Spector,
Yeah true, I find the morning check more consistant. The inch in the stick between the L and F, is probably a quart, because I added 1/4 qt to the engine and the next morning the level went up about .25inch.
On this camry the filter does flow back down, but I'm just having this problem with synthetics, with regular dino oil, the oil check in the morning versus driving it hot is pretty much the same, plus the reading on the stick is much solid.
My running trips are about 35mi on the freeway, more than enough to get the oil hot. Well from what you all are saying sounds right to assume the oil level is through the morning reading. I guess some cars are a bit different than others in terms of oil readings.
With this camry the Oil capacity is so small that even a slight deviation in volume makes a difference in the stick reading. Nothing like my dad's 90's mercedes SEL that uses like 10qts, it wont be picky if you're 1/2qt low or so. German cars never seem to go cheap on oil capacity.
Sooner or later these Japanese cars will be running on a cup of oil =P