This article was originally published in April 2024, following the total solar eclipse in the US. The experience in advice is relevant for those thinking about attempting to photograph the 2026 eclipse — which will be total in parts of Iceland, Spain and Portugal, and there will be major partial eclipse in the UK and other European countries — so we're sharing it again.

If you’ve never seen a total eclipse in person, whatever you’ve seen and what you imagine don’t come close. The best photos, the most stunning video, they won’t match the silent, dazzling fury of the real thing. Your phone or monitor won’t capture the infinite diamond brilliance of the Sun’s corona twinkling around the black Moon.

I set out to shoot the total eclipse with my three best camera phones and my Nikon DSLR, but I am thankful that I decided to enjoy the eclipse in the scant three minutes I was under its totality.

Before I talk tech, I’ll do my best to describe the total solar eclipse if you’ve never seen one in person. April 8, 2024 was my first total eclipse, and before that day I thought it would be my last.

After seeing the total solar eclipse live, I felt like I can’t live the rest of my life without seeing one again. I’ve never seen a photo that was equally compelling. Seeing the real eclipse in person, it was so gloriously beautiful that I was immediately sad that it was so fleeting.

Here's what a total solar eclipse really looks like

There is a bright flash in the instant before the Sun goes dark. The world gets colder suddenly, but the landscape is not pitch dark. Watching the eclipse from the shore of Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont, the view of Mount Marcy and the Adirondacks presented a panoramic sunset, with waning light surrounding me at the horizon on all sides, and the black eclipse at the center.

The Sun’s corona dazzles and flares with wisps of magic. You’ve never seen any light move in such a way. The contrast between the shockingly dark moon and the incredibly bright corona makes the halo seem brilliant and crisply present, as though the Sun is just beyond your grasp, and not seven light-minutes away.

The corona is bright, but not as bright as the face of the Sun. It reaches the limit of what my eyes could tolerate without causing pain. To see something so shockingly intense, after avoiding the painfully bright Sun for the previous hour, is a revelation. It feels like a gift being unwrapped in the sky above. It is a surprise and a joy, and I was not shocked to hear the crowd around me erupt into spontaneous applause.

I was awestruck. I forgot everything I was supposed to do at that moment. I’m now grateful that I decided at the last minute to drive all the way up to Burlington, where the clouds were wispy and few and the totality lasted more than three whole minutes. A good friend traveled farther to experience just over thirty seconds of totality in the Ozarks. Neither of us regrets taking our trip.

Ruining a solar eclipse with too much tech

Back to the tech. My plan was … too much. I brought a telescope, and a DSLR, and three phones, and even smart glasses on my face. I don’t know what I was thinking. The eclipse lasted three minutes. I barely had time to focus one camera, let alone try to shoot with five. My plans fell to pieces, and I gave up quickly. I got a few good shots, then I turned my attention to the sky and just allowed myself to soak it in.

Seeing the eclipse was more rewarding than the best photo I’ve seen of the eclipse.

Here’s the gear I brought to shoot the solar eclipse. I borrowed a Vaonis Hestia telescope, which uses your phone as the viewfinder. I used an iPhone 15 Pro Max to take photos and view the eclipse through that telescope, with a solar filter provided by Vaonis. Those photos turned out pretty good, but it isn’t the most powerful telescope. Plus, an eclipse is a very complicated scene for lighting, especially for a phone camera.

I also had a Google Pixel 8 Pro and a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. I already decided I was not going to try to take telephoto zoom shots of the eclipse with these phones. The 5X range is simply not enough to capture any detail, and the sensor for the longest lens is also the smallest, lowest-quality sensor on the phone. Better to take wide-angle photos.

I set up the Galaxy S24 Ultra to shoot a time-lapse (Samsung calls it Hyperlapse) video of the entire event. I was pretty disappointed with the results. The sun was too high in the sky for even the widest lens to capture the scene around me as well as the eclipse in progress. The camera had trouble balancing the incredibly bright partial eclipse with the surroundings, so it just looks like a sunny day until totality occurs. When the eclipse happens, the camera balances the light in a way that doesn’t present the sunset colors and the changing light in the way I remember it.

I attached a solar filter to the Google Pixel 8 Pro, hoping I would be able to see more of the partial eclipse as it happened. Nope, the filter cut out too much light for the phone to handle. I was barely able to see the Sun through the filter, let alone capture great shots.

