I sympathize. I absolutely hated carrying my D700 everywhere. But when I did, the camera always delivered. Focus was never an issue. Standard exposure never left me with unrecoverable blown highlights or clipped shadows. I did not miss shots waiting for the camera to start up or trying to change some important option in one of a dozen menus.

With Olympus m4/3, it's never as simple as raising the camera to your face and shooting. I miss a lot more shots. But on the other hand, I do carry the m4/3 camera a LOT more often. So that's the tradeoff.

To be fair, they have gradually been addressing many of my key objections. The current m4/3 are a lot faster than the older ones. But whether they'll ever quite get there I have no idea.

DH

Sigh. Not again. It's really very simple. NO camera system does it all perfectly. Except for a few people living in fantasy land, everyone using m43 acknowledges that current MILCs simply aren't ideal for shooting action. That you were surprised by this surprises me.

Optical VF "really" is better? Really? How about when you're shooting in light that meters at EV -1 and you can barely see your hand in front of your face? I bet you'll wish for an EVF or LCD live view then. Again, no technology is better for everything. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses.

Whatever system you're using, you need to learn to adapt to its strengths and weaknesses. And you need to choose a system that matches your needs. I use my m43 system much more than my EOS system. But if I'm shooting sports or other action, the EOS comes out. A MF back on a Hasselblad isn't a very good sports camera either, but that wouldn't lead me to say my EOS is /better/ than a 'blad. And my GH2 with 14-140 is dramatically better than a 7D with 18-200 zoom for walk around or travel photography.

Pick the right tool for the right job. My old US inch standard wrenches don't work so good for my Japanese motorcycle, so I have a bunch of metric tools. But you know what? Those metric tools don't work so good on my American made lawn mower.

That's what I love about the GH2. I almost never need to use the menus in normal shooting.

If you want to have 3 or more different camera platforms, that's fine. I don't. In the past I also had Hassys and did all my own darkroom work (color and BW). I am no longer interested in having a collection of cameras. I want one camera and a couple of lenses now but it needs to be able to do everything I want it to do. A DSLR can though I prefer the EP3 /lens size. So that's where I am with all this at the moment.

A couple of thngs here: First, it sounds like you may have dumped the D7000 a bit early, after only a month with your E-P3. Now, you had one good experience with the D80 - which we're happy you had, by the way - and you're thinking of dumping micro four thirds. I don't mean to be unkind, but do you notice a pattern here?

As others have said, many of us shoot with both micro four thirds and traditional DSLRs - there are times and places for both. But there is good news: I think your desire for a single, smaller system to do it all will be satisfied in only a few more years. Another generation or two of development for predictive/tracking auto focus and sensor technology should do it. Already, the Oly OM-D is very close and who knows what the Panny GH3 will be like. Micro four thirds is only 3-4 years old and look how far it's come. Can you imagine what will happen in only another 2-3 years?

In the meantime, keep and use your micro four-thirds gear - ditto for the D80 and any lenses you have for it when it's appropriate to do so. And let the system of your dreams come to you. It's going to happen - it might not be perfect but it'll be close enough.

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Panasonic G5 and Panasonic GX1, Lumix 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6, Lumix 45-150mm f/4-5.6, Lumix 100-300mm f/4-5.6, Lumix 14mm f/2.5, Lumix 20mm f/1.7

Olympus E-PM2, Zuiko 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6, Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R, Zuiko 14-150mm f/4.0-5.6, Zuiko 40-150 f/4.0-5.6 R, Zuiko 15mm body-cap lens, Zuiko 17mm f/1.8, Zuiko 45mm f/1.8

Neither do I...with Olympus' Super Control Panel, especially with the touch screen, it gives me more than 20 "buttons" of settings I can change.

The only times I go into the Oly menu is to format a card, turn on/off wireless flash mode, or reset the camera to one of the MySets.

I realize that this is an OLy forum and therefore any criticism of the product is offensive to some. But, at the same time, it seems to me to be valuable to express views of things that are not quite what one may have hoped them to be or issues that some reviewers may have not noticed or failed to test because it wasn't an important item to them.

