Panasonic Lumix DMC-G10 Performance, Timings and Image Quality

PERFORMANCE
The Panasonic G10 isn't a fast camera, mainly because it uses the slower contrast-based autofocus that works by finding contrast in a scene. This is very difficult for a camera to do in dimly lit situations, causing dramatically slow AF acquisition. The camera isn't meant to be a speed demon, though. It's supposed to bridge a gap between a secondary camera for prosumers, and an easy entry-level model for a beginner, and it does so quite well. The camera achieved some moderate ratings when it came to the tests.

Shooting Performance
The G10 had a relatively fast start up time; I would gauge it around one second or a little slower. The shutter lag, according to the lab and field tests, reveal that it's a little slow compared to the Olympus E-PL1, but where it beats the E-PL1 is in AF acquisition. After using both the E-PL1 and the G10 both in the field, I could tell that the G10 was slightly faster than the E-PL1, especially in low-light situations. The G10 seemed better suited to finding focus indoors or just past the golden hour outside than the E-PL1.

Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)

AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)

Continuous Shooting

*Note: Continuous shooting framerates are based on the camera's fastest full-resolution JPEG continuous shooting mode, using the fastest media type available (300x CF, SDHC, etc.). "Frames" notes the number of captures recorded per burst before the camera stops/slows to clear the buffer.

The G10 will capture 3.3 fps in continuous shooting mode for up to 17 frames before the buffer memory fills. I tested the contrast AF system in burst mode both indoors and outside to see how well it would do with optimal manual settings for both. Inside the images were blurry in some of the frames when I was moving the camera around, but outside, with a lot of contrast apparent, the camera got a clear shot every time.

Autofocus offers a few different options, including AF tracking, which locks onto a subject and follows it throughout the frame. It worked quite well when I tested it on a friend, staying locked on him as he moved around quickly. There is also a 23-area AF mode, and a one-area AF mode, which allows you to move the point of focus throughout the frame. All you have to do is press the left arrow on the four-way dial, and then use the arrows to move it anywhere. If you want to make the size of the focus area bigger, you can use the dial to increase or decrease its size. Manual Focus is great too. In addition to using the focus wheel on the lens, you'll also see an enlarged view of the area of focus on the LCD to see precisely if you are in focus or not.

Flash options include Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash On, Slow Sync/Red-eye Reduction and Forced Flash Off. The fill was quite good, because Panasonic provided us with an external hot shoe flash, the DMW-FL500, its highest priced pro-quality flash, priced at $500. The pop-up flash worked quite well, and the different settings looked great, producing a moderate amount of fill depending on the output level you choose. Slow Sync was the best because it gave dark indoor shots a natural lighting fill.

The DMW-FL500 flash offered superior control, and gives the user the ability to fire the flash at a greater distance. You can also tilt the head of the flash to control the amount of fill you wanted to place on your subject. I bounced the light from the ceiling in this shot of the Buddha, and it produced great light in a dark room. But would you really spend $500 on an external flash for a camera that costs about the same? The on-board flash on the G10 is adequate for most purposes.

Mega O.I.S. image stabilization is built into Panasonic's lenses, not the G10 camera body. It has three modes: Mode 1 enacts a constant IS, while Mode 2 only comes on when you press the shutter, and Mode 3 is for panning on a moving subject, and it corrects for up and down movements. The IS works great, and kept subjects in focus at both wide-angle and telephoto lengths.

Battery life of the G10 is rated in the manual as CIPA standard: about 380 images using the LCD or 410 images using the viewfinder with the 14-42mm lens. You'll get about 350 images using the LCD or 380 images using the viewfinder with the 45-200mm lens. In the field, the G10 hit those numbers closely.

Lens Performance
The G10 was supplied with the 14-42mm kit lens and the 45-200mm telephoto lens. The 14-42 was quite small and traveled well, but the 45-200mm lens adds a lot of size and weight to the G10. Both lenses were variable aperture, with an f-stop range for the 45-200mm at f/4-5.6, and the 14-42mm with f/3.5-5.6.

Overall, both lenses, even though they were pretty slow, produced sharp images at various contrasts. However, the biggest issues were the chromatic aberrations I found in the pictures. When blowing up the images to 400%, you can start to see some purple fringing on the edges of high-contrast objects. Also, when using the 45-200mm at the maximum telephoto range of 200mm, images were very soft.

Video Quality
The high-definition video that the G10 captures is decent, but not noteworthy and it captures 720p video at 30 fps. I shot video in a pretty gloomy light, and upon closer inspection of the video, I couldn't find much noise or artifacts. Overall, video capture is good, although not amazing.

Image Quality
The G10's image quality is excellent. The images right out of the camera were well-exposed and not oversaturated. Colors were quite accurate, though sometimes drab in the lighting conditions in which I was shooting. I found that when shooting subjects with darker colors, the images seemed to turn out a little underexposed in parts with high contrast.

The default processing setting is the standard film mode, and it does a pretty good job of keeping colors accurate. There are nine film modes. The G10's images were pretty sharp out of the camera, and a new feature called "Intelligent Resolution" is available in intelligent auto mode, which sharpens images automatically. Some images were a bit soft, though overall the better the light was, the sharper and more pleasing the images were from the G10.

Dynamic	Dynamic Black & White
Nature	Nostalgic
Smooth	Smooth Black & White
Standard	Standard Black & White
Vibrant

There are nine white balance options including AWB. It worked great in most situations, but in the 3200K Incandescent test in the lab, it showed quite a bit of warmth. The other settings work quite well too, including typical options like daylight, cloudy, manual, etc.

Auto White Balance, 3200k incandescent light

In studio and field noise tests, the G10 suffered a lot. The ISO range extends from 100-6400, and images at 100, 200 and 400 ISO are most usable. After that we saw a rapid increase in the amount of grain in the rest of the images.

ISO 100	ISO 100, 100% crop
ISO 200	ISO 200, 100% crop
ISO 400	ISO 400, 100% crop
ISO 800	ISO 800, 100% crop
ISO 1600	ISO 1600, 100% crop
ISO 3200	ISO 3200, 100% crop
ISO 6400	ISO 6400, 100% crop

Additiional Sample Images