E-5 upgrade worth it?

Hello all,

3 years ago I purchased a e520 kit and took all available photography lessons at my local community college. Over the past 3 years I have purchased the Fl50 and Fl36 flash, the 70-300mm zoom lens, and the SWD 12-60mm lens. I prefer shooting landscapes, wildlife and macros during sunlight. I also do some events/parties and I have found that the FL50 on a flash bracket works just fine at ISO 400 or less.

I am a firm believer in the skill of a photographer being the majority of a shot, not the camera hardware. Often, the Canon-Nikon guys would viciously attack me with things like "you can't make money with that, buy a Nikon" etc. I have some absolutely stunning photos of some events taken with my 12-60mm, even in bright sun without any ugly eye-socket shadows etc.

Well a couple months ago a friend of mine needed a photographer for her wedding. At first I refused, I explained to her that weddings are nothing like the birds and trees that I shoot, and that I was not confident in the abilities of my camera. I finally agreed to do it as a wedding gift to her.

Her wedding was last night, I think I was more nervous than she was. I checked equipment three times and even charged all 20 of my eneloop AA's for the flash. I charged both camera batteries and carried the charger with me along with my laptop with lightroom on it.

To top it off, the ceremony took place at dusk, on a pier, with a vicious sunlight angle and reflective water. I had no room to get close to the bride and groom and had to shoot from an over hang with my 70-300 zoom, and then swap back to my 12-60 as they walked back down the aisle.

From there I moved into a DARK reception room and had to weave and bob around people, elbowing some guests out of the way. And finally, the reception room was surrounded on all 3 sides by glass walls, at night... Best I could do was bounce the flash and use a reflector to get eye sparkles, and I still have several bad shots with flash spots off the glass.

I had no idea that 4 hours of a wedding would feel like 2 days of marathon running. I was EXHAUSTED, but I felt confident that I got about 550 solid RAW shots across 3 memory cards. (I am cringing now at the processing time even on my super computer in lightroom now.) This was the first time I have ever filled up my cards and blown through all 20 of my Eneloop batteries and a camera battery.

However, I missed about 2 dozen good shots due to the 520s slow focus time in low light. Last night was the first time I have actually seen limitations on this camera for the way I use it, and I don't know that these are truly limitations, or my own novice skills. I shot the entire evening at ISO 400, since 800 gets grainy on the 520. And I adjusted a stop forward or backward to move inside/outdoors with the flash. I stayed pretty much at f5 with a couple group shots going to f7 (the groom's party had wide shoulders.)

Today I bought an E5 from Amazon, 12 months same as cash. I've been looking at this camera and the E3 before it for the last 18 months. I would like the option to do more weddings in the future, I enjoyed the process and I did capture some shots that made me stop and gasp at the LCD screen. I'm sure I don't measure up to the "professionals" out there that have been doing weddings for a long time, but I had a good start.

My question to all of you, why am I feeling a little bit of buyer's remorse right now, before I even have the camera in my hands? I keep hearing the words of a mentor of mine who uses an $8000 Nikon: "you can't make money with Olympus". What does that even mean?

Everywhere I look, Oly is disparaged by just about everyone. And when I look at a comparable Nikon, it does cost slightly less, seems to be more supported, and has much better low-light/high ISO performance.

But I have all these lenses now, and I am comfortable with the way my Oly feels. I also like the weatherproofing on the E-5. Now I can get out in the rain and snow and get better shots. I also tend to favor the underdog and side by side I prefer the sharpness and color of Oly over both the other big guys.

So what really defines a "professional photographer"? Am I doomed to have a "second best" camera? I approach any non-nature/sunlight shoot with a predisposition that I will have problems even at ISO 400, and I must compensate before the shot by choosing location and a lot of prefocusing.

I am used to that stuff, but I can't help think that maybe I should have a camera that I don't have to do "all the work" with? I guess it's too late now, I already invested another $1700 in this line of cameras, but I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts?