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Canon's Powershot A3100 IS is the latest in its "A" series of digital cameras, a line that has enjoyed popularity and customer loyalty since A20 launched 10 years ago. Its popularity is mostly due to the "A" series reputation for delivering excellent image quality and dependable performance. Budget-conscious shooters loved earlier "A" series digital cameras because they were like an inexpensive - and slightly stripped down - version of Canon's "G" series digicams.
The A2000 IS, which was introduced in 2008, was the first step in Canon's makeover of the venerable "A" series. The A2000 was an auto-exposure-only point-and-shoot that lacked manual exposure capability, an optical viewfinder and a handgrip. With the A3100 IS, which replaces the popular A1100 IS, Canon's revolutionary "A" series makeover feels complete.
On the surface, the A3100 IS bears a discernible family resemblance to earlier A series digicams, but under the hood presents a major departure from the basic design philosophy that defined its predecessors. The A3100 IS (like its predecessors) provides excellent bang for the buck. Will it help maintain Canon's dominance in this highly competitive market segment? Let's find out.
In general, the A3100 IS's styling is similar to earlier "A" series cameras; its metal alloy and polycarbonate body is compact, stylish (in a practical sort of way) and durable. The camera feels good in the hand - although a bit small - and is easy to operate. Canon's "A" series digicams have always been powered by relatively cheap and universally available AA batteries, but the A3100 IS (and its nearly identical sibling the A3000 IS) are the first "A" series cameras to be powered by proprietary Canon Lithium-ion battery packs.
The A3100 also incorporates a slight redesign of the control array and a new simplified two tab menu system. Its predecessor featured an optical viewfinder and a rudimentary handgrip; the newest PowerShot eschews both. The A3100 IS is smaller (by about 25%) than its predecessor and looks like a shrunken version of earlier A models. Previous "A" series models were very popular with photo enthusiasts and more serious shooters because they provided a useful range of manual exposure options (Aperture Priority mode, Shutter Priority mode and a full Manual exposure mode), but the A3100 IS uses the same auto exposure-only system as the A1100 IS.
Unlike earlier "A" series units, the A3100 IS is thinner, lighter, easier to use than earlier "A" series digicams and easily pocketable. Earlier "A" series cameras were also marketed to a broader demographic, including photo enthusiasts, but the A3100 IS is clearly targeted toward snap-shooters and casual photographers.
The A3100 IS's user interface is logical and uncomplicated; all buttons are reasonably large, clearly marked, sensibly placed and easily accessed. Operation is basic and all exposure options are minor variations on the auto exposure theme. The four-way controller and FUNC button provide direct access to the most commonly changed/adjusted (exposure compensation, WB, ISO, My Colors, flash, macro mode, etc.) features and functions. Kudos to Canon for keeping the exposure compensation button at the top position on the compass switch, making minor exposure adjustments (incrementally lightening or darkening images) easy.
The A3100 IS's mode dial is one of the best I've seen with a logical, almost intuitive layout, but its placement (top right hand corner of the camera body) is a bit disconcerting since it is very close to and directly in line with the on/off button and the slightly-too-small shutter button. Ergonomically, the shutter button should always hold the top right hand corner position. The mode dial has five dedicated scene positions: portrait, landscape, night snapshot, kids & pets, and indoor. In addition, there is a general scene mode position that leads to a list of less commonly used scene modes including face/self-timer, low-light (2.0 megapixels at 1600 ISO), super vivid, poster effect, beach, foliage, snow, fireworks and long shutter. There's also a dedicated face detection mode button. Canon obviously designed the A3100 IS to as easy to use as possible and most purchasers won't have difficulty using it right out of the box. Menus and ModesThe PowerShot A3100 IS features a simplified two tab version of Canon's classic menu system. The A3100 IS's menu system, accessed via a dedicated button beneath the compass switch, is logical, easy to navigate and simple, since the camera permits only minimal user input. Push the menu button and the "camera/setup" sub-menus appear. The A3100 IS provides an acceptable selection of shooting modes including program, auto, easy and video/movie modes, and a small, but adequate, selection of automatic scene modes. Here's a complete list of the A3100 IS's shooting modes:
Smart Auto: Automatic scene recognition mode that instantly compares what's in front of the lens with an on-board image database and then matches that information with the specific scene's subject distance, white balance, contrast, dynamic range, lighting and color (just before the image is recorded) to determine the best exposure.
Easy: The camera makes exposure decisions with no user input permitted, except for flash on/off.
Program: Auto exposure with limited user input (sensitivity, white balance, etc.)
Scene: portrait, landscape, night snapshot, kids & pets, indoor, face/self-timer, low-light, super vivid, poster effect, beach, foliage, snow, fireworks and long shutter.
Movie: The camera records VGA video at a maximum of 640 x 480 at 30 fps for up to 4GB or one hour.
