At almost the same price as a mid-ranged smartphone, the Canon PowerShot V10 may seem like a redundant purchase. Unless, that is, you're a certain sort of person. The quirky combination of a wide angle lens, flippable screen and build in stand is difficult for any vlogger to ignore. Its compact size doesn't allow much space for battery life or temperature control but the former is nothing a power bank can't fix.
-
Design
-
Features
-
Battery
-
Performance
-
Value
It may not seem like there’s much separating Canon’s PowerShot V10 from a smartphone when it comes to snapping pics or shooting vids. Both feature capable cameras that you can vlog from directly. The PowerShot takes the lead with its flippable touch screen and is comfortably one of the better selfie cameras on the market thanks to its wide-angle 4K skills. It also goes toe-to-toe with flip phones that offer solo shooting thanks to its nifty built-in stand. There’s no question that the PowerShot would be handy for any vlogger but is it worth the extra pocket space?
Handy but hardly a handful
The 211g PowerShot V10 fits comfortably into your palm. It’s compact and simple to use, with a record button up front under the lens and a simple keypad under the screen. It may be a little too simple as there were numerous times we found it accidentally recording — but that got better with practice.
A small, capable compact camera can be a boon when shooting content in the field but there were times we felt that the PowerShot’s size worked against it. Users with larger hands may find difficulty handing the dinky little keys without frustration.
The flippable screen makes recording selfies or vlogs simple without compromising camera quality, as is often the case with smartphones. Touch controls give you access to playback functions, camera mode selection, and exposure and colour temperature controls.
There were times when the touch controls got in the way but thankfully you’re able to toggle them off. The onscreen buttons came in handy when we were using the built-in stand in selfie mode and couldn’t see the rear panel.
The PowerShot V10 is designed for very specific uses. That doesn’t mean you’re completely limited to those uses but we found, when placed on our desk, the angle isn’t the most gratifying. Good thing there’s a 20 UNC thread underneath which unlocks further mounting possibilities when paired with the tripod you’ve doubtless got lying around.
Small camera, big videos
The PowerShot V10 may be smaller than a phone but it records big videos — up to 4K at 30 fps if you want to max it out. For scenes with more movement, it can shoot 60 fps at FHD. The downside to shooting 4K videos in standard mode is the fact that the camera’s battery and temperature take a big hit. The light version of 4K shooting uses IPB digital compression to produce smaller videos that put less strain on the battery.
The battery life of the PowerShot V10 is its biggest weakness. We got about 65 minutes of footage on one charge, shooting in FHD. Shooting in 4K resulted in a temperature warning after about 6 minutes. After just under 20 minutes of shooting the camera shut itself down. Even shooting 4K video in light mode has the unit overheat in the same amount of time.
While the PowerShot has some very glaring shortcomings, it has features to mitigate them. After our light mode overheating session there was enough battery to continue recording once the camera cooled down. It’s also worth noting that while the battery may die quite quickly, charging it takes no longer than 25 minutes.
Swiss pocket camera
While not the main draw, stills with the PowerShot are decent enough, even though their resolution won’t exceed 5,472 x 3,648. That, together with the limited picture adjustments, tells us snapping pictures is more of a value-add than a feature.
The PowerShot’s physical 6.6mm lens is a 35mm equivalent with a 19mm focal length. Effectively it’s a wide-angle lens that’s great for capturing surroundings while vlogging. Pairing it with the flippable screen was a masterstroke for selfie shooting, helping to effectively frame your shots. That’s only for landscape mode though, portrait mode comically shrunk our subjects so we avoided it. It would be nice to have a dedicated portrait option but you can work around that with your framing.
The PowerShot V10 comes with various shooting modes to enhance video footage, namely: ‘auto’, ‘smooth skin’, ‘Movie IS’ (image stabilisation), and ‘manual’. Although we did most of our shooting in ‘auto’, ‘Movie IS’ came in handy for shots with a lot of movement. It’s no action camera but it makes a noticeable difference. ‘Smooth skin’ would probably be useful for beauty vloggers while we found the manual mode useful in low-light conditions as you’re able to manually set exposure, ISO, and aperture to your liking.
Beyond shooting modes, the PowerShot V10 offers other ways to enhance footage with the Q button. That includes resolution and framerate selection and switching between facial recognition, autofocus, and specific frame focus. You’ll need to adjust the former when filming fast-moving scenes while the latter makes changing from handheld to hands-free a breeze.
14 preset colour filters and a colour tone slider make up the colour temperature control while white balance settings are found in the camera menu. There is 3x digital zoom, which we don’t recommend, but we appreciated the ability to do some basic video trimming in the gallery.
Mainstream app
The most noteworthy part of the PowerShot’s connectivity feature is its live streaming. This is done directly to a YouTube or Twitch channel, a Facebook page, or a direct streaming URL. Unfortunately, it only supports FHD at 30 fps but there is a choice between 3.5 and 6 Mbps upload speed. Beyond that, the camera remote works the way most camera apps do.
Shooting with the BT remote provides all the controls found on the touch screen and a view of what the camera sees. The only added benefit is the ability to adjust the white balance without having to go to the PowerShot’s menu. Importing works the same way a printer would by transferring the files through a shared Wi-Fi network. Bluetooth transfer is also an option but it’s slower.
Canon V10 PowerShot verdict
Canon’s PowerShot V10 is a camera with a clear purpose — being the best option for a vlogger on the go. The flippable screen and wide-angle lens make framing yourself effortless and almost justify the purchase alone. Its compact size and weight make it super easy to pull out on a scenic hike, pumping concert, or family gathering and its built-in stand means a tripod isn’t strictly required for stationary shots.
On the other hand, while the PowerShot V10 gives you the option of shooting in 4K you won’t get very far before you’re hit with a temperature warning or run out of battery.
The PowerShot V10 comes in at just under R10,000 so purchasing a smartphone for roughly the same price would probably be better value for most people. But most people aren’t vloggers and don’t need to shoot videos of themselves while simultaneously playing a mobile game, reading their stream’s live chat, and trying not to get hit by traffic.