The pocket-friendly body of the Panasonic ZS10 couples a 14.1-megapixel MOS image sensor to a Leica DC Vario-Elmar branded 16x optical zoom lens. The Panasonic ZS10's lens is equivalent to a 24-384mm. When recording movies, a stronger focal length crop results in a 29-464mm, still a reasonably useful wide-angle, and an extremely powerful telephoto. As you'd expect with this much telephoto reach, there's a Power O.I.S. (optical image stabilization) system included, and when shooting movies, an Active mode allows a greater degree of correction. Continuous shooting is possible at a rate of around 3.3 frames per second, and a burst mode allows 10 full-resolution, fine-quality frames per second for as many as 15 frames.

There's a 3.0-inch LCD display with 460,000 dot resolution. This panel includes a touch screen overlay, allowing the Panasonic ZS10's display to act as an input device, with a tap of the finger enough to set the point of focus and metering. The Panasonic ZS10's lens has a maximum aperture that varies from f/3.3 to f/5.9 across the zoom range.

Like theZS7 before it, the Panasonic ZS10 includes a built-in GPS receiver, allowing automatic geotagging of images with the location at which they were shot. The Lumix DMC-ZS10 can also be programmed to recognize specific individuals' faces, and prioritize these over other detected photos when capturing photos, or search for photos containing a specific person's face in playback mode. The Panasonic Lumix ZS10 also has an implementation of autofocus tracking, which can monitor a subject as it moves around the frame, continuing to update autofocus as required.

ISO sensitivity ordinarily ranges from 100 to 1,600 equivalents, with the ability to extend this as far as ISO 6,400 equivalent in High Sensitivity mode. Shutter speeds from 1/4,000 to 60 seconds are possible. The Panasonic ZS10 can also capture 3D images in MPO (Multi Picture Object) format, by processing data from a number of sequentially captured images.

As well as JPEG still images, the Panasonic ZS10 can capture movies with stereo sound at up to 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution or below, using either AVCHD or QuickTime Motion JPEG compression for high-def movies, and Motion JPEG for standard-def movies.

The Panasonic ZS10 stores its images and movies on Secure Digital or MultiMediaCards, including the newer SDHC and SDXC types. There's also a not-so-generous 18MB of built-in memory. Connectivity options include a USB 2.0 High-Speed connection, plus standard definition NTSC / PAL video output. The Panasonic ZS10 can also output high-definition video via a mini-HDMI connection.

Power comes from a proprietary lithium-ion battery with ID-Security feature that prevents use of counterfeit or third-party batteries, and is rated as good for 260 shots on a charge to CIPA testing standards. The software bundle includes PHOTOfunSTUDIO 6.1 HD Lite Edition, and a trial version of the Super LoiLoScope video editing package.