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What are your favorite weather conditions for photography?

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Welcome back to our Question of the Week series! This reader-focused series aims to get our photographic community to share thoughts on all sorts of photography-related topics in our forums. We pose questions about gear, favorite camera stores, advice, problem-solving and more, and you share your thoughts and opinions.

This week, we’re leaning into the holiday spirit! The season of giving (and occasionally re-gifting) is upon us, and that means it’s time to unwrap some memories – both heartwarming and hilarious.

What are the best (and worst) photography-related gifts you've received?

What’s the best photography-related gift you’ve ever received? Maybe it was a dream lens that caused you to take on an adventure deep in the mountains, or a handmade camera strap that’s now an essential part of your kit. And what about the worst? Perhaps someone thought you needed yet another "World’s Best Photographer" mug, or that odd lens filter set that turned every photo a shade of green.

In this edition of our Question of the Week series, we want to hear your gift stories: the memorable, the useful and the truly baffling. Share your favorites (and flops) in the forum link below. Photos of the gifts (or what you created with them) are also more than welcome! We'll highlight some of your most entertaining and heartfelt responses in next week's roundup.

Click here to answer the Question of the week

Portable projector brings Roku TV streaming straight out of the box

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Portable projectors nothing new, but as the tech has steadily improved in recent years, they've become great tools for comfy viewing in TV-unfriendly places. Lately, we've seen a push toward smarter, more self-contained designs, including Yaber's portable projector with built-in Google TV and Aurzen's own tri-fold Zip pico projector, both of which try to cut down on the fiddly setup that usually comes with projector ownership.

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Category: Home Entertainment, Consumer Tech, Technology

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The smell of cut grass reveals a 100-million-year-long chemical war

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The aroma of freshly cut grass is one of nature’s most recognizable and enjoyable scents, so you might be surprised to learn that it's actually the smell of chemical warfare that's been taking place right under our noses for longer than humans have walked the Earth.

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Category: Environment, Science

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Hidden space between brain cells is now a new Alzheimer’s target

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One of the biggest mysteries in neuroscience is why women account for nearly two-thirds of Alzheimer’s disease cases. Now, we may be a step closer to understanding this phenomenon, with new findings that highlight an overlooked part of the brain that appears to fail as estrogen levels fall with age.

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Category: Brain Health, Body and Mind

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Surprising osteoporosis warning sign found in the eyes

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For many people, osteoporosis is only diagnosed following their first broken bone. Finding a cheap, accessible method for predicting this common bone-weakening condition early could help prevent the pain, debilitation, and potential death from serious fractures in more people around the world.

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Category: Imaging & Diagnostics, Medical Innovations, Body and Mind

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Crazy-cheap Toyota micro-camper van escapes Japan to travel west

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Wellhouse Leisure is no stranger to building small, highly efficient camper vans. As we've seen over the years, it does some seriously nice work in models like the Ford Transit Custom and Toyota Proace, as well as early adopting electric and PHEV campers. Now it's dropping downmarket to launch a new line of micro-campers, starting atop a proper kei van from Toyota/Daihatsu. The micro-van will become an incredibly efficient British Isle-roaming tiny camper with a price tag less than half of what some larger Wellhouse camper vans cost.

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Category: Campervans, Adventure Vehicles, Outdoors

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Transparent solar cells could be mounted right on windows

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One of the hindrances to large-scale solar adoption, especially in cities, is where to install the chunky panels. Rooftops? Skyscraper walls? Vast open spaces that dense urban centers barely have in the first place? Researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore say they may have solved part of this problem with solar cells so thin they are invisible enough to install directly onto windows.

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Category: Energy, Engineering

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Addition of electricity drastically lowers carbon footprint of cement production

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Cement has been a vital building block (pun intended) in constructing civilization. However, its manufacturing process has also made it a wrecking ball on the environment, with a carbon footprint that rivals that of the aviation industry. Scientists from the University of British Columbia have devised a method that dramatically cuts cement’s carbon footprint using electricity.

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Category: Materials, Engineering

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Panasonic L10 initial review: The compact that's dividing photographers

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Product Photos: Mitchell Clark

The Panasonic DC-L10 is an enthusiast compact with a Four Thirds sensor and an optically stabilized 24-75mm equiv. F1.7-2.8 lens with motorized zoom. Like the Panasonic's LX100 and Leica's D-Lux series of cameras, the camera doesn't use its entire sensor, instead letting you preserve the same diagonal angle of view from 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 crops of it, which use up to 81% or around 183mm² of the sensor.

