Trying to Choose New Camera and Lenses: Sony NEX vs Olympus OM-D

I think either system would do fine to be honest, and I'd go with the one that smiles to you when you handle it. I'd add the Fuji X system to the decision too for good measure.

For portraiture all have good options. m4/3 has the 45mm f/1.8 and the 75mm f/1.8. Both good lenses. The 45mm is a lacking for some in the DoF control department for this kind of lens, but there's a faster lens (43mm f/1.2 I believe) from Panasonic in development. The 75mm is a stellar performer.

The NEX has the 50mm f/1.8 as its short tele, and it renders beautifully. There are currently no native options for the long portrait primes but there's a medium telephoto prime on the roadmap for this year. The rumor is it's an 85mm f/1.8 which would do nicely for me. Add the LA-EA2 and you can use the Sony 85mm f/2.8. I own it, and can vouch for it, it's nice and sharp from wide open, with excellent bokeh. With the LA-EA2 you also have access to the 85mm f/1.4 Zeiss lens; it's expensive, but it's one of the best in the business.

The NEX system seems to be heading the way of full frame sensors which attracts me. Something like the 85mm Zeiss on a high resolution full-frame sensor could potentially be zoomed over the range of portrait focal lengths just by cropping the sensor, effectively becoming an f/1.4 portrait zoom with prime lens optical quality.

The Fuji system has few lenses, but they have been very well chosen and are excellent optically. They have the 60mm f/2.4 macro right now and the 56mm f/1.4 portrait prime is due this year ought to be an excellent lens. If you shoot JPG IMHO the Fujis are hard to beat. The colors are enviable presumably due to years of experience making film, and the JPG engine turns out very high quality stuff from what I've seen.

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"The only thing that gets in the way of a really good photograph, is the camera"
Norman Parkinson