Like many currently available point-and-shoots, the A3100 IS doesn't have an optical viewfinder, relying instead on the LCD for all framing/composition, captured image review and menu navigation chores. Most casual shooters don't use optical viewfinders and in many shooting scenarios (macro, festivals, events, portraits), it is quicker and easier to watch the decisive moment come together on the LCD screen than it is through the optical viewfinder.
The A3100 IS may lack a viewfinder, but makes up for it by adding a slightly larger (2.7-inch versus 2.5-inch) LCD screen with double (230K versus 115K) the resolution. The A3100 IS's TFT LCD screen is bright, hue accurate, relatively fluid and automatically boosts gain in dim/low light, and it displays exactly (100% of the image frame) what the lens sees. The A3100 IS's LCD works fairly well for framing, composition, captured image review and menu navigation. The user-enabled composition grid display is a nice and useful touch, but it is, like all LCD monitors, subject to fading and glare in bright outdoor lighting. The A3100 IS's nifty chronological image review/compare option makes it easy to select the best picture from a sequence of similar images. Photographerswho try to "nail" the shot by covering static subjects from various perspectives - like me - will love this feature.
PERFORMANCE
While the Canon A3100 IS doesn't look like earlier "A" series cameras, it uses essentially the same exposure system that made its predecessors popular. Exposure is automatically managed by the camera's DIGIC III processor, which combines most primary camera functions (image interpolation and processing, auto exposure, white balance, JPEG compression, gain control and power management) in one chip that improves efficiency and processing speed. In all exposure modes, the camera automatically optimizes all exposure parameters (aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity, WB, etc.) to consistently produce correctly exposed images.
Shooting Performance
Timing (speed of operation) is one of two most important considerations when assessing digital camera performance, and the other is image quality. The A3100 IS comes in right at the top when compared to its competitors, with the exception of the continuous shooting rate, in terms of operational speed.
Canon offered us some one-on-one time with the just-announced EOS 7D, and with only a few precious minutes to spend with a pre-production unit, and we wasted no time putting it to work. Keep on reading for some initial impressions and samples from the brand spanking new Canon EOS 7D. See full story
The Canon EOS 7D makes its official debut today alongside three new lenses. The rumor mill has been buzzing for weeks, and today the 7D steps out of the shadows and into cold, hard reality. At the heart of the 7D is an 18 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with improved low light capabilities and a re-vamped metering system. The EOS 7D also aims to blur the ever-blurring line between a still camera and a video camera, offering full 1080p HD recording at a variety of frame rates. Canon fans, it's time to start writing your letters to Santa. See full story here
The Canon PowerShot A480 showed a lot of promise in our First Thoughts. With the full review in, it's safe to say that the bargain priced A480 delivered on those promises. It's a basic point and shoot that serves up high quality images, ease of use, and dependable performance all under a hundred and thirty bucks. Full review
The Canon Rebel T1i is the camera company's first DSLR to feature both full HD and 720p video capture in the same camera body (the Canon EOS 5D Mark II was their first DSLR with full HD capture). The T1i comes packed with pro-quality features like an APS-C sized 15.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, the impressive DIGIC 4 image processor, a high-res 3.0 inch LCD, full manual control over exposure, and easy-to-use scene modes for everything from night portraits to sports.
With all the buzz surrounding Nikon and Canon's trailblazing DSLRs with HD video, we are starting to see an onslaught of cameras being released, from point-and-shoot compacts to pro-level SLRs, with this exceptional feature – appealing to those who need HD video and the highest quality stills all in one device. The T1i certainly is capable of both.
The T1i inherits the same technology as the higher-end 50D, packing the same-sized image sensor and DIGIC 4 processor, and giving a reviewer like myself reason to draw comparisons between the two cameras. Although technologically similar, the T1i and 50D are different in size, features, controls – and, of course, price. But it is interesting to see just how much of the 50D has made its way into the affordable T1i.
BUILD AND DESIGN The T1i is similar in design to the traditional Rebel series consumer DSLR, like the XSi or XS, but trumps these cameras's features with more resolution and high-def video recording. The T1i is designed to offer any photographer, regardless of shooting experience, an easy-to-use camera that is capable of total control or just pointing and shooting. The original Rebel series was originally built around 35mm film cameras that featured fully automatic modes, and today's Rebels still carry on this same tradition with digital models.
I have shot with many different Canon DSLRs over the years, including the XT, XTi, XS and XSi, and they have all featured a fully automatic mode, but the T1i features an even more advanced auto system called Creative Auto. The CA mode helps beginners explore creative photography without needing to understand the nuances of aperture and shutter speed.
