Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10K 4MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Zoom (Black)

This is a top of the line point'n shoot camera. Without any doubt the 12x optical zoom with image stabilizing and fast 2.8f aperture along the whole zoom range of 35-420 mm (35mm equiv.) are the icing on the cake. Nevertheless I'm slightly dissapointed about this camera because the specs read like my dream camera and the engineers from Panasonic just couldn't keep it together. Why? - I will cover this later.

I was so anxious about getting my set together that I bought a bag first going by the size of the FZ1 - big mistake. The FZ10 is about double the size. Definitly no camera to slip in your pocket.

Battery are pretty expensive, about 50$ a piece. A good replacement, not from Panasonic but way cheaper and even higher in the mAh rating is AC-CGAS002 (the barn were you get 'em from is great). Charge and running time equal almost 1hr.

The Tripod adapter blocks access to the battery and memory compartment.

In dcresource the macro is described to work only in the automatic macro mode. So you couldn`t go by your own settings (manual). Good news - not true-. What is also not described in the manual, the camera does the same macro in manual mode. Literally up to the lense, almost touching it, with super sharp images.

Personally, I do prefer the manual mode for several reasons and this is where my dissapointment starts. In a dim light situation, still enough to take a decent picture, the LCD is pitch black. It is not broken, that's just the way it is. The techs from Panasonic told me something about achery techniques and how to shoot over the body. I call it a "Misconception". Also the brightness of the flash is not displayed, saying the LCD should get brighter when flash is activated. Still you get nice pictures - with dim light focusing slightly advanced to some other digital pointers- just you don't see the composition and focusing. I consider this the major drawback of this camera. Surprisingly enough though, if you switch to Automatic mode the LCD display in the very same dim light situation with exactly the same setting, is fine. Aperture- or Shutter priority are also good in this respect. I say it again, this applies only to dim light situations in manual mode. In standard light situations you won't notice.
Talking about low light situations, the flash is quite impressiv. Gives you also the option to compensate (-2/+2). This is very helpful if you don't wanna compensate the flash by shutter/aperture.

Lense cap has no string to hold it to the body - risk of losing it.

I am an avid Photoshop user. So I like the auto braket function to take 3 consecutive shots with different esposures for different layers in the software. Still after every shot you have to kick the bracket in again. There is no button to enable this function permanently like cameras for only a fraction of the price do. I wouldn't mind that if it were not so long winded to get to that function. Between changing the shutter/aperture in Manual mode, engaging the bracket to -1/+1 and back again, it is necessary to push 9 buttons. (Wanna count? exposure/dial up/3x dial right/3xdial up/exposure.) And this after every shot, huhhh.

Most people won't mind, but it takes only jpeg format. No non-compression formats available. This camera lets me take considerably more pictures (about 165) with 256mb than my Dimage s414 (about 125), which also happens to be a 4 MP camera - each camera in the best jpeg settings. With best settings this camera takes file sizes wich average about 1,5MB (Dimage S414 about 2MB). OK not every manufacture uses compression to the same extend, and in this setting Panasonic has surely found a nice compromise between quality and compression. Still I would be happier if Panasonic had tweaked its compession less aggressively, in order to achieve higher quality (but lager file size). Expecially since non-compression is missing and this camera is supposingly more oriented towards the prosumer section.

Nevertheless the picture quality is superb across the whole zoom range (the lense seems to make up for it).
I read reviews were people complained about noise. I figure they chose the wrong ISO (Auto ISO?). Try to use 100, 50 if possible. Everything from ISO 200 on gets indeed noisy, so is it with other cameras. And the fast lense 2.8f over the whole zoom range together with the Image Stabilizer give you quite some options here.
The image stabilizer works great. I think this feature should become as much of an standard as it is for camcorders. This from Panasonic should be a wake up call for the other manufactures to install it in there ultrazooms.
Very positive is the overall speed of the camera. SD memory might help it. Run-up, Burst mode and time between shots is very fast. High Burst gets you 4-5 shots in 2sec. After that you are ready again after about 4 sec. I consider this to be very fast. The only issue in the Burst mode is that it freezes the picture in the LCD screen. Burst makes sense for moving objects. And that is were you find it almost impossible to keep your object in focus when you just see a series of taken pictures with a delay of about 0.5 seconds.
The purple fringing, which often comes along with extreme zoom lenses seems to be moderate. I haven't seen any so far with taken lots of pictures in situations where this is supposed to be most present, like against the sun with darker objects in front. Still it is mentioned in some of the reviews.

Verdict:
Even thought I wrote critically this shouldn`t distract from the fact that this is a state of the art point'n shoot camera with a great Leica lense and a stabilazation system you won't find in any other model of this category.
So giving away some of my high expectations this is still an excellent camera which will epeal to the advanced photographer with a need for an extreme zoom.

I am extremely impressed with this camera. The batteries are expensive but they last for a loooong time. The menu system can be a little intimidating but after using it for a while things become easier. The lens cap is not attached to anything and I have almost lost it twice. The lens is not threaded for filters, however the provided hood has a 72mm thread. The camera is big...

