Panasonic Lumix LX10

A POCKET-SIZED SNAPPER FOR THE ENTHUSIAST SHOOTER.

PANASONIC HAS PULLED off a fairly impressive feat in jamming in a large 1-inch, 20.1MP sensor in the LX10’s pocket-sized frame. The company hasn’t stopped there either — it’s then gone on and packed it full of features that would suit not just a casual photographer, but the enthusiast as well, giving the LX10 excellent performance-to-size ratio. Sharp autofocus (thanks to Panasonic’s Depth from Defocus’ tech), a very responsive touchscreen, a bright but short zoom lens, and an easy-to-use interface make this little camera a joy to use. There are plenty of presets that add filters and scenes to images in-camera, which should keep beginners happy, and the comprehensive manual mode gives the enthusiast user flexibility to choose the desired settings.

In terms of image quality, there’s some amount of colour noise in JPEGs when light conditions aren’t the best, although raw image performance was always excellent. Video quality is also pretty damn good, both in 4K and 1080p, captured in 24, 25 or 30fps.

One feature it does lack, however, is a viewfinder. Instead, there’s space for a tiny pop-up flash that, admittedly, still proves handy. The LX10’s diminutive size makes it easy to carry around, but its all-metal body lacks a good grip, which does make it a tad slick in the hand. Moreover, actually handling the camera can take a bit of getting used to, given you’ll need to keep your thumbs away from the touch-sensitive 3-inch LCD display sitting snug against the back of the LX10. It also falls short on battery life, with a maximum of about 250 shots before it’ll need some more juice.

For its size, though, this is still a great little package that’s well suited to everything from travel adventures to leisurely evening walks.