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Digitalcamerareview.com/Tech Target has posted a review of the Panasonic Lumix L10 digital SLR. The L10 is an interesting new camera, with 10 megapixel resolution, a fully articulating LCD display with live view (and contract-detection autofocus, although only with the kit lens.) Panasonic also joins the Canon/Nikon camp by offering image stabilization in the lens rather than in the body.

Oddly enough, you can’t just buy an L10 body, you have to buy it with the Leica D Vario-Elmar 14-50mm kit lens. That lens includes the MEGA OIS stabilization system and due to the smaller-than-average sensor in the Panasonic L10, that gives you a 35mm equivalent of 28-100mm. The review, unfortunately, reports less than stellar picture quality, though they aren’t sure if that’s the fault of the lens:

That said, contrast and sharpness appeared sub par straight out of the camera in both JPEG and RAW modes. Whether these image quality issues where the result of the in-camera image processing or the lens, we cannot say.

Apparently the site did not have any other Four Thirds system lenses available to try? It’s a little strange that other sites report fantastic image quality from that lens.

They also report that the camera may be a little too light to work well with heavier lenses, and that some important controls are buried in the menus and aren’t easy to get to. Unfortunately, they don’t give any details on what controls they’re talking about. And then there’s some strange stuff in the review that doesn’t make much sense:

Full-time Live View makes it easy to shoot and easy to capture images just the way you want them. It’s one of the innovative functions that distinguish the L10 from every other digital SLR camera. Unfortunately, auto focus in the Live View mode is noticeably slower than when using the standard optical viewfinder. Also, when you press the shutter button in Live View mode the camera takes a moment to flip the viewfinder mirror down, meter the scene, flip the mirror back up, and then release the shuter. This means that there is a delay between when you press the shutter button and when the image is actually taken. Bottom line, between the auto focus delay and the shutter delay, Live View mode is almost useless for action.

Emphasis added. Given that live view is extremely common these days, it’s hard to see how they can call it an innovative feature that distinguishes it from every other DSLR out there (yes, the review was just posted yesterday.) In addition, in their introduction they state that the L10 features contrast-based autofocus, which means the mirror doesn’t need to flip down to focus. It turns out that contrast-based autofocus will only work with the kit lens — which they never mention — but since they apparently only had the kit lens available for the review, they should have been able to use that for review and testing purposes.

The review also reports poor exposure results:

[...] metering results in direct sunlight were less than stellar. Exposures were accurate in dark environments or on cloudy, overcast days, but in direct sunlight the camera tends to overexpose highlights … rendering whites and light blues much lighter than they should be.

That seems like a shockingly serious deficiency for a DSLR camera. Has anyone else heard anything similar about such glaring (no pun intended) metering problems?

The bad news keeps on coming, with this report of slow and inaccurate AF:

On that note, auto focus was notably slow in both the Live View and standard shooting modes. The L10 tends to lock focus on high contrast backgrounds whenever movement is detected within the frame … making it difficult (or nearly impossible) to obtain critical focus on moving subjects.

In the end, the review is extremely mixed, which seems to make it hard to recommend the camera to anyone when there are so many cheaper digital SLRs (e.g., Canon 400D, Nikon D80) that have been getting much better reviews:

Focus speed of the L10 is sub par compared to other DSLRs and even some all-in-one fixed lens cameras are able to provide faster auto focus. True, the Live View shooting mode and 3.0fps continuous shooting performance is great, but focus issues, exposure problems in direct sunlight, and overall lack of contrast and sharpness in images leaves much to be desired. Image quality is only average among the other 10 megapixel DSLRs on the market and ISO noise levels above 400 make this camera a poor choice for shooting in low light. The full compatibility with the Four-Thirds lens standard means there are many lens options for expansion and growth of your photographic skills, and compatibility with the Panasonic and Olympus external flash units is great. Colors under artificial light or diffused sunlight are rich and accurate. Built-in image stabilization in the kit lens also ensures your images are blur free. Also, anyone upgrading from a point-and-shoot camera to a DSLR will feel right at home with the auto and scene program modes.

Bottom line, given the $1,000+ price tag and only average performance, the innovative features on the L10 might not be enough to make consumers buy this camera.

To be honest, I’m not sure how much stock I’d put in this review. Just my opinion. Best to look around for a few more to make sure you’re getting a complete picture.

Tech.co.uk has posted a hands-on preview of the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 digital SLR:

Key specifications of the DMC-L10 include a 10.1-megapixel Live MOS sensor, 3fps burst mode, all the usual focusing and shooting modes, and a 2.5-inch LCD that automatically adjusts brightness.

The Venus Engine III image processing system stays the same, and has been tweaked to work with the supplied Leica D 14-50mm lens. There’s also face detection for up to 15 faces, and intelligent ISO to measure movement of the subject/s. These technologies work together to prevent motion blur in your photos.

3 fps sounds slow after reading so many reviews of cameras like the Canon 1D Mark II, but in real life 3 fps should be enough for most people.

Panasonic is one of the first companies to really offer a compelling reason to try live view on a DSLR camera, via their fully articulated LCD screen that flips out from the camera body, and rotates around 270 degrees to let you shoot from unusual positions.

The preview doesn’t have any sample photos, since the cameras they used were pre-production, and doesn’t really offer more than just a look at the specs. So you can’t really say that they took full advantage of the hands-on opportunity to give a review offering anything new. But I’ll still link to them, just because I’m friendly that way.