Digital Cameras

Panasonic DMC-L10, previewed
Eighteen months after the L1 took PMA 2006 by storm Panasonic has announced its second digital SLR, the Lumix DMC-L10. As well as a more conventional design and a new 10MP LiveMOS sensor (which we presume is the same as that used in the Olympus E-410) the L10 features a wealth of new features including a fully articulated screen and live view with sensor-based (contrast detect) autofocus. Like the L1 the new camera is only available in kit for with a (new) Leica branded lens (for more about the lens, see below). We’ve had a pre-production L10 for a couple of weeks in order to produce a detailed hands-on preview, available now.

Leica D Vario-Elmar 14-50mm F3.8-5.6 Mega OIS
Panasonic has also come up with a smaller, lighter 28-100m equiv. kit lens for its DMC-L10 - the Leica D Vario-Elmar 14-50mm F3.8-5.6 Mega OIS (note the ELMAR label which in Leica nomenclature denotes a simpler lens than the existing ELMARIT). The new lens also omits an aperture ring and focus distance scale from the specifications and provides a larger zoom ring as well as supporting the L10’s contrast-detect AF in Live-View.

Nikon Coolpix S700
The second metal bodied compact Nikon with an image stabilized lens is the S700. Get ready to be a little bit afraid because this camera packs twelve megapixels behind its three times optical zoom lens (F2.8 - F5.4). Naturally like all the cameras today the S700 gets ‘EXPEED’, lets hope it has an effective noise reduction algorithm. The S700 will cost £279.99 and will be available from ‘Autumn 2007′.