Instead of going completely automatic, CA – also available on several other Canon models – allows the photographer to control shooting with more precision by allowing you to adjust flash output, depth of field with a slider called "Background," and exposure (that lets you control brightness/exposure compensation). CA mode also lets you choose your Picture Style, image size/quality, and drive mode (continuous shooting or single-shot).
Probably the most notable feature of the T1i is its video function, which only shares the Canon stable with the 5D Mark II pro DSLR. The T1i shoots full HD video (1920x1080) at 20 fps or 720p (1280x720) video at 30 fps. The 5D Mark II only has one HD video capture mode of 30 fps, making the T1i a new breed of Canon DSLR with selectable HD quality. The T1i also capture standard-definition video and has a monaural built-in microphone for sound capture.
Another feature that is shared with the 50D is the Peripheral Illumination Correction, or in-camera lens correction – correcting images for fall-off or vignetting in the corners in-camera. With Peripheral Illumination Correction, the T1i can correct this problem with about 25 different lenses, including the 18-55mm IS lens that comes in the kit.
Ergonomics and Control The T1i feels larger in the hand than most Rebel series DSLRs I have shot with, giving it a more professional feel than I am used to from a consumer camera. However, the T1i has the classic SLR look and feel, and a little more hand room on the right hand grip with both a thumb grip on the exterior and also a rubber handgrip for the middle through pinky finger. The T1i has a solid construction that appears to be a mix of hard-cast rubber and aluminum alloy. The camera is well built and has a good construction, which is neither too cumbersome nor too small to comfortably carry around with you.
Like most DSLRs that have been manufactured in the past decade, the T1i has doesn't have any radically different buttons, instead it has added more pro-level SLR buttons. These include an ISO button, and Exposure Compensation button, and exterior flash button that engages the flash, as well as a Live View button that we have seen with the past few iterations of Rebels.
As far as other buttons, you have a shutter release, a main dial wheel that lets you change your settings like aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation. The rest of the button layout utilizes the mode dial, which lets you quickly choose automatic to manual shooting modes, as well as scene modes like Sports and HD video capture.
There is also the AE lock to lock exposure, an AF point selection button that lets you to assign your focus points on the nine-point AF system, and a four-way controller on the back of the camera, a display button to change the playback view, a playback button for image review, and a trash/delete button. Overall, the ergonomics and button layout are well thought out and typical of Canon's previous DSLRs.
Menus and Modes One of the T1i's strong suits is the shooting information that is displayed on the LCD. When using the optical viewfinder (as opposed to live view mode) you can view shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure compensation, flash exposure compensation, Picture Styles, white balance, metering, image quality settings, AF mode and drive mode all in one place. By clicking on the Set button you can change all of these settings directly from this screen. Note that not all of these functions are accessible, depending on your shooting mode; if you're in an automatic mode, you have less control, but if you're completely manual you can change all of these settings.
Pressing the Menu button calls up a standard Canon page menu, with tabs for different kinds of options (and a list of custom functions as well). The menu system and user interface are familiar, well-crafted and intuitive, making it easy to navigate. With a combination of the main dial and four-way controller, making your way through the settings isn't difficult by any means – and especially easy if you are familiar with Canon's menus on either their compacts or DSLRs.
A quick run-down of the T1i's basic shooting modes is as follows:
Program: This function automatically sets the optimal shutter and aperture speed, while giving you limited control over metering, exposure compensation, etc.
Shutter Priority: Lets you control shutter speed while aperture is automatically set; other functions can also be accessed in this mode
Aperture Priority: Lets you control aperture while shutter speed is automatically set; like Tv, most camera functions can be changed in this mode
Manual: Allows you to control aperture and shutter speed, as well as all the camera's different settings for exposure
A-DEP: Stands for automatic depth-of-field, which will automatically select the appropriate aperture to ensure that depth of field covers all focus points
Auto: In this mode, all exposure values are set automatically
Creative Auto: Lets you change the brightness, depth of field, and color tone (Picture Style) using a simplified interface
Portrait: Automatically blurs out the background by giving you a shallow depth of field for portrait shooting to give emphasis to your subject
Landscape: Provides you with more depth of field to keep landscapes and wide-angle shots entirely in focus
Macro: For shooting small objects, depending on your lens, this mode allows you to get in close focusing distance of your subject to get a macro of a flower or other object
Sports: This enacts the continuous burst mode so you can catch moving objects or sports, by giving you up to 3.4 frames per second
Night Portrait: A night portrait mode to take portraits at night
Flash Off: Forces off the flash so that the camera can use ambient light to get the best exposure
There is a lot on the mode dial to choose from, the shooting experience with each different mode is easy and straightforward if you read the manual. While there is a lot to choose from (which can be daunting for some first time DSLR users) the Rebel is primarily intended for the photographer who wants to step up to more control, giving the best of both worlds with both automatic settings and manual control. The menus and modes are easy to navigate, and the buttons are set up nicely, making the T1i a great camera to shoot with.