At the last minute, I decided to also bring my Nikon D750 camera with a Nikon 80-400mm lens. I don’t have a solar filter for that huge lens, so I planned on shooting only the totality of the eclipse, when it is safe to look at the sun without glasses. I got some pretty good shots, but I was rushing around too much, juggling too many chores. I should have reduced the exposure levels, or used a manual mode to dial back the shutter speed. The photos were blurry and blown out, not very good.

In the end, I got a couple of good shots from the iPhone on the telescope. They were better than the shots my friends took with their phones, and they impressed the people I shared them with. From my own perfectionist standards, I was disappointed with my pics, but I wasn’t disappointed at all with the experience.

In fact, I’m happy that I didn’t try much harder to take great photos, because at the last minute I chose to sacrifice the pics and enjoy the eclipse. It was amazing. It was the greatest natural phenomena I’ve ever seen. For the next eclipse, I’ll bring only one camera, and only one easy plan, and if I screw it up then I won’t even care. The best photo I could get would pale in comparison to the totality of the real thing.

You might also like...

• I shot the eclipse with an iPhone 15 Pro Max, Google Pixel 8 Pro and a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – here's which one did best
• You took amazing smartphone eclipse photos, but reminded me why I didn't use Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra's 100x Space Zoom
• How to photograph the total solar eclipse with your camera or smartphone

• The FCC wants to take 'military-grade' DJI drones off sale
• Numerous DJI models would be affected
• You can comment on the proposals until September 2

There's been a ban on new DJI drones and cameras in the US since last December, but now the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is making moves to retroactively take some models off shelves that were approved before the ban came into effect.

Specifically, the FCC wants to pull "military-grade" drones from stores (via PCMag), which apparently includes every model with LiDAR obstacle avoidance or thermal cameras. That would affect drones such as the DJI Air 3S, the DJI Avata 360, the DJI Mini 5 Pro, and the DJI Mavic 3T, for example.

Drones that weigh over 55 pounds (nearly 25 kilograms) will be included in the retroactive ban, as well models that use docking stations. The criteria laid out by the FCC is broad enough to cover a substantial number of drones in DJI's current range.

Now, if you've already bought one of these drones in the US, the FCC isn't going to come and take it off you. However, unless the regulator changes course, these models won't be available to buy in the US from September 2.

You can take action

DJI has already complained long and hard about the original ban, pointing out that its drones were blacklisted for security reasons without any actual security audit taking place. It's also taking a very dim view of the new proposals by the FCC.

"People could continue using DJI products they already own, but the same models in use today might no longer be available to purchase in the future," says DJI in a blog post. "This is a total reversal from the FCC's previous position, and it is U.S. operators that would bear the cost."

DJI argues that safety agencies, small businesses, and farmers in the US who rely on DJI equipment will be faced with more expensive and difficult upgrades in the future, and it's asking for the public's support while the FCC proposal is considered.

You can have your say during the public comment period up until September 2: head to the Drone Advocacy Alliance website to make your feelings known, and to explain to the FCC how you use drones and their capabilities for non-military purposes.

• Canon registered three cameras with the wireless certification agency, indicating three more cameras will come soon
• Rumors suggest we’ll see an EOS R7 Mark II, an EOS R10 Mark II and an EOS R8 Mark II
• The EOS R8 Mark II may well be a retro-styled tribute to the analog AE-1, which turns 50 this year

The first half of 2026 was pretty dry for camera releases, but as we enter the second half of the year, manufacturers have been making up for lost time. Canon in particular looks like it’s going to have a busy back half of the year, with not one, not two, but three new EOS R mirrorless cameras setting the rumor mill alight.

It should be stressed that currently this is all unconfirmed — we don’t know that Canon is going to release anything. But Canon has registered three new cameras with the wireless certification agency, which is generally the point that you know that something is coming very soon. And reporting by the oft reliable Canon Rumors indicates that Canon is updating three of its most popular EOS R cameras, and one in particular looks like a very exciting prospect indeed.

And if that weren’t enough, we’re also potentially due a new PowerShot compact, with Canon looking to capitalize on the success of its phenomenally popular PowerShot G7 X Mark III compact. But we’ve more details on the mirrorless side of things, so let’s take a closer look at what could be coming…

Canon EOS R8 II — could it be the digital AE-1 we’re all hoping for?

Rumors indicate that Canon’s lightweight full-frame EOS R8 is likely to get a successor in mid-September. As that camera is now more than three years old, this is about the time we might expect an update to come along. However, the really exciting news is that the new version may be an entirely new prospect — a retro-styled Canon AE-1 throwback that fans have been begging the company to make for years.

