Does an Olympus E-5 offer any advantages over say Canon 5D II ?

Putting fanboy arguments aside there are some advantages to the E-5. They dont necessarily make the camera 'better' than the 5D but it does mean it offers something different if that's what you're looking for. In all honesty though in spec tems the E-5 is more likely to compete with the 7D and D300s rather than the 5D.

Some advantages are:-

1. Four Thirds mean focal lengths (35mm equivalent) are doubled. Handy for telephoto. (although not so good for wide angle).

2. In camera stabilisation meaning any Olympus lens is effectively an IS lens

3. Weather/environment sealing makes the E-5 a great outdoors camera (some argue the 5D is more suited to a studio)

4. It's slightly cheaper than the 5D (although not much so I dont know why people are saying you get what you pay for - it's not exactly cheap!)

So there you go. Like I said its not a 'better' camera - just different and offers different features.

Consider one thing that's true regardless of specs and what people write or say.

The fact is quality is expensive, always has been. If you pay more for a Canon lens that means it's higher quality, especially the glass. And, the glass is really what matters.

If you pay more for the camera body that means the same thing. You see what Olympus offers is

a VW and Canon offers a Porsche. Everyone know the difference in quality and everyone expects to pay more for the Porsche... but too many people who want to buy cameras don't understand that the same principle, exactly the same principle applies.

Hey, you want cheap, that's exactly what you'll get - cheap.

Nope, I really dont think the E-5 offers any advantages. The 5D mark II is more expensive, but pretty much better in every other way that I can imagine. It's not like Olympus' high quality lenses are cheap either: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ns=p_PRICE_2|...

The last sentence doesn't make any sense to me.

Anyway, it's not like good olympus glass is cheap, good glass never is.

If you want relevant advice you'll have to share with us what you're shooting now and what that does not do for you.