Canon PowerShot D10 review

For the longest while, your options were highly limited in the waterproof / rugged point-and-shoot arena. In fact, it was arguably better to just buy a standard P&S camera and a waterproof casing for said camera than to worry over any of the standalone waterproof alternatives. When Canon introduced its PowerShot D10 earlier this year, we immediately noticed that this waterproof shooter was quite unlike the models before it. Outside of a somewhat bulbous casing, it didn't look drastically different than some of the thicker, non-waterproof options out there. Not to mention the respectable 12.1 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom and ten meter waterproof rating. Needless to say, we couldn't resist the opportunity to grab this bugger and test it out for a week along the shores of Playa Tamarindo in Costa Rica and Lago Cocibolca in Nicaragua, so follow us past the break to find out if this cam is the perfect accessory for your upcoming beach holiday.

Canon PowerShot D10 hands-on

Introduction

Unlike some of the more frail waterproof cameras out there, Canon integrated a certain level of toughness and rigidity into its D10. Indeed, the company markets this as an "adventure cam," and that's exactly what we went on with this by our side. Designed to be waterproof, freezeproof and shockproof, we were able to sufficiently test all but the middle quality down in Central America, and we have to admit that we're pretty impressed.

Just to give you an idea of what our PowerShot D10 survived, here's a quick rundown: hours upon hours in salty Pacific Ocean waters, numerous drops in the sand, countless button mashes from moist fingertips, a wild ride down Class II / III rapids, a snorkel tour with eels and puffer fish, lawless monkeys grabbing for shiny gadgets, a dodgy border crossing in the pouring rain and a few dips in the pool. And that's just the half of it. In other words, we sought to really see if Canon's D10 would live up to its own claims, and now that we're back -- nursing sunburned patches and mulling the decision to unpack or simply live out of a suitcase for the next month -- we figured it prudent to share our experience.

Design

As a overall camera, the D10 will definitely suffice as your primary point and shoot if you're kosher with toting around a rather large (comparatively speaking) device. We always thought our SD850 IS was pudgy, but the protruding lens on the D10 makes this one even less convenient to tote around. Still, as an adventure camera, it's plenty small. If you're trekking through Nairobi or surfing on the North Shore of O'ahu, you can definitely make room in your backpack or cargo pocket for this. Weight wise, it's perfectly acceptable, and the brilliant decision by Canon to build in four accessory posts around the edges was one we learned to adore. Our D10 shipped with a small accessory kit, which included a trio of colorful face plates and a number of cables that can be affixed to any corner of the camera. The thick, braided cable with twin carabiners on the end proved invaluable in keeping the camera attached to our person while in rafts and getting tossed around like a rag doll in the mighty Pacific. If you're planning on using this in any kind of precarious situation, we'd highly recommend forking out the extra for it. Granted, we would've loved for at least one serious cable to come bundled in (a short wrist strap is all that ships with the unit itself), but hey, you can't have it all.

In most respects, the D10 looks and feels just like a normal camera. Sure, a few of the buttons are rubberized and there are nice internal seals on all of the port openings, but we were yelled at on numerous occasions from onlookers who thought we just accidentally ruined our regular camera by dunking it underwater. In fact, the bottom opening (where the rechargeable battery and SD / SDHC card is slotted) was so traditional that we were legitimately frightened that water would rush in as soon as we plunged in. Thankfully, not a drop of liquid managed to squeak into any port over a solid week of abuse and countless hours under water.

Features and performance

Of note, the rear LCD was truly a gem. Even in broad daylight, we never had an issue seeing the images on-screen. The button layout was also well designed, and Canon Digital Elph users will be particularly at home. The only major differences were the zoom mechanism -- which is handled by two rubber buttons to the right of the LCD -- and the movie mode, which is triggered by a button atop the LCD. Generally speaking, we had no issues navigating the UI, switching from movie mode to still mode (or vice versa) or zooming.

