Hands on with Panasonic's Lumix DMC-G10: a new, lower-priced G-Micro camera

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Posted on 8 Mar 2010 at 16:24

In addition to announcing the Lumix G2 at Focus On Imaging, Panasonic also unveiled a new entry-level G-Micro camera, the Lumix G10.

The best way to think of the new G10 is that it's a stripped down version of the G1 with a few improvements. It uses the same 12.1 megapixel Live MOS 4/3in as the G1 and G2, but foregoes the articulated display in favour of a fixed 3in 460k dot resolution LCD in order to reduce its cost.

The electronic viewfinder has also been a victim of the cost-cutting too and has a reduced resolution of 202k dots (versus the 1.44m on the Lumix G2).

Thankfully, the body itself hasn't been a victim of cost saving and still has a durable rubberised coating. The control layout will also be remarkably familiar to anyone who has used one of the earlier G-Micro cameras.

With technology in cameras progressing as fast as ever, Panasonic has not surprisingly added the newer Venus Engine HD2 processor, which also enables the G10 to support 720p video recording at 30fps with mono sound. Unfortunately, it's limited to recording in the motion JPEG format only (there's no AVCHD support here), which is less than ideal, but it's a key differentiator from the more expensive models.

Other improvements include Intelligent Resolution technology which, according to Panasonic, "determines the subject's contours and colour edges and emphasizes them during image processing." We'll have to see how that works out in reality, but it could be very useful at high ISO settings - the G10 supports up to 6400 ISO.

Auto-focus was very fast in our limited time with the G10 and not only detected, but followed faces with good accuracy. The G10's maximum burst rate is 3.2fps, like the G2 and slightly faster than the G1.

Panasonic has spent time improving its Intelligent Auto mode too and it now works in both still and motion pictures. Simply press the dedicated iA button and point the camera at your subject - the camera does the rest. There are also seven new colour presets in My Colour mode, giving you more creative options.

The G10 will be available with the 14-42mm F/3.5-5.6 Mega OIS zoom lens when it goes on sale. Unfortunately, Panasonic hasn't announced pricing or availability but said that more details will be announced 30 days prior to shipping. We suspect this will hit the £500 mark and serve as a direct competitor to Olympus's E-PL1 which we'll be publishing our review of in the very near future.

Author: Tim Smalley