Canon PowerShot V10

The PowerShot V10 represents a new tack for Canon and its first venture into dedicated vlogging cameras. It’s an interesting entry-level product which we hope will be followed up with more developed models in the future.

While it’s a bit more convenient to use than a smartphone – and the fold-out stand plays a key role here – we’ve not been seriously tempted to invest AU$699 in it as a smartphone replacement thus far. Imaging and video performance is not quite up to the performance of a recent phone.

Announced in early May 2023, the PowerShot V10 is Canon’s first compact camera to be designed specifically for vlogging and marks the start of a completely new series of compact PowerShots targeted at content creators. Capable of recording JPEG stills at up to almost 20-megapixel resolution, it weighs only 211 grams and its sturdy vertical body measures 63.4 x 90.0 x 34.3 mm, which is small enough to fit into the palm of your hand. Its vertical design and simple control layout allows it to be operated single-handedly.

The all-black (left) and black and silver (right) colour versions of the PowerShot V10 on their stands. (Source: Canon.)

The PowerShot V10 is offered in all-black and black and silver colours for an RRP of AU$699. It is supplied with a USB charging cable and a wrist strap cord and comes in recyclable, plastic-free packaging.

Readers should note that because the PowerShot V10 can only record stills photos in JPEG format with the full auto mode – which means aperture and ISO settings aren’t adjustable. This means we can’t carry out our normal Imatest tests on this camera.

Who’s it For?The PowerShot V10 is an entry-level camera, targeted at a particular market sector: point-and-shoot videographers who want a compact recording device that is easy to use and has an affordable price tag. It won’t suit those interested in shooting stills because of its point-and-shoot interface – and the lack of the ability to adjust important parameters like aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings.

On the video front, its basic capabilities are similar to a smartphone, although most smartphones are a bit more versatile and provide several camera/lens modules to give them zooming capabilities, which are sometimes quite extensive. The V10’s fixed, 6.6mm f/2.8-f/8 lens covers the equivalent of 18mm in 35mm format for stills and 19mm in video mode and the only zooming is the cropping associated with digital stabilisation.

On the plus side, the V10 is a bit easier to hold than most phones, although a bit bulkier than your smartphone but still quite pocketable. Its handy fold-out stand genuinely makes it easier for remotely-controlled shooting, but how many people will find this convenience worth more than $600 for these slim benefits?

The relatively large 13.2 x 8.8 mm BSI-CMOS sensor of the V10 is the same one as used in the four-year-old Powershot G7 X III. While it should also deliver slightly better image quality than a smartphone, that may be debatable when you take into account the extensive (and sophisticated) processing many phones include.

The DIGIC X processor, which dates back to February 2020, is also getting long-in-the-tooth, although Canon has used it in the more recent EOS R6 II and EOS R8 cameras which are far more capable and versatile than the V10. But you can’t help thinking ‘dated technology’ nonetheless.

The lack of an EVF (electronic viewfinder) will also deter some potential buyers, particularly if they enjoy shooting outdoors in bright conditions. The small (42 x 29 mm) LCD screen isn’t particularly easy to use on sunny days and, although its touch control capabilities are handy, people with large fingers or limited dexterity may have problems using them.

VideoVideo capabilities are much as you’d expect in a camera of this type and relatively simple. You start with a choice between NTSC and PAL system formats and all recordings are made in the MP4 format with IPB compression. PAL users can choose between 4K 25p and Full HD 50p or 25p, each with Standard and Light compression.

By default recordings are made in landscape orientation; if you want to shoot portraits or vertical movies you must rotate the camera, as shown in the illustration below.

Shooting a vertical selfie with the PowerShot V10. (Source: Canon.)

Soundtracks are recorded by default with levels adjusted automatically, although manual over-ride is available for adjusting audio levels. You can also turn off the recording and record silently.

There’s no wind filter for suppressing unwanted noise when recording outdoors so you can expect wind noise will be captured in outdoor recordings. The maximum recording time per clip is one hour, after which recording stops automatically. Internal temperatures are monitored during recordings and the camera will shut down when it starts to overheat.

Camera SettingsThe only ‘Photo’ setting is Auto Photo, which relies on scene analysis. An icon showing the type of scene detected is displayed in the top right corner of the screen In addition, it can’t record raw files, although you can select from four aspect ratio settings: the native 3:2 plus 4:3, 16:9, 1:1, which are achieved by cropping.

