Generally however the level of detail captured is very good.

As a knowledgeable amateur photographer my dream camera will be a 5" X 4" X 1/8" frameless camera with super hi resolution detachable wireless LCD display, 36 Megapixel extreme low light sensor, 18 to 480 zoom lens which does not extend beyond the body of the camera through it's full range, full resolution Raw shooting of 20-30.

Granted my 5D is a bit dated now, but it's still pro quality full frame DSLR and better than 80% of all DSLR's out there.

Headline features include an image stabilised 5x optical zoom with a focal range equivalent to 28-140mm, and a relatively large 1/1.7-inch CCD sensor - smaller than the APS-C sized chip in a DSLR but large for a compact – providing 10 million pixels.

I can take square pics or wide angle.

Another 28mm equivalent wide angle shot, here with Vivid 'My Colors' mode selected to add punch to the blues and greens of the landscape.

The little aperture/shutter speed adjust dial by your thumb is small, but works great considering it is almost invisible.

Full auto is always a welcome feature when conditions dictate, but the ability to easily shoot in aperture and speed priority is in my mind the most important.

grey. Whilst this may seem like a frippery to some, the core headline features are a modest sounding 10.1 megapixels yet from a larger than average 11.3MP, 1/1.63-inch CCD, a wide-angle focal range the equivalent of 24-90mm in 35mm old money, or a 3.8x optical zoom - equally modest in these 'travel zoom' times but adequate - plus a 3-inch LCD bestowed with 460k dot resolution.

Its very easy to use, takes the best photos of any camera I have every purchased (of the compacts) and the battery is still FULL after 280 photos !! You can always tell when you zoom in or crop and find excellent image quality even at 1/5th size.

I needed a compact camera for everyday use as my DSLR and the equipments are quite heavy to carry around, so I did some research and tested various compact cameras and 4/3 systems cameras, and decided to get this leica camera as it has the best combination of size, build quality, picture quality, and zoom range.

I bought the G12 because my "serious" bag with the 30D and all the heavy lenses and flashes has grown too big and expensive for travel and everyday tasks, not to mention intimidating to others.