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Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 Performance


Timing and Performance

Average speed in normal shooting mode, rather slow with Live View contrast-detect AF mode enabled.

Startup/Shutdown
Power on
to first shot
1.0 second
Time it takes for camera to turn on. (A bit on the slow side for an SLR.)
Shutdown
1.9 seconds
How long it takes to turn off. (Again, a little slow for an SLR.)
Buffer clearing time
Large Fine JPEG
4 seconds
(after 4 LF JPEGs)
Worst case buffer clearing time. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card. Some cameras won't shut down until the buffer is cleared. (*See note about memory card speed at bottom of cycle time table below.)
Buffer clearing time
Small Normal JPEG
1 second
(after 20 SN JPEGs)
Buffer clearing time
RAW
4 seconds
(after 3 RAW frames)

Startup and shut-down times are below average for an SLR. Buffer clearing time depends on the image size and quality, burst length and how fast the card can be written to.

 

Mode switching
Play to Record,
first shot
0.8 second
Time until first shot is captured.
Record to play
1.0 second
Time to display a large/fine file immediately after capture.
Display
recorded image
0.6 second
Time to display a large/fine file already on the memory card.

Mode switching is also a bit on the slow side for an SLR.

 

Shutter response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus
Wide angle
Optical Viewfinder
0.23 second
Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture using optical viewfinder with kit lens zoomed to full wide angle.
Full Autofocus
Telephoto
Optical Viewfinder
0.26 second
Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture using optical viewfinder with kit lens zoomed to full telephoto.
Full Autofocus
with Flash
Optical Viewfinder
0.41 second
Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture using optical viewfinder with flash enabled.
Full Autofocus
Live View
Phase-difference AF
0.42 second
Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, using Live View phase-difference (mirror-down), center area AF mode.
Full Autofocus
Live View
Contrast-detect
1-Area AF
1.69 seconds
Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, using Live View contrast-detect (mirror-up), 1-area AF mode.
Full Autofocus
Live View
Contrast-detect
9-Area AF
1.78 seconds
Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, using Live View contrast-detect (mirror-up), 9-area AF mode.
Prefocused
Optical Viewfinder
0.099 second
Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.
Continuous AF
Optical Viewfinder
0.31 second
This mode usually shows no speed increase with our static subject; we have no way to measure performance with moving subjects.
Manual focus
Optical Viewfinder
0.26 second
For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".

The Panasonic DMC-L10's AF performance is about average these days for a consumer DSLR. Using the optical viewfinder results in full AF shutter lag ranging between 0.23 and 0.26 second, depending on zoom position. Shutter lag drops down to 0.099 second when prefocused, which is slightly above average. AF performance in Live View mode using phase-difference AF is pretty good at 0.42 second (a significant improvement over the L1's 0.67s lag in this mode), but the contrast-detect mode adds a lot of shutter delay. Plan on using it only when you need the extra AF features offered by that mode, or for focus checking on scenes with relatively static subjects.

 

Cycle time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode
Large Fine JPEG
0.87 second
Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.
Single Shot mode
Small Normal JPEG
0.85 second
Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.
Single Shot mode
RAW
1.22 seconds
Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.
Single Shot mode
Large Fine JPEG
Live View
Phase-difference AF
1.08 seconds
Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.
Single Shot mode
Large Fine JPEG
Live View
Contrast-detect AF
2.72 seconds
Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.
Early shutter
penalty?
No
Some cameras refuse to snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous mode
Large Fine JPEG
0.33 second (3.00 frames per second);
4 frames total;
4 seconds to clear
Time per shot, averaged over 4 shots, then slows to average of 0.60 seconds or 1.67 frames per second.
Continuous mode
Small Normal JPEG
0.33 second (3.00 frames per second);
20 frames total;
1 second to clear
Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, or buffer depth, whichever came first.
Continuous mode
RAW
0.36 second (2.82 frames per second);
3 frames total;
4 seconds to clear
Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, or buffer depth, whichever came first.
Flash recycling
4 seconds
Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a Kingston Ultimate 133x SD memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode.

Cycle time performance is a bit below average these days, especially the 3 frames-per-second burst length of only 4 Large Fine JPEG frames, or 3 RAW frames. Live View mode, especially with contrast-detect AF enabled, slows cycle times considerably. Flash recycling after a full power shot is quite fast at 4 seconds, though the flash is a bit weaker than those of most SLRs that we test.

 

Download speed
Windows Computer, USB 2.0
592 KBytes/sec
Typical Values:
Less than 600=USB 1.1;
600-770=USB 2.0 Low;
More than 770=USB 2.0 High

Download speeds were surprisingly slow, so much so that you may feel the need for a separate card reader, especially if you're going to be shooting RAW very much.

Battery and Storage Capacity

Battery

Slightly below average battery life for an SLR lithium-ion design.

Test Conditions
Number of Shots
Lithium-ion rechargeable battery,
(CIPA standard)
450
Lithium-ion rechargeable battery,
Live View
280

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with both a single battery and charger. The rated 450 shots per charge using the optical viewfinder is a bit on the low side for DSLRs, so we recommend picking up a spare battery and keeping it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings or (especially) when Live View is used often.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 stores its photos on Secure Digital memory cards, and no card is included with the camera. The chart below shows how many images can be stored on a 1GB card at each size/quality setting.

Image Capacity vs
Resolution/Quality
1GB Memory Card
 Fine Normal
RAW
 RAW + Fine JPG
3,648 x 2,736
Images
(Avg size)
 192
5.2 MB		 384
2.7 MB		 76
12.9 MB		 68
14.6 MB
Approx.
Compression
6:1 11:1 1.2:1 -
2,816 x 2,112
Images
(Avg size)
 324
3.2 MB		 640
1.6 MB		 - -
Approx.
Compression
6:1 11:1 - -
2,048 x 1,535
Images
(Avg size)
 608
1.7 MB		 1,184
865 KB		 - -
Approx.
Compression
6:1 11:1 - -

We strongly recommend buying a large capacity SD or SDHC memory card. You should probably consider at least a 2GB card, if not a 4GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings, especially if you plan on doing a lot of RAW shooting. (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so there's no reason to skimp.)

 

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