Panasonic L10 Viewfinder

The Panasonic DMC-L10 is a digital SLR design, so the optical viewfinder offers a true, through-the-lens (TTL) display. A dioptric adjustment dial accommodates eyeglass wearers, letting them adjust the viewfinder optics between -3 to +1 diopters. The viewfinder eyepiece has a somewhat low (14mm) eyepoint that required us to press our eyeglasses against the eyecup to see the whole viewfinder area. Panasonic specifies 95%, coverage (confirmed by our test results below), while magnification is 0.92x, which is a little on the low side, visually reaching a 1:1 ratio with the view outside the viewfinder (from your other eye) only at 50mm, which corresponds to the field of view of a 100mm lens on a 35mm film camera body. The viewfinder is a pentamirror type, so will be a little darker than those built around pentaprisms.

The Panasonic L10's viewfinder information display features a set of three focus and exposure target marks in the center of the view. Each focus area has a small LED in the center of it that optionally illuminates when the camera is using the corresponding focus point.

Camera information appears down the right side of the viewfinder frame, and reports major camera settings, such as shutter speed, aperture, metering mode, EV compensation, and focus confirmation. The information readout in the viewfinder activates whenever you half-press the Shutter button, and remains active for a few seconds afterward. See the complete list of information available in the viewfinder below.

Viewfinder Test Results

Coverage
Good accuracy with both the optical viewfinder and LCD monitor's Live View mode.

14mm, Optical	50mm, Optical
14mm, LCD (Live View)	50mm, LCD (Live View)

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10's optical viewfinder showed similar accuracy to that of competing DSLRs, showing about 95% of the final frame area at wide angle and telephoto (with the 14-50mm kit lens). The camera's Live View LCD mode was very accurate, with about 100% accuracy at wide angle and 99% at telephoto. (We're pretty sure it shows 100% of the frame, the 1% discrepancy at telephoto is likely due to measurement tolerances.)