Can I start panning after orbiting without re-pressing the middle mouse button? Is there an addon or setting, that allows for smooth transition between zoom/pan/orbit? 

What I mean is that if you push the middle mouse button you can orbit, but in order to pan you have to let loose of the middle mousebutton, press shift and press middle mouse button again, same for ctrl to zoom.

Is there an addon or setting that detects a shift keypress while in orbit mode and allows you to switch to pan without you having to let go of the middle mousebutton and goes back to orbit if you let loose of the shift key or switch to the ctrl key for zoom?

I am new to blender, and this would go a long way of healing my nose after the crash against the rightclicking edit mode wall.

Thanks!
Sorry for necro-ing an old post. But it came up top in my google search of &quot;blender pan mid orbit&quot; so I thought I would share for others.
I come from Sketchup and is very used to not releasing the middle mouse button while switching between pan and orbit.
@Gerald's answer pointed me towards the right direction.

In rotate view, add a shortcut to switch to move on left shift
In pan view, add a shortcut to switch to rotate on release of left shift