Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 Review
Review Date: November 2nd 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were captured using the 10M (3648 x
2736 pixels) JPEG image size option producing a file that
is around 4.5Mb in size.
Noise
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 has 5
ISO settings. There is virtually no discernible noise at
of ISO 100-400, with noise and slight blurring of detail
apparent at ISO 800, particularly in the
shadow areas. At the fastest setting of ISO 1600 image quality
has deterioated quite a lot as the camera blurs detail to
try
and hide the
noise, but it's still usable in an emergency. Here are some
100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have
been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand
image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the
camera images at the default setting are slightly soft and
benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe
Photoshop.
Alternatively you can change the in-camera sharpening level
if you don't like the default results.
RAW Format
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 enables users to capture both JPEG and RAW format
files. We've provided a few RAW samples for you to download
and evaluate.
Download
Example #1
Download
Example #2
Download
Example #3
Chromatic Aberrations
As the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 is a digital SLR, it's the Leica 14-50mm kit lens
f/3.8-5.6 kit lens that determines the amount of chromatic
aberrations, not the camera
body. This lens dealt
fantastically well with chromatic aberrations during the
review, with barely any purple fringing present around
the edges
of
objects in high-contrast situations. Here is a 100%
crop which shows the typical chromatic aberrations that you
can expect:
Macro
As the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 is a digital SLR, it's the Leica 14-50mm kit lens
f/3.8-5.6 kit lens that determines
how close you can get to the subject, not the camera body.
The first image shows how close you can get to the subject
using this lens (in this case a compact flash card). The
second image is a 100% crop.
Flash
The Panasonic
Lumix DMC-L10 has a built-in pop-up flash and a hotshoe for
an external flashgun. The flash settings on the Panasonic
Lumix DMC-L10 are Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced On,
Forced
On/Red-eye
Reduction, Slow Sync., Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction,
and Forced Off. These shots
of a white coloured wall were taken with the pop-up flash
at a distance of 1.5m. There's some vignetting apparent at
the
Leica 14-50mm
kit
lens f/3.8-5.6 kit lens' 28mm wide-angle
setting.
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Forced On - Telephoto (100mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots.
As you can see, neither the Forced On or Forced On/Red-eye
Reduction
options caused any amount of red-eye.
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Forced On
(100% Crop) |
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Forced On/Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10's maximum
shutter speed is 60 seconds and there's also a Bulb option
in the Manual shooting mode, which is excellent news if you're
interested in night photography. The shot below was taken
using a shutter
speed
of 20 seconds,
aperture of f/11 at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of
the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night
Shot (100% Crop) |
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Anti Shake
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 has an
anti-shake mechanism called Mega O.I.S, which allows you
to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other
digital
cameras without a similar system.
To test
this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the
ISO speed set to 200. The first shot was taken with anti
shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a
100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see,
with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than
with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem
to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful,
sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
Overall Image Quality
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 and Leica 14-50mm kit lens f/3.8-5.6 kit lens produced
images of very good quality during the review period. The
10 megapixel images were slightly soft straight out of the
camera at the default
sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening
in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change
the in-camera setting. The Leica lens dealt
superbly well with chromatic aberrations, with very limited
purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations.
It's not the best performing lens for macro shots though.
The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye
and adequate
exposure.
The night photograph was very good, with the maximum shutter
speed of 60 seconds allowing you to capture plenty of light.
Anti-shake is a feature that sets this camera apart from
its competitors and one that works very well when hand-holding
the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto
end of the zoom range. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 produces
noise-free images at ISO 100-400, with ISO 800 showing some
noise and blurring of detail, and the fastest speed of ISO
1600
useful as a last resort.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 have
been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.
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