Display/Viewfinder The LCD is impressive on the T1i, giving you 3.0-inch, 920,000 dot TFT screen (which provides the same resolution as the Canon 50D's display). The image playback on the LCD, when comparing it later after field-testing, showed faithful color reproduction and accurate images between LCD and computer.
The live view, like most systems is a little slow (this is due to the AF mirror dropping out of the way, which sometimes can be sluggish), but focusing has improved in this mode. While you don't use the shutter to achieve focus, you use the AE lock button to focus during live view. Using contrast-detection AF, the camera focused surprisingly quickly with the kit lens, even in low-light conditions. I even used the live view for a few low angles so I wouldn't jar my back, and it worked well for getting at hard-to-shoot angles. The LCD gives you 100% area of coverage, so what ever you frame up, your picture will look exactly like this – and it did on every occasion.
However, the optical viewfinder provided 95% coverage, oftentimes making tight composition somewhat inaccurate in playback, giving you more of the frame than you desire when you review it. But the optical viewfinder, like always, is a great tool for composing a shot, and the T1i's viewfinder provides a lot of shooting information on screen that you can adjust while you're looking through it. With all things considered, the T1i's viewfinder, live view function and LCD are excellent in performance and color reproduction.
PERFORMANCE The T1i is impressive for a consumer-level DSLR, seeing as how it has some of the same features as the 50D, including the 15.1-megapixel CMOS sensor and the DIGIC 4 processor. After using it initially in a few compact Canons and the 50D, I'm sold on the idea that the DIGIC 4 processor makes its cameras, regardless of model, faster and better in low-light scenarios. This is also true for the T1i, giving impressive ISO performance in scenes with only a little bit of ambient light.
With the coupling of HD video, in either full HD or 720p, and high-resolution stills, the T1i is a tour-de-force camera that performs well in the studio and in the field, regardless of shooting situation.
Shooting Performance The T1i seems to be a middle-of-the-road performer in most of the performance testing, but overall it is a solid performer among its competitors.
Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)
Camera
Time (seconds)
Olympus E-30
0.02
Nikon D90
0.03
Canon Rebel T1i
0.04
Pentax K20D
0.04
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350
0.08
AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)
Camera
Time (seconds)
Olympus E-30
0.13
Nikon D90
0.17
Canon Rebel T1i
0.19
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350
0.21
Pentax K20D
0.28
Continuous Shooting
Camera
Frames*
Framerate*
Olympus E-30
9
5.0 fps
Nikon D90
∞
4.0 fps
Canon Rebel T1i
170
3.8 fps
Pentax K20D
38
3.0 fps
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350
∞
2.1 fps
* Note: Continuous shooting framerates are based on the camera's fastest full-resolution JPEG continuous shooting mode, using the fastest media type available (300x CF, SDHC, etc.). "Frames" notes the number of captures recorded per burst before the camera stops/slows to clear the buffer.
The T1i uses a phase-detection AF with 9 cross-type points that can all be used, or can be assigned by the photographer. During field-testing, well-lit frames were easily captured without any resistance, but at longer telephoto lengths the kit lens proved to be slightly slower finding focus. Also important to note is that AF in low-light scenes worked considerably faster than other DSLRs in its class, finding focus without too much lens creep.
Continuous shooting in the lab proved to be faster than the spec sheet from Canon, which is rated for 3.4 fps, but the lab results rendered 3.8 fps, which was a nice surprise. Field-testing when depressing the shutter in Continuous burst mode started to slow down in speed when it passed the 170-frame mark.
The built-in flash is a nice feature of the T1i, but can be somewhat temperamental when trying to initiate it manually. Flash Exposure Compensation allows you to control the amount of fill that will fire when using the flash. The guide number is from 13-43 feet at ISO 100, and is satisfactory, mainly bringing out a flat lighting source, but can be remedied via Flash Exposure Compensation.
Image stabilization is built into the lens, but is not part of the camera body, so without an IS lens, you can't get IS. The kits lens comes with a IS motor built-in, and works by sensing tilting and shifting via a gyro, and then compensates by moving the lens element to stay steady with the focal plane by adjusting its position automatically. Canon IS lens are great in providing a few stops of light and steady shots at telephoto lengths, so it's great to have a kits lens with this operation.
Finally, the power of the lithium-ion 1080 mAh battery was a solid performer. Even after a day of shooting with 400 frames, and about 10 minutes of video in Full HD and 720, I still had a lot of shooting power left.
The field-testing aspect of the T1i was the strong suit of the DSLR, giving me great AF performance in most lighting situations, even at night. Regardless of your skill level, if you have ever shot with a digital camera in your life, the T1i is easy to figure out once you play around with it for a few minutes. That being said, flash, continuous shooting, AF acquisition and shutter lag matched up nicely with field shooting and lab testing.
