As a photographer, when I fly, I like to play this game I call “how many cameras and lenses can I fit into a carry-on bag?”
As it turns out, on a recent three-day trip from Michigan to Miami, Florida, the answer to that question was six cameras and four lenses. But the one I shot with most? A compact camera with zoom: the Panasonic Lumix L10.
No, I’m not some trust fund kid who owns hundreds of expensive cameras (my own personal camera is the six-year-old Fujifilm X-T4). I write about photography for a living, and that means I often get to borrow the latest camera launches to try them out.
Packing six cameras for three days was overkill – half of them lived in my hotel room. But I was traveling for work to write about Adobe Max 2026, and I needed to shoot both stills and video; plus I wanted a backup and I also wanted to shoot a bit of film.
For this trip, LensRentals sent me the Lumix L10. I knew the urban destination would mean a lot of walking, and I wanted something small, but I didn’t want to sacrifice zoom.
I wanted to try the L10 because it combines a versatile 24-70mm f/1.7-2.8 (effective) lens with a Micro Four Thirds sensor.
The Lumix L10 is a compact camera with a fixed lens – but its biggest criticism often comes from the fact that it’s a bit oversized for a “compact” camera. I agree – it was about the size of the OM System PEN that I also brought along with me.
But while the L10 body is the size of a small mirrorless camera, the built-in 24-70mm equivalent is much smaller than bringing along a 24-70mm f/2.8 mirrorless lens. While the L10 is a bit oversized, the lens makes it feel far smaller than a mirrorless equivalent.
A 24-70mm zoom range is quite versatile – I ended up shooting more with the L10 than with any other cameras that I brought with me.
But it was also the camera that I wanted to reach for – it’s small-ish, but it still has a viewfinder, a small grip and enough dials to easily adjust aperture and shutter speed.
I used a mirrorless and a telephoto to photograph the birds along the shoreline. There were a handful of close-ups I couldn’t get on the L10. And I shot a lot of video with the GoPro that I brought because, while the L10 has lens stabilization, it doesn’t have body stabilization and video was hard to keep steady.
Outside those categories, the 24-70mm equivalent built-in lens was perfect for a mix of landscapes, portraits and general travel shots. I probably could have saved myself a lot of back pain by cutting my camera bag in half.
I borrowed the L10 because I wanted to try out the zoom lens, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed using the built-in LUTs.
One of the built-in sample LUTs creates a lot of cinematic teals that I thought worked well with the palm trees, blue skies, ocean waves and vibrant culture of Miami.
The last thing that I want to do when I come home from a trip with piles of laundry to catch up on and unpacking to do is to edit photos. (Yes, ironic considering I just came home from a conference about editing photos.)
The in-camera LUTs are great for a quick share – and I still have the RAW files to tweak later.
The compact camera trend has given way to several new launches – and photographers now have several options to choose from for putting a large sensor into a portable body.
But where popular APS-C options like the Fujifilm 100VI and Ricoh GR IV have lovely prime lenses built in, the L10 goes for a smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor to trade that prime for a zoom.
For travel, zoom is a key advantage. The Lumix L10 would be on my short list for the best travel cameras.
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Take a look at the best cameras for travel, or read the full Panasonic Lumix L10 review.