There have been rumors for quite some time that Canon is working on a retro-styled digital camera, just like Nikon did with its Zf, and given that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the AE-1, a legendary film SLR beloved by amateur photographers for its streamlined controls and ease of use, it makes sense that this could be the year.

The rumored specs for the EOS R8 II are that it’ll use a 32.5MP full-frame sensor, 40fps burst shooting via the electronic shutter, in-body image stabilization, oversampled 4K video and two UHS-II SD card slots. Pretty much what you’d expect for a mid-range full-frame camera.

I’ll be interested to see if the retro styling is purely cosmetic — it might even be the case that Canon releases a ‘standard’ EOS R8 Mark II version as well as the retro-tinged variant — or if it has any bearing on how the camera operates. There’s nothing in the rumor mill to suggest this, but personally, I think it would be smart for Canon to dip its toe into film-style looks for images, similar to Fujifilm’s Film Simulations or Panasonic’s in-camera Real Time LUTs.

Yes, Canon has its ‘Picture Styles’, but let’s be honest: nobody uses them, and they don’t have the cool factor of Fujifilm’s Film Simulations. I’d love to see Canon throw its weight into some really crisp, dynamic, analog-style looks for shooters who want great-looking JPEGs straight out of camera. And come on — there will never be a better opportunity to debut them than in a digital AE-1!

Canon EOS R7 II — let’s see a stacked APS-C sensor!

Also on the rumored docket is an update to the Canon EOS R7, a mid-range APS-C mirrorless camera that arrived in 2022. The original EOS R7 was something of a speedster, with burst speeds of 15fps with the mechanical shutter and up to 30fps with the electronic. And if rumors are correct, Canon might be doubling down on this by giving the EOS R7 II a stacked sensor design.

This would be the first stacked APS-C sensor for Canon’s lineup — indeed, currently the only APS-C camera with a stacked sensor is the Fujifilm X-H2S. A stacked sensor design moves the circuitry to the rear for faster readout, enabling higher burst speeds, superior autofocus tracking and blackout-free viewfinder shooting.

Considering that the EOS R7 was already an impressively speedy shooter, a stacked sensor design would push a mark II to pretty impressive heights — we could see autofocus and speed-shooting performance on par with professional or serious enthusiast cameras. Rumors also indicate that the sensor resolution might be upped to 39MP, from 32.5MP on the original EOS R7.

Canon EOS R10 II — the new beginner mirrorless to beat?

Rumors also indicate that we’ll see an update to Canon’s popular beginner model, the EOS R10, in the form of the EOS R10 Mark II. Details are very thin on the ground for this one, beyond the fact that it is on its way and due in the latter half of 2026. This is also likely to be the first of the new models we see.

The Canon EOS R10 has been a huge seller for Canon since its release in 2022 alongside the EOS R7. It’s not the cheapest in the EOS R lineup, with both the EOS R50 and the EOS R100 coming in under its price, but it’s a pretty affordable camera, with a lightweight build, intelligent autofocus and reliably solid image quality.

Personally, I doubt the boat will be rocked much here. Were I a betting person, I’d say that we’d expect to see improvements in the subject-recognition autofocus, more sustained burst speeds with a deeper buffer (the original EOS R10 could shoot at 15fps, but not for very long), and perhaps a nudge-up of resolution from 24.2MP to 32.5MP, so as to better distinguish the EOS R10 from its cheaper siblings.

What do you make of Canon's rumored upcoming models? Have your say in the comments below.

Fancy taking to the skies? DJI is the brand you're probably looking at — it's the name behind almost all the best drones around right now. If you're new to the world of drones, figuring out your options is tricky. This article is here to guide you through your options. I'll run through the main DJI ranges and who they're aimed at, and then once you've narrowed things down you can hop to the relevant section to read our reviews for each model. Let's get started...

Note: You'll only be able to see product cards for the models currently available to buy in your region. Due to FCC issues, not all DJI drones are available in the US. Hit the More details button to read our main takeaways for each model, and for a link to the full review.

