in the day I had always said that I wanted an E-510 sized body with E-3 weather sealing, viewfinder, and dual finger/thumb control dials. Now we have all that in an even smaller body than could be imagined at the time.

Each body type has a different purpose, but the new Mini and Lites pack the most versatility and capability into the smallest body I've ever found yet in the digital era (there are others similar in size which are dearly lacking in various fields of capability). They basically do as much as any other digital camera body can do, even if some things take an extra step or two to get at.

When I said you would be a prime candidate for the OM-D, I meant as an addition to your E-PL5 and not to replace it. :)

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Ugh, the temptation to buy gear is painful! Yes, I'm seriously thinking of going all-in with M43. :)

Just last night, I switched to the opposite. Shutter on finger, as I'll usually select an aperture and stay with it for a while. It allows me to maintain a firm grip on the camera by not releasing the thumb to turn a wheel.

Regarding how you turn the knobs, have you tried turning both wheels with your index finger instead of thumb for the back, index for the front? It's a little confusing at first, because it "feels" like they're going in opposite direction, but you get used to it. I find this allows me to maintain a much more stable grip over using seperate fingers for each knob. The textured top of the rear dial make it easy to do so.