The four aspect ratio settings available for shooting with the PowerShot V10: from the top – 3:2, 4:3, 16:9, 1:1.

Self-timers are available for shooting both stills and movies, with delays of two or 10 seconds selectable. But that’s your lot as far as stills photography is concerned!

While the default focus and exposure settings are also fully automatic for video recordings, the V10 also offers a manual exposure movie mode, where you can adjust shutter speed, lens aperture and ISO. Exposure compensation is also possible – but only when Auto ISO is selected – and a ND filter is available with three settings – Off, Auto and On. An Auto Slow Shutter setting is available to minimise noise during low light level recordings. White balance is adjustable with the regular Canon presets and Kelvin adjustments.

Two autofocusing modes are selectable, Face Tracking AF (which is limited to human subjects) and Specified Frame AF, which relies on the touch screen to position the focus point. Autofocusing in based on contrast detection, which means it can fail when confronted with low-contrast scenes, low light levels, small subjects and subjects where it’s difficult to find a contrast boundary. Distant subjects and subjects that keep moving within the frame can also be difficult to lock onto.

This image shows the native angle of view of the lens in the PowerShot V10 with the Digital IS switched off.

This image shows how much the field of view of the lens in the PowerShot V10is cropped when the Digital IS is switched on.

Swapping to the Enhanced Digital IS setting applies even more cropping.

The stabilisation options are limited to digital only, which crops the frame a little. Only three settings are provided: Off, On and Enhanced; the latter cropping the frame more than the On setting, as shown above. The V10 also provides a Movie Auto Level setting that is only available when stabilisation is disabled. It also works by cropping the frame.

The menu also provides a setting that can superimpose a 3 x 3 grid on the screen to assist shot composition, along with a Recording Emphasis setting that displays a blinking red frame around the screen when recordings are in progress. An Aspect marker setting in the menu lets you display an outline of the aspect ratio on the screen during standby and recording in movie mode. They’re not applied to the final recording.The Reverse Display setting changes the screen view to a mirror image so the scene look the right way round when you’re recoding with the camera facing you. You can also engage a power-saving Standby mode that reduces the screen viewing quality to save power and prevent overheating in periods between recordings.

For those who like using filters to boost the impact of their videos, the V10 includes 14 built-in colour filter effects with names such as ‘Story Teal & Orange’, ‘Retro Green’, ‘Tasty Warm’ and ‘Bright Amber’. The downloadable user manual provides tips on how each can be used. There’s also a Smooth Skin mode for making subjects’ faces appear blemish-free.

Playback options are essentially unchanged from the regular Canon functions and include the normal protect, erase, rotate and rating functions for stills plus play, combined fast forward and reverse with skip forward/back functions and volume adjustments for audio playback. Touch controls are available for most settings.

You can also connect the V10 to a TV set with a commercially-available HDMI cable for direct playback. The V10 can also record directly to an external device via an HDMI cable, although not simultaneously to the memory card. It also supports wireless streaming via Bluetooth when paired to a smartphone with Canon’s Camera Connect app. Live streaming is also supported, enabling the V10 to be used as a webcam.

Build and ErgonomicsThe vertical body represents a totally new design for Canon and its small size makes it inconspicuous when you’re out and about. It’s easy to shoot one-handed, thanks to the vertical grip, which puts the main controls within easy reach.

The fold-out built-in stand allows it to be placed on a desktop (or similar flat surface) so it’s easy to record ‘selfie’ presentations via the BR-E1 Bluetooth connection This is a genuine ‘convenience’ feature that will make it easier for vloggers to set the camera up to record themselves performing or demonstrating a product or process for sharing online. The flip-up screen – with the ability to invert the display so it’s right-way-up – is another welcome convenience feature vloggers should appreciate.

The handy flip-out stand enables the V10 to be set up for vertical vlogging for those who post content to Tik Tok. (Source: Canon.)

The body appears to be made from tough polycarbonate plastic and it’s solidly constructed and well designed, although the battery is non-removable so there’s no benefit in carrying a spare to make up for its rather limited capacity (~290 shots or about an hour of 4K video per charge). A USB charging cable is provided but you can also use any regular alternatives that have a USB C plug.