DJI range guide

DJI Mini
DJI's flagship compact drones, and the best-selling range for beginner pilots. These are all sub-250g models, which means they come with little-to-no flight restrictions, depending on where you fly.
• Check out the Mini lineup

DJI Air
A step up from the Mini series, aimed at enthusiasts. These drones fall into the next weight category up, which means they're sturdier and you'll be able to fly for longer, but you'll need your region's equivalent of a certificate of competency before you fly.
• Check out the DJI Air lineup

DJI Mavic
Top-tier consumer drones with industry-leading camera performance. These are another step up from the DJI Air range, and again you'll need a certificate of competency before you fly.
• Check out the DJI Mavic lineup

DJI Neo
The cheapest, smallest, lightest and simplest DJI drone. It comes with single-push take-off from your hand, designed for aerial selfies (this kind of drone is sometimes referred to as a selfie drone).
• Check out the DJI Neo lineup

DJI Avata
FPV (first person view) drones, designed to be used with goggles for immersive high-speed and responsive flight — legally you need a 'spotter' with you when flying drones through goggles.
• Check out the DJI Avata lineup

There are a few standalone options to be aware of. The Lito is a straightforward beginner drone at an extremely wallet-friendly price — it's a step down from the Mini range in both price and capabilities. The DJI Flip is another beginner drone with vlogger-friendly features. At the other end of the scale is the DJI Inspire range, aimed at professionals — the kind of thing that might be hired for productions.

DJI Mini drones

DJI Mavic drones

DJI Air drones

DJI Neo drones

DJI Avata drones

Outliers

In my work, my absolute favorite days are the ones where I just get to take pictures. I’m testing a new camera or a new film stock, and so I’ve got nothing on the agenda other than heading to some locations that are beautiful or interesting (or, ideally, both) and capturing images of them. At the end of the day I’m normally tired, sweaty, have new blisters on my feet — and feel fantastic.

But those days are quite rare. Often I’m consumed with other things, the nitty-gritty of writing, work, life-admin and everything else. Trying to be more efficient, for money and time reasons, means that I tend to do my photography in big infrequent chunks — and some research I’ve seen is making me reconsider that approach.

The benefits of a regular photography habit for mental health are well-documented. British photo retailer MPB, in announcing its partnership with mental-health charity Mind, points to a study in the peer-reviewed journal Health which finds that taking a photo every day provides tangible benefits in terms of mental well-being.

British photographer, broadcaster and passionate nature advocate Chris Packham is a huge believer in the power of photography to effect a positive mental change. ‘Photography has always been a conscious way of addressing chronic or specific mental health issues in my life,’ he says.

‘When I'm peering down the lens, I'm so engrossed in the objective, so intensely involved with the technical and creative process, that the rest of the world vanishes. It's just me and the photo. The exterior anxieties are relegated to oblivion, and I get maximal relief.’

‘For me, photography is a key part of a portfolio of tried and tested therapies which consistently enhance positive mental health outcomes.’

And it’s not just taking photos! Even the simple act of viewing them can have a positive effect. MPB also cites a 2024 survey undertaken by Fujifilm, in which 80% of respondents reported that viewing old photos brought them feelings of happiness and calm, and helped to reduce anxiety.

Building a daily habit

I'm grateful to MPB and Mind for making me think more mindfully about how I engage with photography. It's also worth noting that the retailer is putting its money where its mouth is, and donating £1 to Mind for every item bought or sold on its marketplace this August, working towards its goal of £50,000 a year for the charity.

The campaign has got me thinking that I’m missing out on the mindful benefits of a daily (or near-daily) picture-taking habit. When I’m using my camera, I’m not looking at my phone. I’m not even thinking about the cursed thing; it’s normally in my backpack. I think this could be of much greater mental benefit if I were doing it regularly for shorter sessions.

Our cameras editor Tim Coleman tried screen-free photography for a week and found it made him feel more immersed and connected with his shooting. Even when using a digital camera, it felt like a digital detox — something that people frequently say they want more of!

So if you, like me, tend to plan your photo-taking around long days that you only get to enjoy every so often — it might be worth thinking about ways you can incorporate a more frequent habit, too.

Bringing the camera on a walk to the station to capture details of your local community. Building a twenty-minute walk into your lunch break to see what sights unfold around you. It won’t just benefit your photography, but could also have a real, positive, tangible impact on your mental well-being.

• Tornyol's drone tracks mosquitoes by their wingbeat and takes them down mid-flight
• Can autonomously patrol areas of up to 5 acres
• Preorders are open with a refundable $100 deposit, ahead of a targeted 2027 US launch

Tornyol, a San Francisco-based startup backed by Y Combinator, has built an autonomous micro-drone whose sole purpose is finding mosquitoes and flying straight into them. Forget spray, swatters and stinky citronella candles that go out halfway through your al fresco dinner — this propellered assassin can keep your yard bug-free all on its own.