And then there is that wonderful lens. Oh my. It makes up for a lot of sins. It is absolutely perfect at 50 iso, very good at 100 and quite good at 200-400 if you're looking for real fast stuff... But who needs it when you get the 2.8f aperture from one end of the zoom range all the way to the other. It goes from 6-72mm which translated to 35mm terms means 35-420mm!!! When was the last time you saw a 420mm lens with f2.8 with the body for under $600???

The colors are just fabulous. The lens is stabilized which lets you move it around all the way up to 8x. To go more than that you need a tripod or something real stable to lean on. This means some excellent, sharp, clear, vibrant shots from quite far. I am running out of words. This lens is a Ferrari. Way to go Leica and Panasonic!

This was my first post-film camera, and it turned out to be a relatively easy transition. It's about the same size as the SLR film cameras I was accustomed to, albeit half the weight. It provides full manual controls once you decypher the menu protocol.
If you're into nature photography, as I am, the FZ10 is just about unbeatable. You can reach out with a 420mm equivalent for shots of birds or other wildlife and in macro you can take a portrait of a bug on a flower. Unbelievable!
The image-stabilization gyroscope combined with the Leica optics means you can take hand-held shots in daylight at full zoom that are super-sharp -- if you know how to squeeze a trigger.
Shutter lag is not a problem -- about 1 second betwen shots and the burst mode gives you 4 frames a second.
Downsides:
1. Poor low-light performance, common with digitals, is perhaps even more problematical with the FZ10, since it has no focus-assist light. (The internal flash is fairly good, and there's a hot shoe for something with more punch.)
2. It's not an SLR, so no interchangable lenses. (But if you need more than 420mm, use your feet!)
3. The proprietary battery is expensive, about $50, but they can last for a whole day of fairly heavy shooting.
4. Forget the lens cap (it's unattached so you're gonna lose it anyway) and get a 72mm skylight filter to protect that great Leica glass.

Although this is my first digital camera, I knew that I wanted something more than a point and shoot. I just got back from a two week trip to Italy and the pictures are fantastic. Although the DMC-FZ10K is a bit bigger than some of the comparables, once you decide that you want more than a 3x optical zoom, you realize that any camera with a better lens cannot fit in your pocket and you might as well upgrade to the DMC. It is the best camera in its price range and has many features that cameras twice as expensive don't have. First, not only is it a 12X zoom (with optical stabilzation) but it is a very fast f2.8 all the way. This may not sound like a big point, but it gives you a much bigger and better capacity in dimmer light situations. Secondly, the optical stabilization really works. I did a handheld picture at full zoom of a street lamp about 30 feet from me. When you blew up the picture in the LCD to check the focus, I could see very clearly insects that were parked on the streetlamp without any blur in the image.

I read a few complaints about the lens cap not being attached. My solution was to use the lens hood and not using the lens cap except when I put the camera away.

In terms of improvements, I agree that it is difficult to focus in dim light. However, I read the same complaint on virtually every other camera. The DMC has a very easy to use manual focus (turning a ring on the lens barrel just like a SLR) and the switch from manual to autofocus is conveniently placed on the lens barrel. On a number of other cameras, the manual focus requires stepping through the menu and using the buttons in the back. However, in dim light or dark situations, the image in the viewfinder is pretty dim as well and manual focus is difficult. But the great thing with a digital camera is that you take a picture, review it, and make adjustments if you didn't like the first picture. THE DMC makes this process very easy.

Finally, I saw a review that had a complaint that the DMC did not have a left hand grip and it was awkward to hold with one hand. I think the reviewer did not read the instructions. The left hand should hold the lens barrel from underneath which gives a very stable two handed hold.

I have had this camera for about a month now, and I have taken about 600 pictures with it. the performance has been good in all areas, but particulary shines in outdoor sunlit zoom pictures. Like some reviewers have noted, there is a little bit of difficulty with low light shots, but I have found the flash to be adequate if not perfect. I am getting the sunpak 383 external flash for most of my indoor people shots. As I do with most of my digital cameras, I do not use the lens cap that comes on the camera, instead leaving the hood and a 72mm UV filter on all of the time for protection, with an aftermarket 72mm snap-on cap. I chose this camera mostly for the long zoom, and I have not been disappointed. Compared to my Olympus C2040, the shutter lag is non-existant. Very fast and quiet zoom operation. I have settled on a Tamrac zoom16 case which fits it well with the hood in place, and I have found the aftermaket battery that Amazon sells for $28.00 to have as good a lifespan and charging time as the OEM battery. I use this camera with 2 256M Panasonic SD cards although when I tried my sandisk SD card, write times did not seem to change any. In fine mode, about 163 picures fit on a 256 card. I also love the manual focus, as I enjoy closeup shots of flowers and such when I am hiking, and the manual focus works very well for that, just don't forget to turn the auto focus back on when you are done! The viewfinder is a bit dim, but after trying most of the other "ultrazoom" cameras, they all stacked up about the same.

Overall, an excellent camera short of a Digital SLR that would cost $1,000+, I paid $496.00 for my FZ10 at Amazon.