Lens Mount/Kit Lens The T1i came with the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens, which is great because it comes equipped with image stabilization right inside the lens, allowing low-light shots or telephoto lengths easy to capture without motion blur. This EF-S (Canon EF-S lenses are specifically designed for the APS-sized image sensor) 18-55mm is limiting for long distance shooting, but for wide-angle to medium telephoto lengths, this lens coupled with the IS system gives you a few stops that a lens without would.
Using this lens in the field was somewhat difficult in terms of playing with shallow depth of field because of its variable aperture. While it is a good starter lens, and better than most kits lens camera manufacturers add with their SLRs, it can be limiting depending on what you intend to shoot. That being said, the lens rendered great accuracy at all focal lengths, and showed only a little bit of purple fringing in images like my macro shots. The 18-55mm lens is a pretty decent lens for the travelling photographer, because it's light, focuses fast and gives you a nice focal range.
Video Quality HD video in a DSLR is great any way you swing it, and being able to select between full HD and 720p is something I have not yet seen in this class of camera. So how was the performance of the HD video? Well it was excellent in both Full HD and 720p, whether it was low-light or great light. I tested out both of these settings on a rollercoaster and in a darkly lit room with a merry-go-round.
Even though the lens was not an f/2.8 lens or faster, it still was able to bring out a lot of great video. I will say this though, the Full HD (1920x1080) shoots at 20 fps, and can cause a little bit of sluggishness when shooting moving subjects. The real champion video resolution, in my opinion, is the 720p (1280x720) mode, which captured great detail in both shooting scenarios. When comparing them both, I preferred 720p because it was more fluid. Now if only Canon or Nikon will make a DSLR with full HD at 24 fps, filmmakers will be drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I'm hoping to see this in the next few camera releases from both companies: it will be interesting to see who will be first up to bat.
Image Quality With the borrowed tech from the 50D, the T1i reproduces a wide gamut of color both on screen and on the LCD monitor. The DIGIC 4 processor and large 15.1-megapixel image sensor works in unison to make the camera fast for processing, especially at extreme sensitivities to light.
In most cases this is dependent on shooting conditions and what sort of lens you are using. The faster the lens, the better it will be in light, but using a slower lens that loses a few stops of light can prove to be disastrous in little available light. So in terms of image quality, even with the kits lens, the T1i worked well in all scenarios, providing images with great dynamic range in shadow areas, and providing fine detail in all of the Picture Style settings. The Standard setting reproduces color faithfully, presenting a wide gamut and great accuracy.
The default exposure method is evaluative metering, and consistently worked as the best method for most shooting scenarios, but had a slight tendency to overexpose for bright light sources or scenes with unusual contrast.
Evaluative metering
While there are four metering options, the best performers in terms of consistency were evaluative and center-weighted – though experienced photographers will appreciate the options provided by spot metering, especially.
Center-weighted metering
Partial metering
Spot metering
Picture Styles, or different in-camera processing options, include: Standard as the default, which works great for nearly any situation; Portrait, which gives more a soft cast to subjects by using less saturation and shifting mid-tones; Landscape, with saturation to bring out greens, reds and other colorful scenes; Neutral that is a fine balance between all worlds; Faithful that is very accurate and balanced; Monochrome for in-camera black and white; and three user definable settings that you can create by setting your own parameters for contrast, saturation, etc.
Portrait
Landscape
Neutral
Faithful
Also to note on a processing front is the formats in which you can capture your images. The T1i allows you to shoot in different incremental JPEG standards, from highest quality to compressed images to save space, or smaller JPEG sizes when 15.1-megapixel images are too big. The highest quality JPEG is sufficient, but RAW processing is my favorite when it comes to capture. The T1i offers a RAW only capture or RAW + JPEG, which is great for post-processing when you want to change White Balance or any details easily, which JPEG cannot because it doesn't hold enough RAW image data. While capturing RAW can be cumbersome for processing, it's the pros go to, but for most shooters the high-quality JPEG will be perfect.
The default white balance setting for the T1i is the auto mode and it works well in most situations, except indoor incandescent light (and even there it's better than many of its peers) and the kinds of cloudy, overcast days which I shot in – both of which can be fixed by using custom white balance or appropriate preset settings. Overall, the white balance default settings are easy to change.
Auto White Balance, 3200K incandescent light
One of the strongest suits of the T1i is the ISO performance from 100-6400 in the studio tests, proving that it has a usable image at all these settings.
ISO 100
ISO 100, 100% crop
ISO 200
ISO 200, 100% crop
ISO 400
ISO 400, 100% crop
ISO 800
ISO 800, 100% crop
ISO 1600
ISO 1600, 100% crop
ISO 3200
ISO 3200, 100% crop
ISO 6400
ISO 6400, 100% crop
Field-testing also rendered great shots in low-light, allowing me to even get a workable image shooting at night with the highest setting of 12800, which reminded somewhat of the film-like noise reduction capabilities of the Nikon D90 and D300.
