Panasonic LX10 Performance

Generally good performance for an enthusiast compact, though startup is a bit sluggish and the buffer is shallow when shooting RAW files.

Startup to first shot was a little sluggish for its class at just over 3 seconds. Switching from Play to Record mode and taking a shot was very quick at 0.6 second.

The Panasonic LX10's autofocus speeds were excellent in our tests, especially for a camera that uses contrast detection only. The LX10 produced full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) of 0.125 second at full wide angle and 0.114 second at full telephoto using 1-area (center) AF. That's faster than most DSLRs. Enabling the flash increased lag to 0.726 second, though, to account for preflash metering.

When manually focused, the LX10's lag time was 0.041 second, which is fast. The LX10's prefocused shutter lag time of 0.037 second was quick, though not as fast as some competitors.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Single-shot cycle times were good, ranging between 0.33 and 0.70 second for JPEG and RAW+JPEG files respectively, however there was a pre-press penalty (if you press the shutter release too soon after taking a shot, the camera will ignore it and you have to press again to take another shot).

Continuous High Speed "H" mode burst rate was fast at 9.9 frames per second for best quality JPEGs, almost matching Panasonic's 10 fps spec with AFS (focus locked at the first frame). When shooting RAW or RAW+JPEG files, the frame rate reduced only slightly to about 9.3 fps. With continuous autofocus enabled, the top frame rate drops to 6 fps according to Panasonic, however we do not test with continuous AF in the lab.

In Continuous High Speed "H" mode full-resolution buffer depth was very generous for Large/Fine JPEGs at 80 frames, but when shooting RAW files buffer size dropped to 14 frames, or 13 frames when shooting RAW+JPEG files.

The LX10 also features a "Super HS"mode which captures 5-megapixel JPEGs at 50 fps for up to 60 frames using the electronic shutter. There is also a 4K burst mode, allowing you to shoot 8.3-megapixel JPEGs at 30 fps continuously, however we did not test that mode in the lab.

Buffer clearing was reasonable with a fast UHS-I card, ranging from 6 to 12 seconds depending on the file type and burst mode, and you can continue shooting (at a much slower rate; see table above) or change settings while the buffer is clearing. However, you can't view just-shot images until the buffer is flushed to the card.

Flash recycling after full-power discharge took an average of 3.7 seconds, which is a bit slow.

Bottom line, the Panasonic LX10's performance is generally very good with fast mode switching, very quick autofocus, good burst speeds and reasonably quick buffer clearing. Startup time was a bit slow, though, and while buffer depth is excellent when shooting JPEGs in Continuous High Speed mode, buffer depths are quite limited with RAW files.

Fair battery life for its size.

The Panasonic LX10 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with a single battery and an AC adapter for in-camera charging via USB. The CIPA-rated 260 shots per charge is decent for its size and class, but we definitely recommend getting a second battery for your LX10 if you plan any extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), 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))