Helen (dpreview, Panasonic forum, 13 July 2004)...
...the camera part of the body is polycarbonate, nicely finished (on the black one I own) in a sort of textured flake finish which resembles the sputtered finish of magnesium alloy-bodied SLRs {as a result, some reviews mistakenly state that the FZ10's body is made out of metal}...The portion of the body containing the lens barrel, the focus ring and the trim ring at the front are all real metal. The extending lens barrel and optional hood are polycarbonate.
To me, it feels tough and creak free, and surprisingly (gratifyingly, to me) light for the size -- which itself isn't as large as I feared.