ISO 12800
Additional Sample Images
CONCLUSIONS The Canon Rebel T1i is both a great camera for the photographer looking to move up from compacts and advanced amateurs who want total control and excellent image quality. Most Canon Rebel generations only slightly evolve in terms of features – and mostly in subtle areas like resolution and more automatic control. The T1i has evolved much farther, making it the first Rebel with HD video. With a lot of pro and semi-pro features borrowed from the rest of Canon's line, the T1i is a good second entry into the DSLR/HD video camera hybrid category shared with the pro EOS 5D Mark II.
Not only do you get some of the trickle down technology from the mid-level 50D, you get it for less than its sticker price. Like most Canons that come off the assembly line, the T1i is great in low-light, has a respectable AF system, shoots great video and show impressive dynamic and tonal range in the images it produces. Best of all, you get the whole kit for $899. This is one of the better DSLRs I have shot with in the past few years, and by far the best Rebel yet to hit the market.
With the introduction of the snazzy little Canon PowerShot D10, Canon finally ventures into the one arena of the digital camera wars where they haven't gone before. The new D10 is Canon's first underwater point and shoot, waterproof to 10 meters/33 feet. Canon has long offered underwater housings for their more popular cameras, but those contraptions occasionally leak, cost almost as much as the camera, and they're bulky and complicated in use.
One of the most impressive things about underwater digital cameras (which seem to be pretty popular right now) is that unlike the dedicated underwater cameras of the past, Nikon's venerable Nikonos for example, today's underwater cameras are simply tougher waterproof versions of general use compact digitals with all the bells and whistles of their above water siblings.
Canon's digital cameras are the dominant competitors in just about every point and shoot class, but they're starting from scratch here. The D10 isn't particularly compact, elegant, or stylish looking – rather it sports a kind of bulbous metallic industrial-chic look with lots of exposed screw heads. The matte silver and electric blue (I see a matte silver and hot pink model on the horizon) color scheme seemed a bit flashy to me, and one of my friends thought it looked like a slightly garish toy from Hasbro or Mattel.
BUILD AND DESIGN The D10 features a very good 3x (35mm-105mm equivalent) zoom with optical image stabilization and Canon's fourth generation DIGIC processor coupled to a 1/2.3-inch 12.1 megapixel CCD image sensor. There's also a 30 fps VGA (640x480) movie mode and a new Smart Auto (exposure) mode.
I'm not really a water person, so my impressions of the D10 in "wet" mode will be limited. I did submerge the camera in a nearby creek and took several shots at the auto setting with absolutely no problems.
Underwater
Water and dust seals appear to be very good – after its dunking I dried the D10 off with a small cotton towel and then checked the lens housing and battery compartment for misting, condensation, or moisture – not surprisingly everything was dry as a bone. I didn't evaluate Canon's shock-proofing or freeze-proofing claims.
Ergonomics and Controls In hand the D10 is a tiny bit awkward because of its unconventional shape, but the control layout is standard Canon – meaning everything is familiar (to anyone who has ever used a Canon digital), easily accessed, and logical. The D10's user interface is uncomplicated and straightforward with large clearly marked buttons and a simple intuitive control array.
Operation is dead simple: all exposure options are minor variations on the auto mode theme. Along the top edge of the D10's rear deck are three buttons – the Print button which is used to select images to be printed (when the camera is connected to a PictBridge compatible printer), the Mode button permits users to select Auto, Program, one of the D10's 18 Scene modes, or movie mode), and finally the Playback button – to access review mode. Canon clearly designed the D10 to be useful in a broad range of shooting environments and to be usable by just about anyone. Most purchasers will have no difficulty using the camera right out of the box.
The D10 dispenses with the chintzy "string" style wrist straps seen on most of its competitors in favor of a heavy duty lanyard style wrist strap with a sliding loop lock. The wrist strap terminates in a locking male bayonet lug which mates with one of the four (one on each corner of the camera) sockets – allowing users (finally, something for the lefties) to place the wrist strap exactly where they want it.
Menus and Modes The PowerShot D10 features Canon's classic menu system – the best in the business. Navigation is brutally simple since the camera permits only minimal user input. Push the menu button and the "Camera" or "Setup" sub-menus appear at the top of the menu page – most functions/options can be set once and forgotten. Even video editing, which is usually complicated and unintuitive, is easy.
The D10's compass switch (four-way controller) and FUNC button provide direct menu access to the most commonly changed/adjusted features and functions like exposure compensation, WB, sensitivity, My Colors, flash, macro mode, metering, drive mode, and resolution.
