Connexion
Hands on with the Panasonic L10: the most exciting camera of 2026 (so far)
Introduction
 |
The L10 may have a new name, but conceptually it's a successor to the LX100 series that started in 2012.
It's built around a Four Thirds (225mm²) sensor, from which it uses up to a 182mm² region. This makes the sensor 50% larger than a Type 1 sensor and half the size of a standard APS-C chip.
It pairs this with a 24-75mm equiv. F1.7-2.8 lens. By always using a 1.1x crop of its total sensor area, it's able to maintain the same diagonal angle of view, whether you shoot 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9 aspect ratios. It also offers 1:1 capture, but this uses a crop of the 4:3 region, not a taller chunk of the sensor.
The camera comes in three colors: silver, black, and "Titanium Gold." The latter costs $100 more, and is only available from select stores, but also includes a threaded shutter button, leather strap and automatically-opening lens cap.
Updated Internals
 |
The L10 gains the BSI CMOS sensor with on-sensor phase detection from the GH7 and G9 II models, meaning it offers improved dynamic range, improved resolution and faster focus than previous LX100 models.
It also gets the latest processor from the Panasonic S1RII, meaning it has access to the latest subject recognition algorithms, which again should significantly increase the ease-of-use of the AF system*, as well as the performance boost coming from phase detection and the more powerful processor. With that said, you may still find yourself waiting on the lens occasionally; the camera takes a full two to three seconds from when you flip the power switch to when you get a preview.
Finally, the connectivity has been updated. The camera now offers 5Ghz Wi-Fi, as well as a 10Gbps USB-C port.
*Though it inherits that camera's quirk of not allowing generic autofocus tracking when you've selected a subject recognition mode.
Multi-aspect shooting
 |
Like the LX100 cameras, and many of Panasonic's previous LX models, the L10 opts for a multi-aspect design: always using a slight (1.1x) crop of its Four Thirds sensor, which allows it to deliver a series of aspect ratios, each extending out to the image circle of the lens.
This means that, unlike most cameras, you don't get a narrower diagonal angle of view if you crop away from the native aspect ratio. Instead, the L10 gives a choice of 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9 capture, while maintaining the same diagonal angle of view. This means the lens remains a true 24-75mm equivalent, regardless of which format you choose to shoot in. It also means you get the maximum resolution for all of the modes. The only exception is the camera's 1:1 mode, which is simply a crop of the 4:3 region, rather than extending up to use the full height of the sensor.
Maximum resolutions:
- 4:3 - 20.3MP
- 3:2 - 19.2MP
- 16:9 - 18.5MP
- 1:1 - 15.2MP
The downside of this approach is that you never get to use the entire sensor, so pay a slight sensor size penalty, meaning you get slightly less resolution and slightly more noise, at the whole image level. But plenty of people, including many DPReview reviewers, over the years, have found that the increased creative flexibility makes this trade-off worthwhile.
Bigger is better?
 |
It's worth noting, though, that the L10 has a new name, rather than being a Mark upgrade of the LX100 series. And while the body looks very similar, it's a distinctly larger camera. It feels sturdier and more substantial, though not necessarily more premium; the buttons and dials feel decidedly less sturdy, and the "saffiano leather-textured finish" doesn't offer a ton of grip.
We previously said the LX100 looked a lot like a smaller X100 with a zoom lens, given the similarity of the control points and their layout. The L10 is no longer smaller, matching the larger sensor camera's dimensions almost to the millimeter. However, the controls have changed somewhat, which again justifies the change of name.
On the subject of names, there was previous a Lumix DMC-L10, which was a Four Thirds system DSLR. This new camera is technically called the Lumix DC-L10. This isn't the first time we've seen camera companies run out of names and have to re-use earlier ones. Canon has made two PowerShot S100 models, 11 years apart, whereas Panasonic's previous L10 came out nearly two decades ago.
A familiar lens
 |
The lens has an ambitious F1.7-2.8 aperture range, giving an equivalent aperture range of F3.8-6.2 in full-frame terms. The lens drops away from its maximum aperture relatively quickly, hitting F1.8 as soon as you start to zoom in, and F2.0 by 27mm equiv. F2.8 is reached at 52mm equiv. and maintained to the full extent of the zoom.
The camera has an in-lens, 'leaf' shutter that can operate at up to 1/2000 sec. This maximum speed is maintained even at the brightest apertures (some leaf shutters can only deliver their maximum shutter speeds at smaller apertures, where they have less distance to travel).
This means the camera can sync with flashes all the way up to 1/2000 sec. The camera's hot shoe gives you the option to use a small flash such as the Godox iT30Pro (the 'O' version is compatible with the Olympus TTL protocol used by Panasonic), or the Godox iT32 / X5 flash/remote trigger combination. However, unlike the LX100 II, it doesn't come with an external flash in the box.