Key Specifications:

  • Up to 20.4MP images from a 26.5MP BSI CMOS Four Thirds sensor
  • 10.9 - 34mm (24-75mm equiv.) F1.7-2.8 lens with OIS
  • 2.36M dot OLED viewfinder
  • 1.84M dot 3" fully articulating display
  • Phase detect autofocus with 6 subject recognition modes
  • Metal body
  • 5.2K open-gate up to 30p
  • 1x UHS-II SD card slot

The L10 will be available in June, with the black and silver versions costing $1499. There will also be a special edition "Titanium Gold" version for $100 more, which will be available from limited outlets and include a threaded shutter button, leather strap and a color-matched automatically-opening lens cap (the latter accessory will be available to buy separately for the standard editions in silver and black).

Index

Buy now:

Buy at Amazon.comBuy at AdoramaBuy at B&H Photo What's New? The LX100 II (left) is a fair bit smaller than the L10 (right).

Panasonic is pitching the L10 as the start of a new line of compacts, rather than a direct successor to the LX100 II from 2018, but the cameras' shared DNA and place in the market make it worth seeing what else the removal of an X and a zero has changed. The biggest difference is, of course, the design, which will be covered in the body and handling section.

Updated sensor

The L10 uses the same 26.5MP Four Thirds (225mm²) sensor that's found in the GH7 and G9 II. This results in images that have better dynamic range and are slightly higher resolution than you could get out of the LX100 II: up to 20.4MP in its 4:3 mode, rather than 17MP.

The L10 continues Panasonic's tradition of cropping in on its sensor to produce a multi-aspect ratio shooting experience, where the different crop modes it offers generally have the same diagonal angle of view.

Graphic: Richard Butler

The bigger improvement, though, is the addition of phase detect autofocus. The L10 has essentially the same autofocus we've seen in all of Panasonic's most recent cameras, with algorithms for recognizing six kinds of subjects (humans, animals, cars, motorcycles/bikes, trains and planes), as well as part priority (e.g., focusing on a rider's helmet, or the cockpit of a plane) derived from machine learning.

New processor

Panasonic has used its latest processor in the L10, the same one found in recent models like the S1RII. The camera runs Panasonic's latest-generation of firmware, so it's compatible with the company's Lumix Lab app and has features like HLG HEIF output, Live View Composite (a multi-exposure mode that shows you the image as it builds up, and lets you stop it when you choose), in-camera processing of focus stacking bursts and the Real-Time LUT system, which lets you bake custom-designed color profiles into your JPEGs and videos.

A cornucopia of colors

While the Real-Time LUT system (for which there's a dedicated button on the rear plate) lets you use custom color modes for your JPEGs, the camera includes a few new built-in color modes too, which Panasonic says are "film‑inspired." These are "L.Classic," which the company says is low-saturation and highlights greens, and "L.ClassicGold," which gives your photos a very warm, amber look.

Standard Color Profile L.Classic Neo L.Classic L.Classic Gold

The decision to include these new modes was apparently based on the popularity of the L.ClassicNeo profile that it's included in its cameras for years. For video shooters (or photographers looking for a video-like look), the camera also includes a suite of "Cinelike" modes designed to give you a pleasingly flat look that, unlike the also-included V-Log, can be used for output, but which also offer some editing flexibility in post.

How it compares

One of the most exciting things about the L10 is that it's a new enthusiast compact camera aimed at photographers, which is something we haven't seen in quite a while. Companies like Canon and Sony still sell the latest entries in the G7X and RX100 lines, but both cameras were introduced in 2019, around 7 years ago.

While it can be tempting to compare the L10 to cameras with fixed prime lenses like the Ricoh GR4 and Fujifilm X100VI, the use of a zoom lens means that it's targeting a different kind of photographer. Likewise, vlogging compacts like Canon's PowerShot V1 and Sony's ZV-1 II are much more focused on pleasing videographers than photographers.

