Panasonic DMC-L10

Reviewed October 2007

Introduction

The Lumix DMC-L10 is the latest dSLR creation from Panasonic, and a departure in terms of design from their last dSLR camera, the DMC-L1. The L10 has a rounded form, is compact, and somewhat reminiscent of Panasonic's FZ cameras.

Equipped with a Four Third sensor and lens mount (developed in conjunction with Olympus), the DMC-L10 has a resolution of 10 megapixel and features a 2.5-inch Live View LCD monitor. The chassis of the camera is made of a magnesium alloy, and covered in a lightly textured black plastic.

The layout of the DMC-L10's external controls is typical of an SLR. Although these are numerous, their placement allows for a good ergonomic design.

The grip is deep, with a comfortable size, and is topped by the chromed two-stage shutter release. The Front Dial is embedded just above the rubberized grip area, while the Rear Dial is on the back of the camera, at the same level, making it accessible with the thumb. These 2 dials allow for extensive control over the camera's settings, and the settings they control can be modified in the Custom menu.

A round button, placed directly behind the shutter release, controls the Film Mode:

The top right side of the camera also supports the Mode Dial which is positioned on top of two levers that pivot around the same axis: the Drive Mode lever, and the On/Off Switch.

Each time the DMC-L10 is powered on, a dust reduction system (a Supersonic Wave Filter similar to the one Olympus uses) operates, vibrating any dust off of the filter that covers the NMOS sensor. During this process, a small green LED next to the On/Off switch lights.

The Drive Mode lever has 4 positions:

• Single, captures one image each time the shutter release is pressed.
• Burst captures images at 3 frames per second (High Speed) or 2 frames per second (Low Speed) up to a maximum of 3 RAW format images or limited only by the capacity of the memory card when used with the JPEG format.
• Auto Bracket captures a series of images bracketing the camera's exposure settings by over and under exposed images. The bracketing range is ±2 EV in 1/3 EV increments and the capture order can be 0/-/+ or -/0/+ as selected in the L10's menu.
• Self Timer, with a choice of either a 10-second or 2-second delay after the shutter release has been pressed. In addition, a setting allows capturing 3 images, each at a 2-second interval, after an initial delay of 10 seconds.

The Mode Dial has 12 positions, each a capture mode:

	Auto lets the camera take charge of all capture settings, but leaves the user in control of the image size, image quality and the flash mode.
	Program lets the camera select the aperture and shutter speed, but allows the user to alter the selected combination by pressing the shutter release halfway and turing the Front Dial. All other settings are under the control of the user.
	Aperture Priority mode gives control over the lens aperture — the range of which depends on the lens used — while the camera selects the shutter speed. All other settings are under the control of the user.
	Shutter Priority mode gives the user control over the shutter speed selection, from 1/4000 second to 60 seconds, while the camera selects the aperture. All other settings are under the control of the user.
	Manual mode provides complete control over all camera settings. Set to the manual mode, the shutter speed is extended by the addition of a B (Bulb) mode that allows exposures as long as 8 minutes.
CUSTOM	Provides access to the three Custom modes which recall settings, including the shooting mode, that have been previously saved to the three registers (see the Characteristics section of the review).
SCN	The SCN position provides access to the 5 built-in scene modes of the DMC-L10. The specific mode must be selected in the camera menu (see the Characteristics section of the review): Sunset Food Baby 1 Baby 2 Pet

The last five modes on the Mode Dial are also Scene modes, but these offer more user-control than those located at the SCN position:

Night Portrait offers the following choices: Night Portrait: uses the flash to light the foreground, and a shutter speed that is sufficiently slow to capture the background. Night Scenery: captures an image with a maximum exposure time of 8 seconds. Illuminations: offers a maximum exposure time of 1.6 seconds to capture a well-lit subject at night. Creative Night Scenery: provides control over the aperture so the user can select the depth of field of the image. The camera handles the exposure time.

A single control occupies the space on the top left side of the DMC-L10: the Flash release. The flash is released manually, even when the camera is set to one of the scene modes. The flash has a synchronization speed of 1/160 second and its reach is indicated as approximately 5.5 m (18 feet) when the sensitivity is set to Auto.

The DMC-L10 is also equipped with a flash hot shoe which is dedicated to Sony flash units DMW-FL500 or DMW-FL360.

All the remaining external controls of the L10 are grouped on the back, on the right side of the 2.5-inch, 207,000 pixel LCD monitor that offers Live View.

From its closed position, the monitor can be opened 180° to the left, and rotated 90° to face the front or 90° the other way so it can be returned to the back of the camera with the screen facing out.

The Live View mode of the DMC-L10 is activated with a button on the left of the viewfinder.

The DMC-L10 provides a TTL viewfinder that shows 95% of the image that will be captured. A dial, on the right side of the exit pupil of the viewfinder allows adjusting to one's eyesight over a range of -3.0 to +1.0 [m-1].

The TTL viewfinder's exit pupil is dressed with a soft rubber eyecup that can be removed and replaced by a cap that is included with the camera. The cap is designed to prevent stray light from entering the camera during long exposures. In addition, a Magnifier Eye Cup (1.2 X magnification) is also supplied, intended for use when shooting macros.