Nothing I read about the EP3 led me to believe it would have trouble with action focus. It wasn't until after I bought it that I discovered soft/out of focus shots. I then found this site and posted about it in one of my first posts.

Did I sell the D7000 too soon? Not really - I still don't want to carry a DSLR around anymore. As others have noted, I guess I'll eventually get comfortable with the way the EP3 works but it sure seems to be taking a whole lot longer than it should for such a simple thing as a camera... :)

This is so ironic. I've had a D200, D300, D700 and D7000 bodies and some wonderful lenses at one point. I ventured into the Sony NEX-5N for a bit as well with several competent lenses. The Sony did a fine job on IQ but couldn't catch a moving subject if it's life depended on it as it was dog slow in the AF department. The Nikons ALL nailed whatever I aimed them at. For a bit a few years ago when the PL-1 came out I grabbed one and a few nice Panny lenses. It produced wonderful files that printed easily to 13x19 all day long. But once again it was NO speed machine.

When the OMD was announced I was curious but not much more. I figured it would bring with it all the typical foibles of the Mft format (I also owned and sold off a GH-2 and G3). I had the opportunity to work with one live at a dealer for a few hours and was smitten. Gone was the plugged shadows, lack of focus lock speed, chancy build quality and more. It had the build I wanted, the instant focus lock I wanted and had the +'s without any of the former issues I'd run into with other Mft cameras. Now 3 weeks into ownership I can safely say my having sold off all my D7000 and NEX-5N gear was NOT a mistake. This bad boy delivers.

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Olympus OMD-E-M5 with HLD-6, 12-50mm zoom, 75-300 zoom, 45mm f1.8 prime, FL-600R Flash

Yes...it would be nice if m43 MILCs could replace current DSLRs for all purposes...they may, depending on your personal needs...for me, they don't, now, but they do offer, in some other areas that are important to me, decisive advantages. So...$adly...I think I can currently justify both.

No, Olympus menus are pretty bad compared to Canon and Nikon. Things are sometimes organized strangely and wording isn't always self-explanatory even for experienced users. The use of on-demand additional info via the Info button helps, but they could do with some renaming work to make the Info button less necessary.

Then again I don't find myself going into the menu for any regular shooting settings. Maybe you consider the Super Control Panel (SCP) a menu since it doesn't involve direct buttons? While I would also like a bit more direct control of some settings via buttons, I'm able to control most through the available buttons and dials. In Aperture Priority mode where I normally live I can set all the basic settings directly without going into the SCP--aperture, exposure compensation, ISO (mapped to Fn. 2), and AF point. That's not to say that I wouldn't like to be able to access other settings directly like IS, AF mode, drive mode, metering, etc., but the SCP puts those 1 extra button press away which to me isn't too terrible. Still, more buttons please!

Continuous AF is one of those things that doesn't get much testing even by the big review sites, therefore it's something that's not so easy to research. On the other hand it is and has been one of the main weaknesses of all mirrorless systems including m4/3, and as such has been discussed a lot in various forums so there's a lot of info out there just slightly off the beaten path.

Different strokes. I got used to my E-P1 pretty quickly after I started using it coming from 6 years of Canon DSLR use at the time, but no camera fits every person out there. Even on the DSLR side I see all the time where Canon users can't come to grips with Nikon ergonomics and vice versa despite (or because of? :)) the plethora of buttons and dials. I hope you get comfortable with your camera because it really is fun to use once you do.

If you are invested in photography, the camera type makes a difference. No camera is perfect, but will influence the way you work and the outcome. It has nothing to do with what you are familiar with, although with a new camera I do need a breaking in period with which to figure it out. I have used more camera types than you can shake a stick at. Not one is good for everything.

The biggest problem I have found it how do you get a camera system that is easy to transport as well as easy to use. Those are not the same things. m4/3 is great to carry around, but I do not find it optimal for shooting. So my answer is I have two systems. The m4/3 is a compact system that supplements my primary system. That is my answer, others have found a different solution.