Panasonic L10 vs Panasonic S3

Below is a in depth review of the Panasonic L10 vs Panasonic S3, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact and both of them are sold by Panasonic. There is a noticeable difference among the sensor resolutions of the L10 (10MP) and S3 (14MP) and the L10 (Four Thirds) and S3 (1/2.3") offer totally different sensor sizing.

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The L10 was revealed 4 years prior to the S3 and that is a fairly sizable difference as far as camera tech is concerned. The two cameras have different body design with the Panasonic L10 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Panasonic S3 being a Compact camera.

Before diving right into a thorough comparison, here is a quick view of how the L10 matches up versus the S3 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a preview of the gallery photos for Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-S3. The full galleries are provided at Panasonic L10 Gallery & Panasonic S3 Gallery.

If you're going to lug around your camera often, you'll have to factor its weight and volume. The Panasonic L10 comes with outside measurements of 135mm x 96mm x 78mm (5.3" x 3.8" x 3.1") with a weight of 556 grams (1.23 lbs) and the Panasonic S3 has sizing of 99mm x 59mm x 21mm (3.9" x 2.3" x 0.8") with a weight of 117 grams (0.26 lbs).

Look at the Panasonic L10 vs Panasonic S3 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you are employing at that moment. Here is a front view measurement comparison of the L10 versus the S3.

Using size and weight, the portability rating of the L10 and S3 is 66 and 96 respectively.

Oftentimes, it's hard to envision the gap in sensor measurements just by looking through a spec sheet. The graphic below might offer you a greater sense of the sensor sizing in the L10 and S3.

As you can see, the 2 cameras have different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The L10 having a bigger sensor will make shooting shallow DOF easier and the Panasonic S3 will render greater detail because of its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will make it easier to crop photographs a bit more aggressively. The older L10 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.