The rear panel controls are accessed via four buttons, clustered around an arrow pad with a central Quick Control/Set button. One of these is the power on/off switch and others for accessing the Playback, Menu and Communications/Multi-Access functions (but only in movie mode). A large record stop/start button on the front panel, just below the lens, completes the set.

Simple controls that are easy to access make the PowerShot V10 ideal for non-specialist users. (Source: Canon.)

The 2-inch touchscreen monitor is the only option provided for framing shots. It has a resolution of 460,000 dots and can be tilted up through 180 degrees to face forwards but can’t be rotated.

Two relatively large, omnidirectional stereo microphones are located on the top panel, with three tiny holes for the speaker between them. Unfortunately, no controls are provided for directing sounds from presenters and you can’t fit a wind screen as it would cover part of the monitor screen when it’s flipped up.

It would have been nice to have had a dedicated switch for selecting the stills and movie shooting modes but that can only be done via the menu or the touchscreen controls. However, since this camera is designed mainly for vlogging, complaints will probably be few.

There’s no heat management system, which could present issues if fast cards are used, enabling extended recording times. We found the camera became a little warm during video recordings, even though the slow cards we used restricted clips to a few seconds.

The media slot is located on the base plate and accepts only micro SD cards. Being tiny they can be tricky to insert. The plastic cover to the compartment is tethered to the camera body.

A tripod socket is also provided on the base plate, just next to the memory card slot, so the V10 is easy to mount on a tripod or gimbal. A wrist strap (supplied) attaches to the base, just below the menu button.

Wireless connectivity makes easy to pair the V10 with a smartphone via the Camera Connect app for streaming content to YouTube and Facebook. You can choose between Bluetooth 4.2 and single-band Wi-Fi and, if you want to post on other social media platforms you can enter a URL and stream key and set them up manually.

Performance

Going by our test shots, for stills the V10 appears to have only two aperture settings for stills shots, f/2.8 and f/4. It also has a base sensitivity of ISO 125, which is increased to ISO 200 or ISO 250 in low light levels when shutter speeds are likely to fall below 1/60 second.

In very bright conditions, the shutter speed reached 1/1000 second, although the sensitivity didn’t drop below ISO 125. This is fairly typical of a basic point-and-shoot camera.

Exposure details aren’t recorded in the clip metadata so we can’t say how the stills values translate to video. However, we couldn’t see much difference between the quality of the frames grabbed from video clips and the stills shots. So we thought it could be worthwhile to compare the outputs of the V10 with similar shots taken with our Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone.

On close inspection we think the video clips shot with the V10 weren’t quite as sharp as those from the S22, and it didn’t track subjects quite as accurately while recording moving subjects. This is unsurprising, given the sophisticated – and up to date – processing capabilities of the S22.

The top image was taken from a video clip recorded with the PowerShot V10, while the image below is from a clip recorded taken with the Samsung Galaxy S22 camera-phone. Both were shot in full auto mode at the highest resolution.

When it came to stills, despite their differences in sensor size and resolution (the S22 at around 12 megapixels and the V10 at 20 megapixels) there wasn’t much to choose between them from a subjective perspective. Again, if anything, the shots from the phone were a little sharper and recorded a wider dynamic range.

The top image was taken in Photo mode with the PowerShot V10, while the image below is a stills shot taken with the Samsung Galaxy S22 camera-phone. Both were shot in full auto mode.

We found the PowerShot V10 had a tendency to block up shadows when there were bright highlights in the scene. This is probably a combined effect caused by the lens and the DIGIC X processor, which dates back to February 2020 and is likely to be less powerful than the processor(s) in recently-released smartphones.

This stills shot and the magnified crop taken from it, below, show the restricted dynamic range of the V10 in contrasty scenes.

The wide angle of view also made the lens susceptible to rectilinear distortion, which was not corrected with in-camera processing. It was also quite flare prone, which is to be expected when it’s so small and no lens hood is provided.

Our camera-phone was slightly less distortion prone but also affected by flare when a shot of the same subject from the same position was taken – although in a somewhat different way. The images below compare the two results.This image taken with the PowerShot V10 shows a predominance of veiling flare, which could be due to imperfections in the surfaces of the lens or reflections from internal elements.This image taken with the Samsung Galaxy S22 camera-phone is also flare-affected but mostly in the form of streaking and other artefacts. Slight veiling flare can be seen in the top right corner.Another significant difference between the V10 lies in its close focusing capabilities. The specifications list a minimum focus of 5 cm, which appears to be the absolute minimum. No zooming capability is provided for stills shooting and, while the Digital IS function zooms by cropping it’s only in movie mode.In contrast, smartphone cameras can generally focus very close to subjects because of their tiny sensors and lenses. The examples below shos the closest we could focus with the V10 and the S22 cameras.