The screen of the viewfinder contains the three AF areas available to the L10, and a small red dot lights up to indicate which AF point is active when the camera has focused; and the area metered by the centre-weighted pattern is indicated by a circle. Camera settings are shown in green on the right of the image coming from the lens:

• Aperture.
• ISO sensitivity (lights when set to other than Auto).
• Shutter speed.
• Exposure scale (±2 EV).
• Focus.
• Exposure compensation indicator when compensation is used.
• Bracketing indicator.
• Metering mode in use.
• AE-Lock.
• White Balance if other than Auto.

• Flash
• Flash exposure compensation.
• Remaining number of shots that can be captured (99 is the maximum that can be shown in the viewfinder).

A lever, to the right of the viewfinder, serves to select the Focus mode of the DMC-L10:

• AFS: Single AF focuses and maintains the focus point when the shutter is pressed halfway.
• AFC: Continuous AF, allows following a moving subject.
• MF: Manual Focus, serves to focus the lens manually using the focus ring.

A small button, labelled AEL/AFL, is fitted into the centre of the AF mode lever. The button serves to lock the exposure settings, or the focus, or both, or even as a way to perform auto focus or metering when set to do so in the menu.

As noted earlier, the Rear Dial of the DMC-L10 is embedded into the upper back of the camera so that it is easily used with the thumb. Just like the Front Dial that serves to modify the aperture, the Rear Dial serves to modify shutter speed. In playback, it can be used to magnify an image under review up to 16X or, alternatively, see captured images in index format, with 9, or 25 images per screen, or even in a calendar view.

Two buttons are aligned to the right of the monitor, just above the 4-direction control:

• The upper one, labelled, serves to put the DMC-L10 in Playback mode.
• The one below, DISPLAY and LCD MODE, controls what is shown on the monitor when the Live View mode is active and in the Playback mode, and serves as an On/Off switch for the monitor when the camera is set to a capture mode.

In capture mode, pressing the button calls up the Information Display showing the most important camera settings: capture mode, shutter speed, aperture, auto focus mode, focus mode, ISO, white balance, exposure compensation, etc. as illustrated below.

When Live View is active, pressing the button changes the information superimposed on the monitor. The quantity of data displayed varies according to what is selected to be shown in an option of the Setup menu. The default settings, however, indicate the capture mode, sensitivity, auto focus type, metering mode, film mode, battery state, image size and format, image quality, stabilizer mode, flash mode and the remaining number of shots that can be captured.

The 4-direction control below, called the Cursor buttons, is composed of five distinct buttons, four of which encircle the middle button labelledMENU/SET that serves to call up the menu of the DMC-L10 and serves to confirm selections made there.

While the four directional buttons are used to navigate both the menus and move through images in the playback mode, they also support functions when the camera is in a capture mode:

• ISO serves to select the sensitivity: Auto, Intelligent ISO, 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1600 ISO. Moreover, using the Custom menu, the upper limit of the Auto ISO mode can be set.
• serves to select the metering mode:
  • Multiple
  • Centre-weighted
  • Spot

• WB serves to set the White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Halogen (incandescent), Flash, White Set 1, White Set 2 and Manual from a range that covers from 2,500 to 10,000° K. It is also possible to tweak each of these presets, except the Auto mode, by pressing the WB again, which causes the camera to display a graphic and a cursor that can be moved to alter the colour tone of the setting.
• serves to control the auto focus. When the camera is set to use the optical TTL viewfinder, the auto focus works by phase detection and can be set to use the centre AF point, or the one on the left, or the one on the right, or all three simultaneously. While when the camera is set to the Live View mode, different choices are presented as the auto focus uses contrast detection directly with the sensor:
  • Face Detection: the auto focus detects a face on the monitor, and focuses on it, even if it is not at the centre of the frame.
  • 9-area Focusing: the auto focus finds one or more focus points using 9 AF areas that occupy most of the frame.
  • Multi Area Focusing: the auto focus uses any of 5 AF areas arranged in a cross shape around the centre of the image.
  • 3-area Focusing: the auto focus uses 3 AF areas arranged in a row at the centre of the screen
  • 1-area Focusing: the auto focus uses only the centre AF point.
  • Spot Focusing: the auto focus uses only a small area which can be moved almost anywhere in the frame using the Cursor buttons.

The last two external controls of the Lumix DMC-L10 are aligned below the Cursor buttons. The upper one, labelled FUNC, displays a short menu of options on the monitor that are presented as a row at the top of the screen, superimposed on the image:

• Picture Size: serves to select the image resolution (see the Characteristics section of the review).
• Quality: serves to select how images are recorded (RAW, JPEG or RAW+JPEG).

• O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) Mode:
  • Mode 1: stabilization operates continuously.
  • Mode 2: stabilization operates only at the moment of image capture (this is the most effective mode).
  • Mode 3: stabilization operates to compensate only vertical movements, which allows the user to pan the camera to follow a subject moving horizontally.

• ISO Sensitivity: provides the same settings as the ISO button.
• White Balance: offers the same settings as the WB button, but does not allow tweaking of the colours.
• Flash Mode: Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced On with Red-eye Reduction, Slow Sync, and Slow Sync with Red-eye Reduction.

Finally, the last button, , serves to delete one or more images when the camera is set to the Playback mode.

The Lumix DMC-L10 has an excellent, comfortable and secure in-hand feel thanks to the generous size of its grip and its rubberized surfaces. The controls are well positioned, and the camera reacts quickly to them. Moreover, the Live View system allows not only for previewing the shot, but also for focusing it, a practical feature with some subjects.

Only one thing struck us as a bit odd: the Function menu which reiterates some of the functions already offered by the Cursor buttons. Instead, a choice of alternative functions would have been useful.