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We clicked with:
Snazzy free-tilting screen
Live View is a quirk
Shots in the dark:
Overpriced
Only available with kit lens
It's no good at “shots in the dark”!
Noise and processing times are poor
Price Comparison:
Panasonic Lumix DMC L10
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An early signatory for the Four Thirds system, Panasonic took its time to deliver DSLR and still longer to make the first serious push into the DSLR arena. That only happened with the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10.
It follows on from the Panasonic DMC-L1 The Leica-influenced L1 is all pointy angles with all the bling factor of a brick. A great surprise then to see an apparent giant leap in the form of the Panasonic DMC-L10 - a wonderfully formed, feature-heavy, show-to-your-friends 'gadgety' DSLR. So how well does it impress?
Features
It may look much like any other DSLR in its class, but where the L10 really differs is with its snazzy 2.5” free-swivel LCD screen. In a word, that is the sell point. Stack that up with Live View and the result is instantly quirky and fun, yet simultaneously professional and useable. Of course, both these features are now sported by the Olympus E-3, and this makes us wonder if the swivel LCD will prove as much of a 'must have' as Live View has become of late.
Multiple shooting functions lead the 10megapixel Panasonic DMC-L10 to be more akin to the company's 'Intelligent Auto' compacts of late - instantly useable, but maintaining those manual options as you come to expect from a DSLR.
There's a quick access “film type” menu that's quick and easy to toggle through, and the now compulsory Supersonic Wave Filter system for blasting the dust from the sensor each time you power down.
Panasonic have gone down the Four Thirds route - the only existing universal DSLR format, where lenses and bodies are cross-compatible with any other Four Thirds component. This is perfect for being able to pick and choose between a wide range of lenses to fit the camera body of your choice. Well, so you may think - but the conpany has chosen to package the Panasonic DMC-L10 together with a Leica 14-50mm f/3.8-5.6 kit lens. So far, neither body or lens are available separately.
One area that is not standardised across the Four Thirds line-up is image stabilisation. Although in-camera IS has appeared on two Olympus bodies (the E-510 and E-3), here the IS system is lens-bound in the form of Panasonic's own MEGA OIS; possibly limiting your options when coming to buy any additional third party lenses in the future.
Operation
Ease of use is high on the priority list. It's not been left to chance that Panasonic have been pushing the marketing hard where the 'Intelligent Auto' range of compacts are concerned. The Panasonic DMC-L10 draws heavily from this by incorporating Face Detection and Intelligent ISO technology - the latter recognises movement within a scene and ups the ISO as appropriate.
Extended exposure of 0.5seconds, far too long for handheld - the in-lens Image Stabilisation holds up very well.
Setting up shot is made beautifully easy with the freely rotating 2.5” LCD screen - on an axis where it can be set into the camera as would be expected, but also positioned to the side and rotated through 270degrees. This offers an ideal viewpoint should the camera be positioned above or below when shooting - when working with a tripod this can make for some wonderfully easy shooting, the screen always comfortably facing the eye.
However, in many situations the Panasonic DMC-L10's functionality-rich screen may become a little obsolete, many opting for it to rest in camera the 'traditional' way. This invites the question as to whether it would make more sense to opt for a fixed 3” LCD as per the majority of recent DSLR on the market. Secondly, it's tricky to assume how sturdy the screen's axis is without, er, dropping the camera with the screen out - the ThinkCamera budget doesn't quite stretch that far!
While the swivel screen is ideal for setting up meticulous compositions, it's little compensation for the Panasonic DMC-L10 poor low light performance. Autofocus in particular struggles when light conditions are dim, often infinitely focusing and re-focusing to no avail. Even with the on board flash up, multiple pre-flashes just add to the confusion, frequently not assisting to grab a focal point.
Picture Quality
The Leica lens is rather nifty as far as kit lenses go - crisp and bright, with consistent colour and minimal distortion. Which potentially means the Panasonic DMC-L10 struggles to match the optical performance. Noise is a serious issue, with ISO400 and above showing clear signs of noise, so it's probably for good measure that the top offering is ISO1600.
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It doesn't stop there - any extended exposure due to low light will add prominent shadow noise to your exposure, irrelevant of the ISO setting. Processing times are slow too, especially for long exposures; a 10 second RAW exposure will take as long again to process.
ISO: 100
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Colours are notably muted where low light and long exposure is concerned, despite not being underexposed. The above is an example of colourshift in low light between ISO100 and ISO1600.
Conclusion
The price is a contentious issue, that is largely resolving itself by sheer force of discounting. At it's top-whack full retail price tag, the Panasonic DMC-L10 represents poor value for money, even factoring the snazzy swivel screen into the mix. It makes a lot more sense at its discounted price (often somewhere between £650-£700), but even here the camera struggles to remain a rival.
Bleak as this may sound, this is a good camera for some users. It's certain to keep techno gadget heads happy; the swivel screen lends itself to a variety of situations extremely well and looks rather chic. It's also a good transition camera for those who want the simplicity of a compact with the open-ended opportunities offered by a DSLR.
In some respects, this marks a good place for Four Thirds; Olympus, Leica and Panasonic combined mean there are currently six models on the market. The Panasonic DMC-L10 is arguably the weakest of the sextet, but shows the company has committed itself to the system. We expect more - and better - to follow in the footsteps of the Panasonic DMC-L10.
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