Last thing: the part you were quoting is from this interview of Mario Giacomelli, one of the most important Italian photographers ever. You can enjoy the whole text here: http://www.horvatland.com/pages/entrevues/03-giacomelli-en_en.htm

Massimo

I understand you. But with digital we cannot just put a new film into our older cameras. So maybe digital is a bit different.

Sure, Roger can decide to use all possible focal lenghts. My point is that I believe that there is generally a preference that emerges naturally along the years and that is linked to the way every single person sees the world. Similary there is a physical relationship btw the photographer and the camera that has nothing to do with the absolute IQ or speedy AF, has to do with the way every single person feels the tool he’s using.

Mario Giacomelli used to say: “I don’t know about other people’s cameras. Mine is a thing I had cobbled up, it holds together with tape and is always losing parts. All I need to set is the distance and that other thing – what do you call that other thing? I’m not a fan of mechanics. I have had this camera, still the same one, since I started taking photos. It has lived with me, shared many moments of my existence, both good and bad. If I ever lost it… well, the very idea of having to live without it pulls at my heart.”

So here the logical, sequential, data oriented approach, mixed with some money consideration could be seriously tampered by a simple concept: ‘the tool I feel can make me represent the world the way I see it’.

Sorry for being so phylosophic but I think these aspects are equally important in steering a decision.

Massimo

Restricting is good but if Roger wants also to shoot wildlife (a desire I understand) you need long glass. I would be fine from 28mm – 200mm and like to use zooms.

Really nice sequence of posts. Interesting, for me, that your photographic needs spreads from 14 to 400mm. After many years of photography I ended up to naturally “restrict” myself to a sort of “wide angle” zone, from 17mm to 50mm, just using primes on Canon or on (relatively) old Rollei 6003 (and recently Fuji X). Of course I fully respect your needs, but to me, so diverse focal lengths hide a bit the photographer personality and “signature”.
I would suggest you to get the system that you feel more confortable with. To me, the results is also a matter of of physical relationship with the camera. Given your tendency to choose btw the top models, I think that the relationship you have with the camera/lens you’ll be using will be more important then some technical glitches or downsides that every system would inevitably have.
Less is alway more.

Looking forward for your final choice,

Massimo

I was in a similar situation like you, but sort of the other way round: I used to work as a part time professional landscape, documentary and travel photographer and have built up a Canon system over the years (5D II & lenses reaching from the Zeiss 21/2.8 to the Canon 300/4 IS + Converter).
But times are changing and I’m actually a dad now. Quit the photo job almost completely, concentrated on my other career which allowed me more regular working hours. And my subjects naturally changed to ‘portraiture of small human beings’.
So I needed sth. much smaller to take with me on day family trips and vacations. I opted for the OM-D (see how it all comes together?) and to keep it small, I went exclusively for primes (12/2.0, 20/1.7, 45/1.8 – ok, I couldn’t let off the 75/1.8, too). What can I say? It’s great! It’s a mini DSLR with a full set of lenses which fits into a small hip bag (the bag is actually made for a single 70-200/2.8 zoom).
So: Size advantage: Check! Good enough image quality: Check! Similar to DSLR control interface & responsiveness: Check!
But still: I never would let go my FF set and from time to time I have lots of fun using FF 1.4 lenses which does make a difference if you’re used to m4/3 1.8 depth of field. And for sure, one day or another in the coming years, I’ll be back on some travels, shooting landscapes and documentary professional again – not too often, but it will happen.
Long statement made short: I’m really happy to own sth. of both worlds and that’s why you may want to keep both systems.

Sorry for the ‘longish’ post, maybe it gets some thoughts running.

Markus

Good summary. I have the Gh3 and D800 and think the same. The images from the D800 are great but I can live what I get from the GH3 most of the time.