Panasonic L10 Panasonic LX100 II Sony RX100 VII Canon G7X III MSRP $1499 $999 $1499 $879 Sensor 26.5MP BSI CMOS
Up to 183mm² 21.8MP BSI CMOS
Up to 183mm² 20.1MP stacked CMOS
116mm² 20.1MP stacked CMOS
116mm² Lens (equiv. focal range) 24-75mm 24-75mm

24–200mm 24-100mm Aperture range F1.7-2.8 F1.7-2.8 F2.8-4.5 F1.8-2.8 Built-in filter? No No No 3EV ND Burst rate 11fps mech. (AF-S) / 9fps (AF-C)
30fps e-shutter (AF-C) 11fps mech. (AF-S)
5.5fps (AF-C) 10fps mech.
20fps e-shutter 8fps (C-AF)
20fps e-shutter (S-AF) AF Subject Recognition Human
Animal
Car
Motorcycle/Bike
Train
Airplane Face/Eye Face/Eye Face/Eye Pre-Capture? Yes No No No Display 3" 1.84M dot
Fully-articulated 3" 1.24M dot
Fixed 3" 921K dot
Tilting 3" 1.04M dot
Tilting EVF 2.36M dot OLED
0.74x
Fixed 2.76M dot field sequential
0.7x
Fixed 2.36M dot OLED
0.59x
Pop-up No Built-in flash? No (Hotshoe) No (external included) Yes (pop-up) Yes (pop-up) Battery life EVF / LCD 410 / 420 shots 270 / 340 shots 240 / 260 shots - / 235 shots Video 5.2K/30 Open Gate
4K/120 (full-width)
10-bit 4K/30 (1.34x crop) 4K/30 (1.08x crop) 4K/30 (full-width) 10-bit video Yes, HLG HDR / Log No No No Connectivity USB-C 10Gbps
Wi-Fi 5
Bluetooth 5
Mic jack Micro USB
480Mbps
Wi-Fi 3
Bluetooth 4.2
microHDMI Micro USB 480Mbps
Wi-Fi 3
Bluetooth 4.1
Mic jack USB-C
Wi-Fi 3
Bluetooth 4.2
Mic jack
microHDMI Dimensions 127 x 74 x 67mm
(5.0 x 2.9 x 2.6") 115 x 66 x 64mm
(4.5 x 2.6 x 2.5") 102 x 58 x 43mm
(4.0 x 3.3 x 1.7") 105 x 61 x 41mm
(4.1 x 2.4 x 1.6") Weight 508g (17.9oz) 392g (13.8oz) 302g (10.7oz) 304g (10.7oz)

By virtue of being the newest camera on this list by at least seven years, the L10 has the benefit of many modern features we've come to expect: subject recognition for more than just faces, fast wi-fi transfers to a modern app, pre-burst capture, full-width video even at ambitious resolutions and frame rates and more. And while Panasonic typically hasn't matched the autofocus performance of Sony and Canon's latest systems, the systems used by the compacts discussed here are noticeably less advanced.

Body and Handling

The L10 isn't a tiny camera by any means; it's noticeably larger and heavier than its Type-1 competitors, and even the LX100 II, though it's essentially the same size as Fujifilm's ever-popular X100-series. It feels solid, with ample grip and some breathing room for its controls. While the top plate controls aren't the most premium feeling – they're similar to the S9's – they're well-placed for one-handed use.

Controls and customization

The L10 has a wide variety of customizable dials, buttons and switches along almost every surface. While this affords a lot of flexibility to customize the camera how you want – you can easily set it up in a way that lets you largely avoid the main menus while shooting – some of the defaults aren't the most sensible in our view.

As an example, when you're in aperture priority or manual mode, the top plate command dial is set to control aperture... which it won't do unless the dedicated aperture ring is in the 'A' setting. If it's not, turning the wheel does nothing, wasting the camera's single top plate dial. In our view, it'd have made more sense to control exposure compensation by default, at least in aperture priority mode.

Most of what were dedicated controls on the LX100 cameras have become customizable. What was previously a shutter speed dial is now a mode dial, and what was once a marked exposure compensation dial is now a customizable dial with a button in the middle.

Speaking of aperture, though, we appreciate that the ring is clicked, and that it handles the variable aperture in a sensible manner. For example, if you have it set to F1.7, but have the lens at 75mm equiv., it'll set the aperture to F2.8. The aperture setting will stay the same as you rotate it, until you hit F2.8, at which point it'll begin to change.

