Photography

I have the og e-m10, later bought a used gx80 and a pen e-p1, both for real cheap. While the gx80 is probably now my "best" camera, it is currently collecting dust mostly, and i just kept using the e-m10.

And the e-p1, while certainly not up to date, i just love that one as a a walk around camera. Feels a lot smaller slimmer than the gx80 too, and i was already thinking if i should buy a newer of those pen style cameras. Maybe an e-p3 😆. Bought both those cameras from an ebay type platform.

I did not give the gx80 its fair chance yet (as in use it a lot for a while), but i would recommend the pen style oly's, they're fun, just miss the viewfinder, which the gx80 has. But somehow it does not feel as fun to me.

any experience or advice on which is best

Depends a lot what you want to with it, aka where you will 'walk around' with your camera ;)

And also it depends a lot how you like to take pictures, and what is your level of expertise.

I've quit photography almost completely (I'm sketching now) but was mostly doing street and wildlife. The last camera I ever purchased was an used OM-d 5 MK II (I would have to get it out of the closet to be sure of the exact model, the one that's weather-sealed but not top of the line from 2015 or 2016) and I could not be happier. It was to the point that I stopped being interested in new gear.

(for context: I have been using almost anything you can think of since the late 70s, from your standard 35mm to large format chambers, from fully automatic cameras to full manual ones with nothing but the sunny 16 (not even a portable light-meter). And I started fiddling with digital starting in the late 90s)

Yeah:

• Lightweight and not bulky. Those two things alone make it a blessing if you carry the camera all day long on the streets, and even more so when hiking in the wilderness.
• Edit: It's also much less intrusive than a bulky DSLR for street. And a tad less of a thieve magnet than, say, a Leica.
• Image stabilization works great.
• Fully articulated screen is so useful in so many situations.
• Silent (if you want it to be).
• Excellent lenses. Even basic kit lenses are decent (unlike so many other brands kit lenses). I mean they're not amazing but anyone should be able to use the 14-42 from Olympus or from Panasonic and get decent shots. Which is great considering how cheap they can be found used. Much better lenses will be, well, much better but it's hard to beat the 14-42 price used (I paid something like 25€ for the first one I got, and got a second one new for free by someone that refused to use nothing but the most expensive lenses to take snapshots (which was more than by me). Not my favorite lens by any means but one I would never hesitate to pick in many common situations.
• Very niche, but this OM camera has a very usable focus stacking mode.
• Did I mention it was so fucking not bulky with great image quality (given enough light)?
• Edit: dirt cheap, used.

BTW, I also own a Lumix GH5 that I mostly use(d) for video. It's great for that but I prefer the OM for photography.

Meh:

• Poor low light perfs compared to larger sensors. I never cared that much about my images being noisier I cared a lot more about my gear being too bulky and too heavy to easily carry around ;)
• In-lens stabilization doesn't work between Lumix<>Olympus (depending the type of photos, it will work wonder within each specific brand) but the in camera does work cross-brands.
• Weak battery life. I carried 2 spares on a standard day, to be on the safe side. Still less than the 4 I used to carry with my Fuji X100 and the 6 or 8 I had to carry with the now long forgotten but still beloved Epson RD-1s.
• Menus are a mess. It's even worse with the Olympus than with the Pana but one gets used to them and since one seldom need to access more than handful of those menus. Plus, all buttons are configurable for quick access to whatever you often use.

I think a GX7/GX80 etc would be fairly much what you’re after. I have a GX9 and it does everything you’ve asked for, though is possibly slightly more than you want to pay - I paid £440 I think. The GX8 was a departure from the formula that made these cameras so special, but the 7/80/85 are all the same body layout. The 85 is pretty close to the GX9, but with a fixed EVF as opposed to tilting, 16mp as opposed to 20, and a few less bells and whistles. I chose to save a little more to get the GX9 and don’t regret that at all, it’s a fantastic camera, but if you could try out an 85, you may find the it’s what you’re after. Hope that helps