5 Things I Like About the Lumix L10, and 2 I Don't
Hands On with Panasonic's Latest Compact
It’s a heck of a camera, the Panasonic Lumix L10. It’s probably the only camera I need when on the go.
Going for a quick business trip? Toss it in the backpack.
Spending the day in the big city for street photography? Hang it around your neck.
Going on vacation with the family? No one will chide you for bringing a bunch of gear, but you’ll still get great shots.
Many reviewers like to compare the L10 to Panasonic’s popular but discontinued LX100 series. I’m not going to do that. It’s a different animal. But I will tell you some of the things that I appreciate about the L10 after weeks of use.
What I Like
Big Battery - I can shoot all day with the 16Wh/2200mAh BLK22 Lithium and still have juice when I return home. It’s serious power for a compact. And to recharge, all I need is a USB-C cable.
Crisp, Clear EVF and Fully Articulating LCD - I can hold the L10 up to my eye with one hand and shoot via the EVF, or I can raise it high over my head or down at my knees with the rotating LCD. These options encourage variety and creativity in my compositions.
LUTs and Photo Styles - If I want to shoot in monochrome, for example, I have five different B&W Photo Styles to choose from… and that’s before I even get to the LUTs. The L10 lets you customize the color (or B&W) palette so that you can shape the look of your images to match the mood of your subject.
Fast Leica Zoom Lens - On the wide end, there’s 24mm with a maximum aperture of f/1.7. Then you can zoom in to 75mm at f/2.8. I also enable Crop Zoom Mode, which provides 1.4X additional reach at 3744x2808 resolution. That takes me to 104mm with no compromise to image quality (just a few fewer pixels).
Fully Customizable Controls - I also shoot Micro Four Thirds with OM System cameras, which have very flexible controls. I’ve now set up the L10 in a similar way so I can adjust autofocus, exposure, Photo Styles, white balance, aspect ratio, aperture, and focal length without having to open a menu or futz with the LCD.
What I Would Like to Have
Two things are missing from this camera to make it the complete package for travel and street photography.
Needs Weather Sealing - This is a get-up-and-go camera. I don’t want to have to worry about a little drizzle or a few snowflakes. Weather sealing feels like a no-brainer.
Built-In Flash Please- The L10 is about the same size as my Fujifilm X100V, which has a built-in flash and a hot shoe. For a camera that doesn’t otherwise require accessories to be wonderful, it’s a shame I have to pack a Godox iT30 flash for the L10.
Final Thoughts
The Panasonic Lumix L10 is the one and only camera that most of us would need for travel, street, and scenic photography. The Micro Four Thirds sensor does a great job of working in all kinds of light, especially when combined with the fast Leica zoom and Panasonic’s latest imaging pipeline. A built-in flash would be icing on the cake, but maybe next time.
In addition to all of the practical stuff, the L10 is a fun camera. It looks good, is configurable, and produces great shots. Mine is in my backpack every day when I leave the house. I highly recommend it.
"Many reviewers like to compare the L10 to Panasonic’s popular but discontinued LX100 series. I’m not going to do that. It’s a different animal." Indeed!
Comparisons are inevitable when a new camera comes to market: it's smaller than X; it's more expensive than Y; it has more/less or this/that than Z. Sometimes the comparisons are fair, because a manufacturer has clearly targeted a competing camera or has intentionally created a successor to a previous model.
The mistake many reviewers - and even more photographers - make about the L10 is comparing it to the LX-100. There is overlap for sure, such as the same fixed zoom lens and the same travel-focused, every-day-carry ethos, but if Panasonic had intended this to be an LX100 II replacement, they would have called it an LX100 III.
What the initial and ongoing comparisons really tell isn't that buyers didn't want the L10 (as evidenced by its robust initial sales numbers); it tells us (and hopefully Panasonic) that they also want a direct replacement for the LX100 II.