Behind the aperture ring is a customizable control ring. By default, it's set to control the power zoom (another redundancy; the toggle rocker around the shutter button does that, too), but you can have it control things like exposure compensation, ISO, white balance, AF mode and more.

Switching between the 'A' setting on the lens and the aperture range takes a bit of force – it'd be difficult to accidentally knock it out of your preferred position. Conversely, we found the focus mode switch to be a bit too easy to knock into macro mode.

Finally, there's the four-way switch on the top barrel of the lens. By default, it controls your aspect ratio, and you can customize what the 1, 2 and 3 positions do; the first position hands off control to the body. If you prefer, you can remap the control to do something else, like switching between three color modes, focal lengths or subject recognition settings.

You can also set any of the physical zoom controls to work linearly, smoothly zooming in through the lens' entire range, or to jump between common preset focal lengths (24, 28, 35, 50, 70 and 75mm equiv.). You can also have the camera remember what focal length it was at when you turned it off, and return to it when you start it up again.

EVF and display

The OLED panel in the L10's view finder is bright and high-resolution for a compact. While its eye point is only 20mm, we found it was relatively easy to see, even when wearing glasses. Thankfully, the color tearing of the field sequential displays that Panasonic used in the LX100 series is no longer an issue.

The rear monitor is fully-articulating, offering nearly unlimited flexibility in what angle you shoot from, though not the quickest deployment if you're just trying to shoot from above or below. Panasonic has created a vertical version of its on-screen UI, so if you're shooting in portrait, the details on the screen will be much easier to read, as they'll be in the correct orientation.

Ports You can have audio input, but you can't monitor due to the lack of a headphone jack.

The L10 doesn't have an immense amount of input and output options. There's a USB-C port for charging and data transfer, which it can do at 10Gbps, and a 3.5mm microphone jack. The camera also has a fully functional hotshoe, which can be used to connect to a flash, digital microphones, and even Panasonic's XLR2 accessory that lets you record four-channel and 32-bit float audio, all but eliminating the risk of clipping.

Battery The SD card slot gets its own dedicated door, rather than having to share one with the battery.

The L10 uses the same 16Wh BLK22 battery found in many of Panasonic's full-frame mirrorless cameras, providing a CIPA-rated 410 shots per charge when using the EVF, and 420 shots when using the display. It's not unusual to get double those ratings in real-world use, so many users may be able to get through even relatively heavy weekends of shooting without having to recharge.

Autofocus

The L10's autofocus can recognize several types of subjects, not just humans.

Panasonic L10 | 30mm equiv. | F2.1 | 1/60 sec | ISO 800

The L10 has several modes for selecting your autofocus point: the fine-grained pinpoint, a resizable single area, area-plus, a customizable zone, horizontal/vertical zone, full area, and tracking.

It doesn't have an autofocus joystick, so selecting your AF point will require using the touchscreen, or setting up the four-way controller to move it around. You can also set the screen or a portion of it to act as a touchpad to move it when your eye is up to the viewfinder.

Besides pinpoint, all of those modes can be combined with subject detection, which can be set to recognize several different types of subjects. If there are multiple recognized subjects, the camera draws a box around each of them, highlighting which one is selected, and allowing you to switch to another one. In general, it does a good job of respecting your chosen AF point; it won't jump to a recognized subject unless it's quite close to your selected area, letting you leave it on most of the time.

The L10's tracking mode won't fall back to generic tracking if it doesn't recognize a subject

The one exception is if you're a fan of the track to recompose method. Like the S1II-series, the L10's tracking mode won't fall back to generic tracking if it doesn't recognize a subject. The AF point will stay in the same place in the frame, instead of trying to stick to whatever you placed it over. This means you'll have to constantly engage and disengage subject recognition mode depending on what you're shooting, which you can do with a custom button or using the lens's four-way switch.

Video The L10 has a lot of video capabilities, but cuts down on at least some complexity due to its lack of advanced codecs like ProRes and ProRes Raw (which would likely be too much for an SD card to handle).

While the company mainly pitches it as a stills camera, the L10's use of the GH7's sensor means it has an extremely robust set of video features. In its H.265 mode, it can capture 5.2K 4:3 open gate at up to 30p, and full-width 4K at up to 120p. As we'd expect, there are a lot of other options too; 60 in total, with All-I recording modes, 17:9 aspect ratios and >4K options.

