Best DSLRs for £700

Panasonic Lumix G5

The newly designed 16.05MP Live MOS chip inside the G5 is paired with an up-rated Venus Engine 7 FHD image processor that promises improved processing of images and videos, with an ISO range that now reaches ISO 12,800.

Unlike the other models here, the G5 uses a contrast-detect AF system, which promises focusing speeds as fast as 0.09sec, and also offers a host of AF options that include Multi-area, Selective single-point, Tracking and Face Detection.

Like the G3 before it, the G5 features a 3in touchscreen with Touch Control, which not only allows for adjustment of settings but also full-area touch focusing and the ability to fire the shutter by simply tapping the screen. Mounted on a hinge, the screen itself can be pulled away from the body and also rotated through 270°, while its resolution has improved over the G3, doubling from 460k dots to 920k dots here.

For more traditional composition, there's an electronic viewfinder with a 1.44m-dot resolution and a 100% field of view. On top of this, the G5 sports an eye-sensor: lift the camera up to your eye and the feed will automatically swap from the rear screen to the viewfinder.

The G5 features a large, DSLR-like handgrip that's been nicely sculptured to make it comfortable in the hand, and there's also a handy function lever that can be used to control a plethora of settings.
Even with the relatively large handgrip, the G5 is a compact package, especially if you opt for the slightly pricier 14-42mm power-zoom kit lens. Bar the odd niggle with the noticeably plastic command dial at the rear of the camera, there's little to fault with the fit and finish of the G5. It's a nicely made camera, underlined by the front which boasts a largely-aluminium construction.

Performance

The Light Speed AF inside the G5 features a drive speed of 120fps; during single-shot AF it's hard to dispute this. If you want, you can also just simply tap anywhere on the rear touchscreen, and the camera will focus. It's also possible to set-up touch shutter as well to fire the shutter at the same time.
In continuous AF, however, we found that the AF just can't quite keep up with moving subjects fast enough, particularly when they're moving towards or away from you.

Overall, the G5 is a nice camera to use and the touchscreen - while not perfect - works very well.

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