I am a keen photographer that does a lot of travelling. I currently have an old Canon DSLR that is well past its retirement age and a Nikon "super zoom" compact which is fine but lacks flexibility / manual options.

I have been looking at Compact System cameras but am overwhelmed by the choice and options. Does anyone have any options or suggestion as to which makes and models are worth looking at and also whether they really are a serious alternative to DSLRs?

When I need a new camera I usually spend time at dpreview.com.

I currently have a Nikon S9100, but have decided I need something with more user controls. I was very happy with my previous Lumix Panasonic, though.

I too was very happy with my Lumix until someone stole it in Ecuador!! Will check out that site. Thanks Thursdaysd

I have an Olympus PEN (Micro 4/3) which is lightweight and compact for an interchangeable lens camera.

The upside is that there is less dust contamination from the zoom lenses sucking in dust to the camera body.

The downside is that when you want to get in to some dedicated wide angle and long zoom lenses you are still into some serious cash.

If you have a nice stock of Canon lenses then I would just look at a new back.

If it wasn't for the dust issue, I would happily keep buying Panasonic Lumix compact cameras. Maybe I should just buy a new one every year?

You can probably get a good deal on the Olympus OMD EM5 m4/3s camera right now, as a newer model just came out. I own one, and except for photographing very fast action it's every bit the equal of any DSLR, but 1/3 the weight.