Both a cheaper and more compact alternative to its sibling the GH2 is the GF2, and a closer competitor for the Olympus E-PL2. There’s no body-only option. It upgrades the acclaimed GF1, for a while the finest CSC available. Like Olympus, Panasonic has adopted the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach, with resolution held at 12.1 megapixels. Though not obvious, the new model is 19 per cent smaller and 7 per cent lighter and comes in a choice of funky colours: red, silver and black in the UK, white and pink elsewhere.

Panasonic claims the GF2 has a better handgrip than its predecessor, but there’s barely enough room to wrap a middle finger around it, your thumb resting on a pad at the back. This is an issue because image stabilisation is provided via attached lens only (but not if you are going for the smallest pancake lens) rather than being built into the body.

Other ‘improvements’ include the disappearance of the handy shooting mode dial on the GF1’s top plate, replaced by a touch-panel 3in, 460k-dot resolution LCD. This is utilised for shot composition and review in the absence of optional viewfinder or EVF, though the latter can be purchased separately and clips on via an accessory port at the back.

The touch screen comes into its own with the ability to bias focus and exposure to a particular subject by merely tapping it, going on to fire the shutter release with a subsequent tap. The feature can be disabled if you find yourself inadvertently taking shots. As with the same feature on the GH2, we discovered that having the option to sweep a finger across the screen rather than press a button saved time.

We didn’t notice a marked improvement over the GF1’s performance, which is to be expected as sensor and lens combos are the same. This is a quiet evolution rather than revolution. White balance is pretty accurate, but daylight images tend to look a little cool and bluish. Contrast is good and tones are generally deep, images crisp, and exposures even. In fact, little alteration is required with photos straight out of the camera, which given that the GF2 aims for a wider mass-market audience, is as it should be.