Basic shooting modes on the D10 include:
Auto: Point-and-shoot mode with very limited user input
Smart Auto: automatic scene recognition mode that instantly compares what's in front of the lens with an on board image database and then matches that information with the specific scene's subject distance, white balance, contrast, dynamic range, lighting, and color (just before the image is recorded) to determine the best exposure. For example if the D10 determines that a face (or faces) is the subject – the camera automatically switches to Portrait mode.
Program: Auto exposure with user input (sensitivity, white balance, etc.)
Scene: Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, ISO 3200, Long Shutter, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap, Stitch Assist
Movie: The camera records video at a maximum of 640x480 @ 30 fps for up to 4 GB or 1 hour.
Display/Viewfinder Like many current point and shoots, the D10 doesn't provide an optical viewfinder, relying instead on the 2.5 inch (230,000 pixel) LCD screen. Optical viewfinders are expensive and many casual shooters don't use them so it makes sense (especially with an underwater camera) to use the LCD screen for all framing/composition, review, and menu navigation chores. In many common shooting venues it is usually quicker to watch the decisive moment come together on the LCD screen than it is through the optical viewfinder. LCD screens are TTL (through the lens) and function as accurate framing tools, but for portraits and shooting in bright outdoor locales I prefer an optical viewfinder.
The D10's 2.5 inch wide viewing angle TFT LCD screen with glare coating is bright, hue accurate, relatively fluid, and automatically boosts gain in dim/low light. The LCD screen is more than sharp enough for most compositional tasks and captured image review. The user-enabled LCD grid-line display is a nice (and very useful) touch as well.
PERFORMANCE Timing is one of the two most important considerations when assessing digital camera performance (the other is image quality). The D10 comes in about average in terms of operational speed. The D10 needs about 1 second for the boot-up cycle (camera on to the first image capture). Based on results from the test lab, the D10's shutter lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused) is 0.08 seconds, which is a bit slower than average.
Shutter Lag (press-to-capture, pre-focused)
Camera
Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700
0.02
Nikon Coolpix S230
0.02
Pentax Optio P70
0.05
Canon PowerShot D10
0.08
Casio Exilim EX-Z150
0.22
AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus) is 0.36 seconds which is a bit quicker than average.
AF Acquisition (press-to-capture, no pre-focus)
Camera
Time (seconds)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700
0.23
Canon PowerShot D10
0.36
Nikon Coolpix S230
0.51
Pentax Optio P70
0.87
Casio Exilim EX-Z150
1.15
The D10's continuous shooting mode (which allows users to capture several images in quick succession) is 1.2 fps – a bit better than Canon's claim of 1.1 fps. Shot to shot times averaged out to around two seconds between shots (flash off). The D10's flash recycles in about 6.5 seconds (after a full-power discharge) – a bit slower than average for cameras of this class.
Continuous Shooting
Camera
Frames*
Framerate*
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37
3
3.6 fps
Nikon Coolpix S230
2
2.2 fps
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700
10
1.6 fps
Casio Exilim EX-Z150
13
1.3 fps
Canon PowerShot D10
∞
1.2 fps
* Note: Continuous shooting framerates are based on the camera's fastest full-resolution JPEG continuous shooting mode, using the fastest media type available (300x CF, SDHC, etc.). "Frames" notes the number of captures recorded per burst before the camera stops/slows to clear the buffer.
Shooting Performance Even though the D10 doesn't look like above-water Canon cameras, under the hood it utilizes the same practical and easy-to-understand exposure system that made its siblings so popular with consumers. Exposure is automatically managed by the camera's DIGIC IV processor that combines most primary camera functions (auto exposure, image processing, and power management) in one chip to improve efficiency and processing speed.
The D10 is powered by a Canon NB-6L 3.7v 1000mAh lithium rechargeable battery pack that Canon claims is good for 220 exposures. I do a lot of shoot, review, delete, and re-shoot so I rarely keep track of exposures numbers, but this time I was able to watch the numbers. After the first full charge I shot 214 exposures before I ran out of juice. This is about what Canon claims and noticeably below average for cameras in this class. The supplied rapid charger plugs directly in the wall and fully charges the NB-6L in about 90 minutes.
The D10's built-in multi mode flash provides an acceptable selection of artificial lighting options, including Auto (fires when needed), On (fill flash), Red-Eye Reduction, Red-Eye Correction, Slow Sync, and Off. Canon claims the maximum flash range is about 10 feet, and that appears to be a fairly accurate claim based on my very limited flash use.
The D10 features the same 9-point AiAF (Advanced Intelligent Auto Focus) TTL Contrast Detection system found on its "A" series and "SD" series siblings. In all exposure modes the camera analyzes the scene in front of the lens and then calculates camera to subject distance to determine which of the 9 AF points is closest to the primary subject (closest subject priority) and then locks focus on that AF point.