Start up was snappy (well under a second), and all of the buttons were well placed and easy to operate, even while submerged. Unfortunately, the actual shutter and autofocus performance didn't follow suit. In most cases, the camera focused quickly enough for us to capture whatever action was in front of us, but there were a few occasions where we missed out due to sluggish shutter response. It's hardly worse than the average non-waterproof point-and-shoot, but you best be on top of your game if you're hoping to snap that perfect shot before a wave eats you alive.

Toughness and battery life

So, now that we've ran you through the basics, let's talk toughness. Canon advertises this shooter as one that's cut out for adventure, and after surviving more adventures in a week than we've faced in the entire year prior, we'd have to say it really delivers here. The camera didn't flinch after being drug through sand, shoved under salty waters for hours on end or banged up against a surfboard. It even managed to go mano-e-mano with a number of slippery rocks during a white water rafting tour, and it somehow escaped with only minor scratches. Frankly, we were shocked at how well the PowerShot D10 managed to handle abuse, and at the end of the week, everything still functioned like new.

Speaking of battery life, we were able to squeeze out around 45 minutes of VGA video along with a couple hundred snapshots before the battery warning indicator popped up. And, mind you, that's 40 minutes of having the rear LCD flipped on. Outside of that, we never once took enough shots to drain it completely in a day. We didn't go about any formal battery life testing, but overall we were mighty impressed by just how long the rechargeable cell held out. Unless you plan on firing off a thousands shots with flash, battery life shouldn't be a concern.

Canon PowerShot D10 hands-on, post abuse

Image and video quality

Now that we've established everything else, how's about the image quality? In a word, it's solid. When you consider that this is an "underwater camera," which typically arrive with lackluster image quality as a trade off for their adeptness in the seas, we'd say this is easily one of the best we've seen. While out of water, we generated results that were on par, if not slightly better than our SD850 IS. Canon loaded this shooter up with some of its more advanced features (DIGIC 4 processor, optical image stabilization and face detection), and in most cases, you'd never be able to tell that you were shooting with a made-for-water camera. You can have a look at some sample shots we took below (which are completely unedited save for resizing) to judge for yourself, but all in all, we were quite pleased. Also of note, the video mode was perfectly suitable. If you've seen a video from one of the recent PowerShot SDxxx cameras, you've seen a video from the D10. The nice part here, however, is that you can get that quality of video while falling over rocks in an oversized inner tube. Dreamy, no?

Canon PowerShot D10 sample images

That said, we do have our own list of gripes to share. Aside from the slight sluggishness at times, we had more than a few shots marred by fog, water droplets or other foreign matter on the crystal. We know it's impossible to coat this thing with a substance that prevents all buildup, but it's something you should definitely keep in mind. We tried to wipe the crystal clean with our fingertips whenever we could, and in most situations, that sufficed -- even if our fingers were wet. Also, shooting underwater proved quite challenging when outside of the pool. When trying to snap clear, bright images of fish while snorkeling, we had an exceptionally difficult time. We know that it'd be much easier if shooting just inches from the shore in the crystal clear waters of Bora Bora, but you should definitely lower your expectations when trying to snap stills in anything but the clearest, cleanest water. We were, however, satisfied with the underwater video performance (and the video performance in general). Have a look at the clip below to see how it fared underwater on a dark afternoon at sea.




Wrap-up

All told, Canon's PowerShot D10 is a stellar adventure camera. It's more than just a waterproof camera that's only marginally larger than a standard P&S, it's a rugged, lightweight shooter that should suit most everyone but the professionals in attendance. For you all, there's always the $3,000 5D Mark II housing. Priced at around $300 on the streets, we'd say that you'd be hard pressed to find a better bargain considering just how flexible this is. If you've already got a DSLR for your serious shooting, there's no reason the D10 can't be your one and only point-and-shoot companion, regardless of whether you're in or out of the drink. And as for you argonauts -- well, you'd just need a darn good excuse to avoid this.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:06PM]

pretty cool

[One Love Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:12PM]

looks like the underwater photos are no better than a cheapo disposable camera.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:14PM]

one for the kids :)

[One Love Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:28PM]

Picture (28 of 39) - "Hey man, how you enjoying your vacation? They call me brûler (burn), you wanna buy some herb?...cool man, i'll be right back".

