Canon is lastly entering into the vlogging digital camera enviornment, and it’s doing so with a unusual new point-and-shoot geared towards a senseless “set-it-and-forget-it” crowd I’m undecided exists. The $429.99 Canon PowerShot V10 is an cute little digital camera concerning the measurement of an extra-thick deck of playing cards that packs a set 19mm equal f/2.8 lens and marries it to a 20.9-megapixel one-inch-type sensor.
It data 4K at as much as 30 fps and is geared towards filming your self with an articulating display screen, entrance and rear file buttons, stereo mics with a 3.5mm mic jack, a Micro HDMI port, digital picture stabilization, and a kickstand for propping it up. It’s anticipated to launch in June.
What makes the V10 attention-grabbing is its throwback design, which jogs my memory a bit of these historical Flip Video cameras. And like these long-dead cameras, when held upright, it movies horizontally, which makes it appear extra suited to YouTube content material creation than TikTok or Instagram Reels. You may flip it sideways for vertical recording, after all, however the built-in kickstand isn’t actually designed to carry it up that approach.
The PowerShot V10 doesn’t have many buttons, because it partially depends on contact controls utilizing its postage stamp of a two-inch 3:2 LCD. Its simplistic providing of controls echoes the V10’s strategy to entry-level content material creation. It’s not a digital camera designed to supply management over each little setting, which is unlucky since that may be useful for newcomers to develop and study with.
For instance, its ISO vary of 125 to 12,800 in stills mode just isn’t even manually selectable, and the digital camera doesn’t help any type of handbook focusing. Maybe these are wonderful if somebody is simply taking on-the-go movies, however the V10’s limitations remind me of the unhealthy previous days of digital point-and-shoot cameras — the place settings are restricted since you’re to not be trusted or revered sufficient to make use of them appropriately. That ISO vary, by the best way, will get reduce right down to a most of 3200 for 4K filming and 6400 in 1080p. Additionally, the 20.9-megapixel sensor is simply utilizing an efficient 13.1 megapixels for video and 15.2 megapixels for stills. Oh, however don’t fear, it’s acquired 5 ranges of software program pores and skin smoothing.
For the reason that V10 is video-focused, it’s acquired some handy options like a built-in impartial density filter, and its contrast-based autofocus helps face detection that may sense once you’re holding up a product to concentrate on it. However there’s no eye detection to talk of and no log recording or uncooked seize for pictures, both. You’re restricted to 8-bit recording in Rec.709 shade with MP4 information. And the V10’s small stature (which weighs simply 211 grams) means it solely helps microSD playing cards, with a built-in 1,250mAh battery that recharges by way of USB-C and tops out at an estimated 55 minutes of 4K video recording.
The V10’s restrictions and omissions is probably not deal-breakers in the event you use the digital camera for moveable vlogging and easy livestreaming and barely ever fear about fine-tuned controls. However content material creators, even newcomers, are usually not silly. Many of those creators are already filming on their very succesful telephones, which does supply some room to develop in the event you go for third-party equipment like a gimbal or apps like Halide, and making the bounce to a devoted digital camera must respect their capabilities and present extra upside than only a bigger sensor to file on.
However since that is the beginning of a brand new line for Canon, maybe it’s simply the primary peek at what’s to come back. After I requested Canon if we are able to assume extra vlog-centric cameras are nonetheless to come back, Drew MacCallum, senior supervisor of digital camera product planning for Canon USA, stated “completely.” With this new line, Canon appears conscious that vlogging is among the final vestiges for devoted point-and-shoot cameras, so right here’s to hoping future fashions don’t endlessly slip into the identical PowerShot trappings of previous. There’s a motive most of these kinds of point-and-shoots died off.