The Canon Powershot D10 looks like a toy camera from the front and a toy submarine (no kidding) from the top. In fact, with it’s bright blue color and large buttons, you’ll probably be hard-pressed to take it seriously the first time you see it. Hold off your judgment, though, because the D10 is quite the capable shooter.
More than just being another compact digicam, the D10 marks Canon’s entry into the rugged outdoor-camera market. Yes, that bulbous toy-like contraption is a waterproof and shock-resistant beast (okay, a mini-beast). Canon claims that it can immerse in up to 10 meters of water (verified on our end) and drop onto hard surfaces from up to 1.22 meters (not verified, as we don’t want to risk it).
As expected of any handheld device with durable qualities, it’s a tad bigger than most compact cameras and weighs around 240 grams with the batteries in tow. It’s best stored inside a backpack or a purse – the dimensions are a tad too bulky for your jeans pocket, unless you’re MC Hammer circa 1990s. If the default blue design doesn’t float your boat, you can opt for a different faceplate, though you’ll have to buy them separately.
The camera comes with a host of great options (image stabilization, motion detection, scenes, etc) that you can expect from a Canon compact, most of them accessible from the 2.5-inch PureColor LCD, which comes protected by a 2mm Perspex shield. Specs, for the technically inclined, are as follows: 12.1 megapixels, 3x optical zoom (6.2-18.6mm f/2.8-f/4.9 lens), ISO range 80-1600, shutter speed of 15-1/1500 sec, maximum 4000 x 3000 image resolution and DIGIC 4 processing.
Handling is tops with the camera, from the use of the controls to moving between menus. The body grips surprisingly well, despite its rotund frame. LCD display is crystal clear, whether in a room, under the sun or in the water. At the best image setting, battery is just good for 220 frames, so make sure you have a way of replenishing when you’re outdoors.
Wearing heavy gloves (this is an outdoor camera, after all), you end up appreciating the large buttons, which remain easy to click, unlike most cameras. Images are gorgeous under pretty much any condition we tried – indoors, outdoors, poor lighting and right in the water. It comes with an interesting Aquarium mode, which basically shuts out the flash (among other things) so you can take a photo from outside the aquarium that looks like it was taken underwater!
The zoom will probably be a problem for those looking to photograph underwater since the 3x zoom doesn’t really let you shoot very distant scenes. It’s an understandable trade-off, though, since this thing will likely balloon to an uncomfortable size if they tried to soup it up. The auto-exposure system wasn’t the best we’ve tried, which could cause a bit of trouble during action shoots.
At a $600 price tag, the Canon Powershot D10 isn’t cheap. But for underwater, unruly weather and outdoor shooting, though, you really can’t complain – it gets the job done.
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