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| FZ80 Yellow thornbill. Full zoom, cropped |
In September 2016 Panasonic announced the FZ2000 superzoom and the LX10 compact. I bought both and have been testing them.
The FZ2000 achieved the highest ergonomic score of any camera which I have tested, the LX10 scored near the bottom of the list.
Unfortunately there appears to be no consistency in this maker’s capacity to produce cameras which are both efficient and a pleasure to use.
Also unfortunately I have to say the same comment applies to all the cameras makers, each of which produces some cameras with decent ergonomics and others which are dreadful.
None of them appears to have a set of ergonomic principles which they could apply to every camera.
This I believe is part of a broader problem which I see in the camera world.
It appears to me that most designs are highly camera centric, technology oriented and fashion conscious when what I really want is designs which are user centric and oriented towards excellent ergonomics.
One problem with compacts is that many of them take the shape and configuration of a larger body and scale it down with unfortunate consequences for any user whose hands have remained obstinately the same size.
So we see on the LX10 (and the Sony RX100 series and other models from other makers) ten buttons (counting the 4 way controller as 5) crammed into the tiny little control panel to the right of the monitor screen with four of those buttons very close to the edge of the body.
All the buttons have to be small and recessed lest they be pressed inadvertently and none can be pressed without changing grip with the right hand. Not that there is much grip to start with.
The FZ2000 has the same number of buttons on a control panel three times the area for a vastly more user friendly operating experience.
On my Mockup #10 which is the same size as the LX10 I put four decent sized buttons and a proper thumb support on the control panel, a much more user friendly arrangement.
Another problem is the apparently capricious fashion with which functions are allocated by the designers to various controls.
For example the FZ2000 and LX10 are both twin dial models (the lens ring on the LX10 functions as a programmable dial).
The rear dial on both can be allocated to exposure compensation. On the FZ2000 the rear dial switches to changing shutter speed when the Mode Dial is turned to the M position. This is what I expect the dial to do and all is well.
But on the LX10 the rear dial does nothing when the Mode Dial is in the M position. This is ridiculous, one of those ‘I-can’t-believe-they-did-that’ mistakes which should never have been allowed out of the door.
Did the LX10 team never talk to the FZ2000 team ?
Did anybody on the LX10 team use this thing before they inflicted it onto the buying public ?
By the way, the workaround for this bit of ergonomic silliness is to allocate exposure compensation to the lens ring and use the rear dial for changing Program Shift in P and shutter speed in S and M Modes.
Unfortunately the lens ring cannot be configured to ‘clicky’ mode so using it for exposure compensation is not as satisfactory as it could be.
This ergonomic score schedule follows my usual practice which you can read about here.
Setup Phase
This is managed decently well. The menus are standard Panasonic which is better than some and clearly presented with a nice graphical user interface.
It is not possible to configure the monitor to ‘Viewfinder’ style with camera data beneath the preview image.
Ring/dial function options need review as described above.
Setup Phase score 10/15
Prepare Phase
There are only 3 hard Fn buttons but all 4 Cursor button functions are available.
The Q Menu can be configured to individual preference.
Generally Prepare Phase functions are well provided for.
Prepare Phase score 10/15
Capture Phase
Holding
The front of the camera body is smooth and rather slippery without a salient handle. Panasonic does not supply an add-on handle of any kind.
The thumb support on the back is also smooth, slippery and of inadequate size.
The camera has sharp angular edges and corners when these so easily could have been bevelled or rounded for more comfortable holding.
Holding score 5/20
Viewing
The LX10 immediately loses 10 of the 20 points allocated to the viewing score because it has no EVF.
The monitor panel is very nice with a high gloss finish which does not pick up fingerprints even when using touch screen functions frequently.
Monitor visibility is very good indoors and in dull conditions outdoors and acceptable in bright light outdoors.
The monitor swings up but not down which makes it difficult for the user to see the preview image with the camera held overhead for crowd shots and similar.
Camera data are always superimposed over the lower part of the preview image and do not have a grey background as some cameras do. This makes it very difficult to see the Aperture, Shutter Speed, etc readouts in some conditions.
Viewing score 6/20
Operating
There are numerous problems with operation. I have mentioned issues with the ring/dial functions.
The only way to move the active AF Area is with the touch screen (or touch+cursor buttons if preferred). This is fast and works well but I find myself forever brushing a finger on the screen which sends the AF box off somewhere usually the top right corner of the screen.
Panasonic is still using its old fashioned auto ISO algorithm which produces some odd combinations in the LX10. For instance in bright light the camera will run the shutter speed up to 1/2000 before it starts to close the aperture down from the widest setting available at each focal length.
Indoors the camera will not raise the ISO sensitivity above 1600 until the shutter speed goes down to 1/8 second which is too slow for most photographic purposes.
The only way to change aperture is with the aperture ring which is very badly designed, making it awkward and clumsy in use.
I find myself often using Shutter priority AE to avoid the strange aperture/shutter speed selections in P Mode and the clumsy aperture ring in A Mode.
The humble TZ80 which is considerably less expensive provides the user with a much more engaging holding, viewing and operating experience.
Did the LX10 team not consult with the TZ80 team ???
Do any of the design teams at Panasonic talk to each other ?????
Review Phase
This is managed well. Each image can be quickly enlarged with any part of the frame being displayed. Scrolling from one frame to the next at the same enlargement and part of the frame is easily managed. Plentiful review data is provided and is selectable with the Disp button.
Review score 5/5
Overall score 46/100
Comment
I think the team responsible for the LX10 has done a poor job in the ergonomics department.
They have ignored much better ergonomic realisation in products from the same maker and from other makers, particularly Canon and Sony.
I have used my Mockup #10 to demonstrate that it is possible to create an ergonomically attractive camera the same size as the LX10 by utilising basic ergonomic principles and a bit of lateral thinking.
Panasonic could improve matters with a firmware update providing
1. The auto ISO algorithm used in the Sony RX100 series cameras.
2. An option to disable the aperture ring and control aperture with the rear dial.
If they really want to make a category killer camera they could do worse than look closely at my Mockup #10 for some fresh ideas.