Updating the original G1 Micro Four Thirds digital compact and, like its predecessor, designed to ape the shape and control layout of a digital SLR, is the G2. Available in black, red or blue it too features a tactile thin rubber body coating that aids grip and has, like the GH1 that succeeded the G1, added HD video; here, 720p recording mode in AVCHD format. As with its Olympus E-PL1 rival this feature gets its own button for one-touch operation. So too does the Intelligent Auto (iA) photography mode borrowed from Panasonic’s Lumix compacts, enabling beginners to press the iA button, then merely point and shoot.

Whereas this has the same core sensor as the Olympus it differs (and reveals its manufacturer’s consumer electronics heritage) with the addition of a 3in touch screen that can be angle-adjusted to enable a variety of creative compositions – shooting from an unusually low or high viewpoint, for example. The screen can also be flipped to face inwards for protection when inactive. An amazingly high-resolution (1,440k dot equivalent) electronic viewfinder, named a Live View Finder, sits in place of the optical variety on a standard DSLR. A further button is provided to swap the view between screen and viewfinder.

Because of its shape the G2 is not a pocket camera; it more closely resembles a bridge camera, the term given to regular compacts that previously sat between point-and-shoots and DSLRs in terms of their spec. Yet even with rechargeable battery, SD memory card and the image stabilised 14-42mm (28-84mm equivalent) kit lens attached, the G2 does feel considerably lighter than expected. So if you’ve ever been put off DSLRs by the bulk, it may be the time to re-consider.

As we’ve found with Panasonic products in the past, pictures are consistent and of better quality (with a different, more filmic look) than those usually offered by the entry-level end of the DSLR market. Auto modes work well in delivering correct exposures and, even if there’s some pixel fringing on close inspection, there’s a surprisingly high level of detail courtesy of the combination of sensor and lens, with results at ISO3200 as free of noise as those delivered at ISO1600 by competing cameras. Panasonic has even added a further ISO6400 equivalent option, bettering the G1.