The D10's Optical Image Stabilization system reduces blur by quickly and precisely shifting a lens element in the zoom to compensate for minor camera movement. Image stabilization allows users to shoot at shutter speeds up to three f-stops slower than would have been possible without IS. Image stabilization can also be very useful when shooting in dimly lit indoor venues where flash is inappropriate. The D10 provides three IS modes: Continuous (IS on full time), Shoot only (IS is only activated when the picture is taken), and Panning (only stabilizes up-and-down motion) for horizontally panned exposures.
Lens Performance The D10 features a 6.2mm-18.6mm f/2.8-f/4.9 (35mm-105mm equivalent) 3X zoom (Nine elements in seven groups with one aspherical element). Closest focusing distance (in macro mode) is 1.2 inches/3 centimeters. Zooming is fairly quick and relatively smooth. Zoom operation is absolutely silent – since the zoom is fully enclosed in the camera's waterproof body shell.
Macro
The D10's zoom is sharp in the center and soft at the edges. Barrel distortion at the wide-angle end of the zoom range is slightly above average, but there is no perceptible pincushion distortion at the telephoto end of the zoom range.
Wide angle
Telephoto
Chromatic aberration (color fringing) at wide-angle end of the zoom above average. At telephoto end of the zoom chromatic aberration is about average.
Video Quality The D10's 30 fps VGA (640X480) movie mode won't compete with a dedicated video camera, but it will do nicely for generating e-mail video attachments for friends and family – especially if you can get some interesting underwater video. Like most cameras, the D10 can't be zoomed while in video capture mode.
The D10's video mode doesn't record sound – obviously Canon's engineers couldn't figure out a way to allow sound to reach a microphone that wouldn't also allow water to seep into the waterproof body shell – so at least users don't have to contend with those annoying videos where the white noise and extraneous sound picked up by the built-in microphone sound like a bar fight in a wind storm.
Image Quality The image files produced by Canon's point-and-shoots are optimized for the bold, bright, colors and balanced contrast that many shooters refer to as Canon Color – the D10 doesn't deviate much from this "family" identity. Default color is fairly accurate with most colors coming close to neutral. Reds are a little warm, blues are a bit bright, and greens are a bit too vibrant, but most casual shooters probably won't consider this a fault.
Default
Vivid
Neutral
Center sharpness is pretty good overall, but at the wide-angle end of the zoom corners are noticeably soft. At the telephoto end of the zoom corners are still soft but not as noticeably so.
Although there is a slight tendency toward overexposure, outdoors in good light the D10 generally produces well exposed almost noise-free images with hue-accurate colors and slightly harder than average contrast.
The D10's Auto white balance setting did a pretty good job across a wide range of lighting conditions including bright daylight and overcast, but shot quite warm under incandescent light in the studio. In addition to auto there are Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Underwater, and Custom WB settings.
Auto White Balance, 3200K incandescent light
ISO 80 and100 images are essentially indistinguishable – both show bright colors, slightly hard edged native contrast, and very low noise levels. ISO 200 images were also very good, but lacked some of the snap of the lower sensitivity images.
ISO 80
ISO 80, 100% crop
ISO 100
ISO 100, 100% crop
ISO 200
ISO 200, 100% crop
ISO 400
ISO 400, 100% crop
ISO 800
ISO 800, 100% crop
ISO 1600
ISO 1600, 100% crop
At the ISO 400 setting noise levels are noticeably higher and there's a perceptible loss of minor detail. ISO 800 images are noisy, but they should be OK for email, web use, or non-critical 3x5 prints. ISO 1600 images are way too noisy to be useful for anything beyond record shots, however. ISO 3200 images are better than expected – but my expectations weren't very high given the reduced resolution and detail loss at this highest capture setting. ISO 800, 1600, and 3200 images looked flat and slightly blurry with no fine detail.
Additional Sample Images
CONCLUSIONS There really isn't much to complain about with the D10. It's cheaper than the closest competitor from Olympus, it goes a little deeper than many of the other underwater cameras in its class, and it has the toughest wrist strap ever to grace a compact digital. I've been using Canons for more than 10 years and I've only been disappointed once. That's because Canon seems to know what consumers want and they deliver cameras that are affordable, easy to use, feature rich, fairly compact, relatively quick, and capable of consistently producing excellent images.
The D10's competition will come primarily from Olympus and to a lesser degree, Pentax and Panasonic, but I believe the D10 will prove itself very well in this new arena. If consumers like the D10 and its successors Canon may eventually try for a hat trick and challenge Olympus' top-dog status in this growing niche market.
In addition to the ability to slip beneath the waves, the D10 can endure extended exposure to rain, mist, jungle-like humidity, and dusty desert venues. Not only is the D10 a super general-use camera, it is also a great outdoor adventure camera because it will take pictures in conditions where other cameras can't.
