Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 Review: Digital Photography Review

Compared to...

Studio scene comparison (higher sensitivities)

After reviewing numerous Lumix compacts it came as no surprise to us that the L10's Venus III processor uses fairly heavy noise reduction at high ISO settings, nor that it makes little difference which of the five NR settings you use (the range goes from high to really high). The effect is to produce fairly soft results with obvious strong chroma noise reduction. Compared to the Canon EOS 400D, for example, they look positively blurry. Shooting raw is an option, though as shown below, to get the detail back you need to accept a fairly hefty dose of unsightly chroma noise at the top end of the ISO scale.