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 4:32PM]

May be no better than a cheapo disposable camera, but you aren't paying for development and you get immediate confirmation of your picture quality. Considering how many photographs I take, that is well worth its price in gold.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 4:53PM]

>Maztec: Agreed. The disposable camera's are limited in their picture count and expensive to develop. I have plenty of extra SD cards laying around. This would be great without having to worry about buying a new disposable every time I want to go to the beach. I'm not taking my D90 there "hell naw!"

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 5:02PM]

Anyone one ever heard of the Olympus SW line they have comparable specs but don't look like toy submarines

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 11:25PM]

Yeah, the Olympus SW line looks so much better.
But... the SW line take pictures that pale in comparison to even an disposable camera. Videos are even worse. And are limited to 10 seconds. I know, I owned one.

So people are putting form *way* over function these days?

[plwh888 Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:12PM]

I gotta have it !!!

[One Love Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:14PM]

why?

[ndrwme Posted Jun 25th 2009 3:36PM]

Way to make two useless comments in a row.

[chispito Posted Jun 25th 2009 5:07PM]

You mean four?

[One Love Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:08PM]

...Or a scuba week in St.Lucia july 16th!!!

[CharlieX Posted Jun 25th 2009 4:38PM]

oh lucky lucky you. jackass

[One Love Posted Jun 25th 2009 11:31PM]

charlie bit my finger!

[va jj Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:11PM]

looks like something from disney or sesame street.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:11PM]

re 'bugger', if you're trying to sound English, you need to say 'little bugger', makes it sound more playful and less... well, buggery based.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:12PM]

My wife has this camera, and I've done a bunch of underwater photos with it. It's a really great camera! Only complaint I have is the colors are much more vibrant on the LCD screen than on my calibrated monitor... Still a great camera and a lot of fun.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:13PM]

I'm hungry. What did you guys eat for breakfast?

[Tonezorz Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:15PM]

2 different meal bar things. uggghhh I'm gonna die.

[One Love Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:16PM]

but its lunchtime. (try steak and eggs, put some tabasco on the eggs)

[ajoan0077 Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:33PM]

A bong and a pancake

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:46PM]

@onelove:
I live in the Hawaii. It's 7:45 here. I just ate some curry rice. My hunger is satiated.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 5:46PM]

Omelet:

3 eggs + milk +salsa + cilantro + dill + Mix + Fry + put cheese on top


YUM...

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:14PM]

Great! A waterproof/tough camera that actually delivers on image quality for a change, and at a reasonable price to boot. So comes to end a long legacy of lousy images from the tough but pricey digicam. Remember, folks, it's still not approved for scuba-type depths, for that you'd still need dedicated housing (which really isn't that expensive for P&S digicams).

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:34PM]

Exactly - when we see one of these available to 30m/100ft, there would be no reason for more casual scuba divers to not pick one of these gems up. I'm looking for a replacement for my tired and bulky Powershot S40 / case combo. A D10 to 100ft please :)

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:23PM]

Rugged, fine. But does it have to look like a shiny, bulbous, blue tumor?

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 2:08PM]

Dear Customer,
Feel free to change the colour of the abnormal growth with numerous faceplates.

Regards,
Canon Camera Division

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:25PM]

I'm totally gonna buy one of these, a blue scuba suit, and take spy fotos of ladies at the local YMCA.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:27PM]

Anyone know how it compares to Panasonic's LUMIX DMC-TS1?
Would love one or the other to compliment my dslr.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:43PM]

Not sure how it compares, but I recently got a TS1 for a trip to Hawaii, and it did a great job. It's not the best in super low light (ISO settings of 800 and above are pretty much unusable due to noise, and 400 is walking the line), but it excelled in everything else. Super tough, good image quality both for snapshots, more careful pictures, and underwater. And it does HD video very well as well.

