I should know better than to visit the forums at dpReview. It's a "gear" forum and people talk about cameras and lenses and sing their praises or curse their faults.

Someone recently bought an E-P3 and was asking about the results they were seeing, specifically with regard to "noise."

This person has the camera. Their first impression wasn't a great one. They wanted to know if they had a defective camera. Rather than investigate that, have a conversation about the strengths and weaknesses of the E-P3, there were people immediately telling her that the camera was rubbish, and they should return it and instead by a camera with a later sensor.

I normally ignore that sort of thing, but I guess I was weak that day, because I engaged.

To make a long story short, (130+ replies, though I'm only 3 of them.). She's decided her camera isn't defective and is likely to continue to work with it.

But in the process, I was doing some research on that generation of 12MP Panasonic LiveMOS sensor. I was looking at my own images, Flickr and watching YouTube videos.

And I decided I needed a mirrorless camera with that sensor. The E-620 that I don't need has that sensor. But, you know, it's not mirrorless. And I have way more lenses for micro-four thirds than I do four thirds.

So, inevitably, I went to the auction site and I have an Olympus E-PM1 on its way from Japan. The E-PM1 was my first mirrorless (interchangeable lens) camera. I'd had an E-520 and an E-30 four thirds DSLRs before that, but micro four thirds was the new hotness, and I wanted a low-cost introduction. I waited until the E-PM1 came out, foregoing the E-PL1 and E-PL2 in the interim. Although I didn't care for the sound of the shutter, I loved the images it made. (Ephemeral, ghostly bits though they are.)

I don't know what it is about me and cameras, or "stuff" in general (radios, calculators), but here I go again. I'm not too worked up about it. I know I'll enjoy it.

Also, 72°F outside. Oy.