The top image was taken with the PowerShot V10 at the minimum focusing distance, while the image below was taken with the Samsung Galaxy S22 camera-phone.

We also found the contrast-detection AF could be a bit hit-and-miss at times and would focus upon the background rather than the subject. Precise AF area selection is not provided, although you can touch the screen to set the focus point. The Digital IS system worked reasonably well although some footage became a little jumpy in low light levels and when moving between bright and dimmer lighting.

The memory card supplied with the camera was a bit too slow for the 4K recordings and would pause the recordings intermittently before stopping after a couple of seconds so the processor could catch up. The camera also became a little warm during longer FHD recordings. Soundtracks were acceptable although wind noise was picked up in quite modest breezes.

ConclusionPlease Login or Register to access the Conclusion.

Image sensor: 13.2 x 8.8 mm BSI-CMOS sensor with 20.9 million photosites (15.2 megapixels effective for stills; 13.1 megapixels for movies)Image processor: DIGIC XA/D processing: 8-bitLens: 6.6mm f/2.8-f/8 (8 elements in 7 groups)Image formats: Stills – JPEG; Movies – MP4 with stereo audioAspect ratios: 3:2, 4:3. 16:9, 1:1Image Sizes: Stills – 5472 x 3648 (max.); Movies – 3840 x 2160 at 25p, 1920 x 1080 at 50p, 25p (PAL format); IB standard & light compression modes Shutter / speed range: Electronic rolling shutter using the image sensor / 1 to 1/2000 second for stills; 1/25 to 1/4000 second for movies (1/8 second shutter speed in movie M mode)Self-timer: Movie self-timer with 2 or 10 seconds delayImage Stabilisation: Movie digital ISExposure Compensation: +/-3EV (in 1/3 EV steps) for moviesFocus system/range: Contrast detection AF with One-shot AF, Movie Servo AF, Face tracking AFFocus area selection: Max. 31 areas for One-shot AF, Subject detection for people onlyMinimum focus: 5 cmExposure metering/control: 384-zone (24 x 16) evaluative metering using the image sensorShooting modes: Auto photo (A+), Auto movie (P), Movie IS mode, Manual exposure movie mode, Smooth skin movieColour filters: Story Teal & Orange, Story Magenta, Story Blue, Pale Teal & Orange, Retro Green, Sepiatone, Accent Red, Tasty Warm, Tasty Cool, Bright Amber, Bright White, Clear Light Blue, Clear Purple, Clear Amber; colour tone adjustments Blue/Amber & Magenta/GreenISO range: ISO125-3200 for 4K movies; up to ISO 6400 for FHD movies (Movie auto ND filter available)White balance: Auto (Ambience/White priority), Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, White fluorescent, Kelvin temperature (2500-10000)Flash: NoStorage Media: microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC, (UHS-I compatible)Viewfinder: NoLCD monitor: Tilting 2-inch TFT colour LCD capacitative touch screen with 460,000 dotsInterface terminals/communications: USB Type-C (USB 2.0), HDMI Type D, External microphone input terminal; Built-in Wi-Fi (wireless LAN) IEEE 802.11b/g/n; Bluetooth Ver. 4.2, WPA3-Personal supportPower supply: Built-in battery pack with USB charging, Rated for approx. 290 shots/charge; Overheating warningDimensions (wxhxd): 63.4 x 90.0 x 34.3 mmWeight: 211 grams (without battery and memory card)

Distributor: Canon Australia; 1800 021 167

ISO 125, 1/125 second at f/4.

ISO 250, 1/60 second at f/2.8.

ISO 200, 1/60 second at f/2.8.

ISO 125, 1/80 second at f/4.

ISO 125, 1/1000 second at f/4.

ISO 125, 1/800 second at f/4.Still frame from 4K 25p video clip.

Still frame from 4K 25p Lite video clip.

Still frame from FHD 50p video clip.

Still frame from FHD 50p Lite video clip.

Still frame from FHD 25p video clip.

Still frame from FHD 25p Lite video clip.

RRP: AU$699