Olympus PEN-F vs E-PL8 vs E-P5

I picked up a Pen-F at the last Outlet Store sale, after a fair amount of waffling. Fortunately not enough to miss out on the sale.

Prior to that, I had been using an E-P5, which I really liked overall, but had one glaring drawback for me: the EVF was an add-on, and I almost always wanted to shoot with it. So spur-of-the-moment opportunistic shots became a ballet of pulling the E-P5 out of the bag, pulling the EVF out of the bag, pulling off the covers, attaching the EVF, and stowing the covers safely in the bag, before I could shoot. And eventually, it grew very tiring. The EVF's central location was also a disadvantage for me; I always ended up with my nose pressed to the rear LCD.

The Pen-F's ergonomics are much better for me. The viewfinder is excellent; better positioned for me as a right-eye shooter, and more convenient by an order of magnitude. The dedicated exposure compensation dial took a little getting used to, but I'm starting to really like it. The primary front/rear control dials fall readily to hand.

I'm looking forward to playing with the hi-res mode; my first attempts have not been successful, but that was with a micro-'tripod' in low-light conditions, so not exactly conducive. The art mode dial has had no interest for me so far. So it's a mild win on features, but not a convincing one.

In the end, it boiled down almost completely to ergonomics. The Pen-F takes lovely pictures, but so did the E-P5. I'm happy with the decision, and the price difference was worth it for me... but in some ways, that's just an expression of how frustrated I was with the EVF situation.

I've also used a GX85 - and while it's also a great camera, it just never quite clicked with me. Quite literally; one of my biggest ergonomic issues with the camera was the rear control dial, skinny and a bit mushy. The shutter button doesn't have the same positive click as either Pen model, as well. I love the GM5 to pieces, but the GX85 just wasn't as fun to shoot with.

In the end, I suspect a lot is going to boil down to personal preference and how well the ergonomics work for you. For me, frustrating as it was to spend that difference in price for ergonomics, it removed enough pain points that it was worth it. So, if at all possible, I strongly suggest trying to find someplace where you can handle both cameras, and judge the differences for yourself. In the US, LensRentals has both the Pen-F and GX85, so you can at least rent both if no local store has them.