For shutter speeds above 1/2000, the L10 can use electronic shutter, which extends up to 1/32,000 sec and reads out the 4:3 mode in a relatively quick 16.7ms. This can't be used with flash but should work pretty well when you want to use a wide aperture in bright conditions, and is fast enough to avoid rolling shutter distortion on most (though not all) subjects.
Controls
 |
The L10 has a mode dial on the top plate, rather than one dedicated to shutter speed. Likewise, the thumb wheel on the corner is no longer dedicated to exposure comp, and can be customized to change ISO, aspect ratio, autofocus mode, drive mode, or to control shutter speed / aperture (depending on exposure mode).
It gains a function button at its center, that, by default, controls your JPEG color mode (unless, of course, you want to switch to the "Real Time LUT" mode, for which you'll use a dedicated button on the back), but can be set to do essentially anything in the cameras' menus.
This camera feels like its control system has been borrowed from a camera with different dials
Like the S9, this camera feels like its control system has been awkwardly borrowed from a camera with a different dial setup (which is unfortunate, as the LX100s had a pretty coherent control system). As an example, the top plate dial controls aperture in both Aperture Priority and Manual modes by default, meaning that, unless your physical aperture ring is in A mode, it doesn't do anything in those modes. (In Shutter priority mode it, more sensibly, controls shutter speed). We found ourselves needing to customize the controls before they made much sense, and even then that required using the fiddly rear-plate dial more than we'd have liked.
Somewhat disappointingly, the aspect ratio slider on the lens has been replaced by a three-position switch, which has an additional position that hands control over to the camera. By default in controls aspect ratio, but can be re-purposed to control a few other parameters: switching between a set of autofocus subject recognition modes, zoom steps, or color modes. While some, especially those disinterested in changing aspect ratio, will appreciate the change, others – including members of DPReview's staff – are sad to see the despecialization of what was once a favourite control.
Other changes
 |
The bigger body allows for the use of a much larger battery. Rather than the 7.4Wh battery used in the LX100s, the L10 gains the much larger, DMW-BLK22, which has a capacity of 15.8Wh. This powers it to an 420 shot per charge rating, measured by the CIPA standard test method, and over 1000 shots in power save mode. These are excellent figures for a relatively compact camera, and mean you're unlikely to have to worry about battery life when traveling with the camera.
Another feature adding to the camera'a size is the fully articulated rear screen. This is likely to divide audiences, as some photographers prefer a tilting screen, but we suspect most users will find it an upgrade compared with the fixed screen on the LX100 cameras. The L10's screen is a 1.84M dot panel, giving 960 x 640px resolution.
OLED viewfinder, rather than tearing-prone field-sequential finder. It's a 4:3 panel, rather than the wide 16:9 finder in the LX100 cameras, whose area was rarely used to the full. The new finder has an impressive 0.74x magnification (approaching the size of the finders in professional DSLRs), though with a relatively short 20mm eyepoint, which glasses wearers may find a little limiting.
Video specs
 |
Even though Panasonic talk about the L10 as being designed for photographers, its video specs are pretty impressive. Despite the microphone jack, there's no headphone socket for monitoring audio or an HDMI port, but the L10 is clearly a product of the company that brought us the GH series.
There's a Stills / Video / Slow & Quick switch on the back of the camera. It can shoot 4K video in either DCI or UHD aspect ratios at up to 120p, or 5.6K DCI-shaped video at up to 60p, or 4:3 'open gate' 5.2K footage at up to 60p.
The video modes make use of the same multi-aspect approach as stills modes do, so the 5.2K footage is taken from a much taller region of the sensor than the ∼17:9 5.6K video, making it tall enough to extract 2160 x 3840 (vertical 9:16 4K) crops, if you're using it to deliver both horizontal and vertical video from the same capture.
Price
 |
The L10 costs $1500 at launch, which feels like a major step up from the $999 that the LX100 II cost, back in 2019. However, it's worth noting that inflation means you'd need $1320 in modern money to buy the equivalent of a 2019 $999 camera, and the L10 is a much more capable camera, with more substantial-feeling build than its forebears.
The original LX100 developed something of a reputation for sucking dust into its sensor, in part because pocket cameras tend to be carried and used in wide, varied and challenging conditions. Panasonic said they made efforts to reduce this risk with the Mark II, and we've heard fewer complaints from users of the newer model. No further claims were made about the L10, so it's likely to be worth remembering that it's not fully sealed (it has an extending zoom, after all), but shouldn't be as susceptible as the Mk 1 was.
Wrap-up
 |
The L10 might not be as compact as the LX100s were, nor does it follow quite the same control layout, but it brings most of what we liked about those cameras and directly addresses just about all our concerns about them.
We're excited to see the launch of an enthusiast compact based on a modern sensor and a contemporary processor. We'll be using it extensively over the coming weeks to get a sense of what it does well and what it gets wrong.
We're hard at work on our initial review of the camera, and will be posting an initial batch of samples from it shortly, so stay tuned.