Note - it can't go as deep as the D10 (10 feet instead of 30), but since when I'm snorkeling I rarely get very deep in the water, it doesn't bother me.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:49PM]

My site has no listing for the LUMIX DMC-TS1 ,(thats a good thing the site only lists anoyances and issues)
This camera does though, for what its worth users have submitted the following -

* Chromatic aberration can be prominent in images taken above water.
* In movie mode only digital-zoom is available not optical zoom
* No HD video

hope it helps

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 2:05PM]

Here you go Mike - just uploaded a few resized shots I took on my vacation with the TS1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27878501@N04/

Like I said, I was happy with it.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 2:10PM]

Thanks guys, good stuff!

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 2:31PM]

I got the TS1 when it first came out and put it through two weeks of tests. I ended up returning it because across the board the picture quality was weak compared to my several year old Canon SD700 IS. Obviously the 700 was not waterproof but I don't need to tote more than one compact around and 95% of the time you aren't using it underwater so I needed it to at least match my old 6 MP compact so I could replace it. Of course I was using the TS1's auto modes which seem to rely way too much on the flash versus the Canon in auto mode, so though willing to tweak all the settings might have more luck. I may try out this D10 but am not in love with the size/shape. Or I may give up on the waterpoof cam until they improve PQ in future iterations...

[GeekPI Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:27PM]

Using the underwater case for the SD 700 IS, you can get some amazing underwater shots in macro mode, w/ flash. I'd assume the result would be similar with this camera.

My Sample Image: (1.6 megs)
http://www.geekpi.com/images/SD700fish.jpg

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:58PM]

That's a better shot than I have taken with any camera, ever. I'm beginning to think that instead of a new camera, I need skills.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:28PM]

I dislike the shape... other waterproof models were better cuase it fits in your jeans pocket easier when go to the bar. It doubles as a beer proof camera

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:30PM]

i want one of these!!!!!!!!!11

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:33PM]

You guys gonna review the Panasonic TS1? I got one about 3 weeks ago for a trip to Hawaii (Kauai) I took last week, and was torn between the D10 and the TS1. The TS1 won on looks and form factor for me.

I'm very happy with it too; beat the hell out of it (dropped it accidentally a few times onto concrete sidewalk, no damage to the camera; was underwater for hours while snorkeling, including getting mashed up against some rocks when the water suddenly got a bit rough - camera took a licking but kept on ticking!), good image quality, though sometimes a bit noisy, both underwater and in every day shots (will upload a few and link later today). And it fits a hell-of-a-lot-easier into my pocket than the D10 would have. I'm now using it as my default point-and-shoot, and it's doing a good job.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 2:11PM]

Link to a few sample shots from the TS1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27878501@N04/

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:41PM]

The pictures look horrible! Washed out in the white areas, poor color saturation, blurry. This is an overpriced waterproof phone cam, sorry.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 3:16PM]

The photos suck because of the photographer, not the camera. It's a disservice to Canon to have someone without a clue about photography posting pictures in a "review". Only 3 of the 39 pictures are somewhat decent. But again, it's user error, not the camera.

Darren Murph, you will probably take offense to that, but really, could you have been more selective with the photos you posted? How many of those would you print, frame and hang on your wall?

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:44PM]

Best Underwater Ad EVER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlx7khP_VEM

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 2:22PM]

Hah! Pretty creative.
That Geek is making more money than Agfa is now, no doubt :)

[swild Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:46PM]

this is terrible. My olympus 790 SW takes waay better pictures, and doesn't look like a smurf turd.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:49PM]

Olympus Stylus 1030 SW FTW!!! Smaller, more rugged and doesn't look like a toy! Mine has taken a beaten!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 1:58PM]

Yep, I've have two of the Olympus Stylus SW models, a 790SW (good down to 10ft) and the newer Stylus Tough 8000 (good to 33 ft.). Both are awesome P&S cameras, and I would take any camera from Olympus' SW line over this bulbous looking monstrosity.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 2:09PM]

My only problem with Olympus is their proprietary card - not SD or CF. :(

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2009 2:20PM]

I have the 1030 as well and I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed. Not only are the pictures very impressive (especially sunsets) this camera has been snorkeling and snowboarding with me as well as actually protected my leg in an unfortunate scooter accident in Mexico (and yes it remained waterproof even after that). All that and it doesn't have to look like it was designed by a 3rd grader