Or at least, that's what its makers claim. Tornyol's drones use ultrasonic phased-array sonar — the same basic principle behind a car's parking sensors — paired with smartphone-grade microphones and custom signal-processing software. The system listens for the specific wingbeat frequency of a mosquito, distinguishes it from harmless insects like bees, and then closes in for a mid-air kill, using its whirring propellers as the business end. In other words, the mosquito is chopped to bits.

The company says its base station carries a 380-microphone array capable of tracking targets in real time to a distance of around 8m, with future planned drone versions likely to bring that sensing ability onto the aircraft itself.

Each drone flies for around five minutes at a time before heading back to its base station to recharge, a process Tornyol says takes about 30 minutes. The idea is a relay of short, targeted flights rather than a drone loitering in the air all evening. A single unit is pitched as capable of covering up to five acres (over 20,000 square meters).

As for safety, Tornyol cites the drone's tiny size and shrouded propellers as proof that it's safe to have buzzing around family and pets.

You can reserve one right now for a refundable $100 deposit. Once the drone is ready to ship, you'll be given a choice between an ongoing $50-a-month subscription or a one-off payment of $1,100 to own the hardware outright. A US launch is pegged for 2027, but availability everywhere else is TBC, pending local drone and pest-control regulatory approval — which, given what this thing actually does, may take a while.

It's pitched as being about more than backyard convenience, too. Tornyol frames its tech as a public health boon: mosquitoes are linked to roughly 700,000 deaths a year worldwide through diseases like malaria and dengue, and the company claims its approach could eventually slash the cost of mosquito control.

Right now, though, the achievements are more modest: on July 14, Tornyol co-founder Alex Toussaint posted a video of the drone's first confirmed "air-to-air kill": a moth, in a curtained-off test area, rather than a mosquito in the wild.

Here's the buzzkill

So: a small, autonomous, AI-guided drone that identifies living targets and kills them on sight, patrolling your garden 24/7. What could possibly go wrong?

I'll admit that my sympathy for the mosquito is limited. Few people are going to find issue with a device that quietly thins out a blood-sucking insect responsible for ruining many a summer evening. If Tornyol's drones work as advertised and stay in their lane, this is about as palatable a "killer robot" as killer robots get.

But that's the thing about a system built to autonomously identify a target by sound and eliminate it: the target list is a software decision rather than a hardware one. Tornyol's own marketing boasts of distinguishing mosquitoes from "beneficial" insects like bees — which suggests the drone's kill criteria are, by design, adjustable. Currently it's tuned to a mosquito's wingbeat, but what's stopping a future firmware update — or a different customer altogether — from retuning it for something else?

And once you're comfortable with an autonomous hunter-killer aircraft policing the back garden, the scope creep writes itself. Mosquitoes today. Flies tomorrow, probably without much complaint either. But mice? Rats? Pigeons? Those are bigger, warmer-blooded and considerably more sympathetic targets, and if we're talking about robots that hunt and kill creatures on your property, where does the line get drawn — and by whom?

Tornyol's engineers appear to be solving a real problem, and it's a no-brainer to root for a tool that could put a dent in a global killer like malaria. But there's something dystopian about killer domestic robots too, and this is a solid first step to putting them in our homes.

Panasonic made quite a splash when it announced the Lumix L10 at its Lumix 25th anniversary event in May this year. I called it 'Panasonic's prettiest Lumix in years', and many tech journalists, myself included, have compared it to the viral Fujifilm X100VI.

These are two premium compact cameras with retro design and high-end features, but both take a different swing at the format. For example, the Lumix L10 packs a 20MP Micro Four Thirds sensor and 24-75mm f/1.7-2.8 lens, while the X100VI shoots 40MP stills with an APS-C sensor and fixed 35mm f/2 lens.

I've already compared the two based on specs and my extensive experience with each camera separately in my Lumix L10 vs X100 VI article. But I was keen to see which one I personally prefer based on using the cameras side by side — it had been a while since I last used the X100 VI.

So, with my loan samples in hand, I headed out, taking the same photos with each camera in a variety of scenarios, including travelling, commuting and weekends exploring. Objectively, each camera has its practical advantages over the other, but there was one camera that truly gave me the feels...

The head

If I'm to make a list of pros and cons based on features and specifications, then each model has distinct advantages over the other.