It also incorporates Panasonic's MP4 (Lite), which is designed to produce files that are good enough quality for social media, but that are relatively small and therefore easy to transfer and upload. That codec supports 4:3 open gate at around 4K at 30p, which gives you the flexibility to take both horizontal and vertical crops for different platforms, as well as output-ready UHD 4K and FullHD, but, strangely, only in 60 and 120p.

The L10 mostly continues the tradition of offering every video assist feature

The L10 mostly continues Panasonic's tradition of including every video feature under the sun*. It has Log and HLG recording modes, and view assist tools for them, waveform exposure monitoring, multiple customizable frame guides, the Focus Transition tool that lets you do automated, repeatable focus pulls and more. All of its autofocus subject recognition modes are available in video, even when shooting at high frame rates, and you have a lot of control over which settings are or are not shared between your stills and video modes.

This means that it can be used as both a simple point-and-shoot video option for photographers who occasionally want to just capture something in motion without thinking too hard about it, and as a tool for someone serious about getting good video (though its form-factor comes with plenty of inherent limitations, despite its 43mm thread technically allowing you to attach an ND filter).

* There are a few omissions: unlike other Panasonic cameras, it doesn't offer a false color overlay for judging exposure, nor is there the option to use shutter angle instead of shutter speed.

Initial Impressions

By Mitchell Clark

Since the L10 launched, I've read hundreds of comments about it, a large portion of which focused on what the writers wished it was instead; a Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens camera, a prime-lens compact, a smaller, more direct successor to the LX100 II, a full-frame follow-up to the S9, the list goes on. And while I understand why people want the cameras of their imaginations, we should set our dreams aside and focus on what it actually is: an enthusiast compact with modern tech.

At a high level, there are a few reasons to get a compact camera: you might want something that's flexible, but still provides an engaging experience without being a burden to carry around. Or you want a step up from your phone to something that's still relatively easy to use, but that has better zoom and subject separation.

I suspect the L10 produces better photos than my iPhone 15 Pro. I know it's more fun to use.

Panasonic L10 @ 33mm equiv. | F2.8 | 1/125 sec | ISO 125

To me, the L10 checks those boxes handily. Having the latest autofocus with several subject recognition types makes it easier to use for beginners, and features like pre-capture and capable video expand the envelope of what an experienced photographer can easily do with it. It lets you easily get the look you want in camera with LUTs and aspect ratios, then offload them to your phone, but doesn't preclude editing in post. And its EVF and copious control points provide an engaging shooting experience, though you might have to spend some time in the customization menus to get a setup you find truly satisfying to use.

While none of this is revolutionary for cameras in general, it's not something you get with many of the other compacts on the market, with the closest competitors to the L10 dating back to 2019 (read: before ubiquitous 5Ghz Wi-Fi and fast USB C).

There are still frustrations with it. While the camera's UI is snappy and responsive, the lens, which is an older design, can be ponderous. It takes around two seconds to extend when booting the camera up (and to retract when shutting it down), and another few beats to make its way through its zoom range. And while I've found the tracking AF performance to be decent so far, there have already been times where it fell down, making me wish I had a direct control for my focusing point. It also doesn't feel quite as premium as the marketing and price tag lead me to expect.

I remain enthusiastic about this compact.

Figuring out how those affect the shooting experience, and if there are any other hidden gotchas, will require a bit more time with it. But at the moment, my dreams of what this camera could be haven't been shattered by actually using it.

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Portable 4K projector doubles as a karaoke party machine

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Portable projectors have come a long way from the simple movie-night gadgets they used to be not so long ago. Recently, companies have been adding features like built-in streaming platforms, better speakers, automatic setup, and outdoor-friendly designs.

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Category: Home Entertainment, Consumer Tech, Technology

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Dutch timber homes hit carbon-negative milestone with Delft Red reboot

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With the constant pressure for architecture to reduce its massive carbon footprint, studios are always looking for solutions beyond traditional materials. ORGA from the Netherlands has taken on this challenge, rewriting the rulebook by building a carbon-negative neighborhood prototype in the village of Marknesse.

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Category: Architecture, Engineering

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