Design

Panasonic Lumix GF2 review – Design

Small is definitely the first word that springs to mind when holding the Panasonic Lumix GF2. With the slender 14mm lens attached it can even fit into a coat pocket and it’s not actually much bigger than the Lumix LX5 compact camera. A pretty impressive feat.

Panasonic still maintains the balance of size to functionality, however, in that the body’s not too small and certainly doesn’t feel disproportioned. Although not actually smaller than Sony’s NEX series, the GF2 does come with an in-built flash unit and, as it has a smaller sensor size, its lenses are proportionally smaller too.

The one arguably erroneous update this model sees is the absence of a mode dial that, in keeping with its touchscreen ethos, is ‘adsorbed’ into the camera’s menu system. Although there’s not bags of spare space on top of the camera, it does feel that removing such a hub of control limits the immediacy of functionality that was so great about the original GF1. Though, on the plus side, the illumination of the options on the LCD screen itself does mean that finding modes in the dark is easier.

The design means that touchscreen control is relatively optional rather than essential, ensuring that button-based back ups are always available. It’s good to be able to fall back on a duality of control and the touchscreen control buttons themselves have been made larger for easier use – an improvement over the first Lumix with touch-control, the G2.

One-touch movie and iA (intelligent Auto) buttons can now be found on top of the camera, and the latter lights up blue when pressed to visually display its use.