In favor of the X100VI: its 35mm f/2 prime lens quality, 40MP resolution (which is twice that of the Lumix L10), in-body image stabilization, quicker start-up time, fancier viewfinder, and its next-level retro aesthetics.

There's plenty going for the Lumix L10, mind you: its versatile 3.1x optical zoom lens, superior battery life, Real Time LUTs profiles (which for me outdo Fujifilm's film simulations), superior burst shooting speeds, snappier autofocus, vari-angle screen, plus its video performance has the edge. Oh, and it costs less — depending on which region you live in, the price difference can be pretty sizable.

Speaking objectively, I believe I'd get more use from the Lumix L10, especially the telephoto end of its 24-75mm f1.7 to f/2.8 lens. It is overall a more versatile camera. However, objectivity goes out the window when considering creative tools such as cameras for personal use.

We can talk features all day, but you really need to get a feel for a camera, and the only way to do that is to get properly hands-on, which is exactly what I did with the L10 and X100VI side by side. And in doing this direct comparison, a favorite quickly emerged.

The heart

Rather than getting bogged down in features and specifications, I'm going to articulate what it felt like to use each camera, because honestly that's more important in the long run, especially for this kind of premium compact camera designed for personal, daily use. (My workhorse mirrorless camera is another matter — it's there to do a job efficiently and reliably.)

I'm going to come right out and say it — I enjoyed the X100 VI more. Aesthetically, it has the edge: both cameras are retro, but the X100 VI is next-level with its manual exposure dials and hybrid viewfinder. With the two slung over my shoulder, it was the X100VI that I wanted to reach for first.

When I did, the X100 VI required more effort to master; there's more involvement in operating the exposure controls and such, which I actually preferred as a serious photographer. I liked how much more premium it felt in the hand too: the weightiness, the dampened shutter button...the X100VI just felt... better.

I also appreciated its quicker start-up time, and liked how much more compact its prime lens is. The hybrid viewfinder was more enjoyable too, especially since I'm in the small camp of photographers who genuinely enjoy the optical viewfinder.

Sure, I'd rather that autofocus was as good as the Lumix L10's. And for a variety of scenarios, wished that I could zoom the lens. And it's not like I didn't get any feeling with the Lumix L10 — how its lens handles in particular is a delight. But for feeling alone, and that sense of pursuing a craft, the X100VI captured my heart all over again.

Lumix L10 vs Fujfilm X100VI: the images

A collection of Panasonic Lumix L10 pictures. I have matched the Fujifilm X100VI's 35mm focal length in most of these samples, but I have also included some at different focal lengths to show how versatile it can be.

And the comparisons with the Fujifilm X100VI. For both cameras, I set the color profile to the standard setting, but in reality I would be playing around with various looks and making selective exposure adjustments.

How a camera handles is a major part of the equation — but the resulting images need to be easy on the eye too.

With wildly different sensor sizes, number of pixels, and types of lens, it's tough to pick one camera over the other, plus some assumptions about image quality need to go out the window.

For one, despite having the smaller sensor, the Lumix L10 actually has bigger pixels and light-gathering potential, so don't assume that the X100VI is better in low light. Also, beyond sensor size and pixels, the Lumix L10's autofocus is overall more reliable, so you're more likely to get a sharp image in the first place, depending on the scenario and camera settings.

But for direct comparisons, as in matching the X100VI's 35mm f/2 lens with the Lumix L10 as close as possible (35mm f/2.3), I think what pleased me the most overall is the X100VI's superior control over depth of field.

When I took street portraits at 35mm, the X100VI's images were easier on the eye. I also liked having 40MP to play with and the greater level of detail in the pictures. The X100VI was also less susceptible to lens flare.

That said, the Lumix L10 has that zoom lens versatility, and when set to 75mm and f/2.8, it is very capable of shallow depth of field portraiture too, with a greater compression effect that I prefer.

As for color, I didn't have a strong enough feeling scouring my images to recommend one camera over the other, though the Lumix L10 Real Time LUTs profiles are more versatile.

Conclusion

If you're considering the Lumix L10 or the Fujifilm X100VI, then the choice is tough, and, in truth, you'll be happy with either model! They are two of the best premium compact cameras, with a string of unique advantages over the other.

For me, however, the decision goes beyond specifications and features, and to an underlying feeling that I would get more joy in using the X100VI regularly than I would with the Lumix L10, even though the L10 is more practical. My head says Panasonic Lumix L10, my heart says Fujifilm X100VI.