I want value, not salesmanship Is the Olympus OM-D E-M5 possibly the best value for my dollar?

The OP posted "and I am having a hard time justifying spending this much money for a camera when, in a year or two, they will offer twice as much camera for the same amount invested."

The hyperbole in the camera reviews and the advertising hype certainly can give one the feeling everything only a year or two old is hopelessly out of date.

A camera consists of sensor chip, lenses, microprocessor, image processing software and a body to hold it all together. If you go through those items one by one and look at developments over the last few years, you will realize that we are only seeing incremental changes. A lot of really bright people have worked tremendously hard to acheive the performance levels we have today. It is very unlikely that there is going to some breakthrough anytime soon.

The post that was made earlier about older options being better values is certainly insightful. The OM-D E5 has only been out six months so it has not had its price decline yet as all cameras do. But it is a really good camera. Good enough that you are unlikely to have any regrets that would drive you to get a different camera later.