Vlogging has taken over our social media with seemingly everyone trying their hand at becoming the next big thing. For many of these newcomers to vlogging the more powerful cameras can seem daunting and that is who this Canon Powershot V10 is for – the beginner or novice vlogger who wants something small and easy to use while on the go.
The Powershot V10 is Canon’s first dedicated vlogging camera and is designed to be different to all the others, easy to pocket, easy to hold, and easy to use. Canon has accomplished all that but just how good is it in creating videos and still photos?
Read on to hear our thoughts on Canon’s entry into the dedicated vlogging camera market.
Design
The V10 is small enough to fit into some of the smallest jeans pockets you may have – it’s not far off the size of a flip phone measuring 63.4 x 90 x 34.3mm.
The rear of the camera houses the controls along with the LCD display that can flip out and a stand that also flips out. The controls included are Power, Play, Transfer, Menu, Q/Set, Delete/Self-Timer, and Info buttons – a standard Canon affair.
The LCD panel folds flat on the rear of the camera and flips up over the top of the camera so you can see the viewfinder while in front of the camera – handy for vlogging. The LCD is not massive at 2-inches so you would not want to be standing too far from the camera if you wish to be able to see it well (especially at my advanced age).
The stand folds out of the bottom of the camera and holds the camera upright quite well and feels fairly sturdy. In this aspect the camera will shoot 16:9 video so it you are vlogging for TikTok you will want to hold/stand the camera landscape to get a portrait mode video.
In this position the stand is relatively useless but will stop it tipping backwards (not forwards though). If you have a flat surface the camera can sit in this position quite well though – just be carefully if dancing nearby.
Other notable features are the USB-C charging port, the 3.5mm microphone jack, the micro HDMI out port and built-in stereo mics. These are all fairly minimal but remember not only is the camera designed for novices but is also compact and lightweight.
There is of course a tripod mount on the bottom of the camera so if you are able to you can carry a tripod around with you to get that stability in all positions.
The lens
The Canon Powershot V10 pairs a type-1 20.1MP stacked CMOS sensor, as used in 2019’s PowerShot G7 X Mark III camera, with a fixed wide-angle lens that provides a focal length of 18mm for stills and 19mm for video and a maximum aperture of f2.8.
This won’t mean much to those who this camera is designed for – novices – but the camera and lens system is capable of 4K/30p recording for up to an hour. Not many vloggers will record for that long anyway. It is also capable of 1080/60p video and includes contrast-detect Face-tracking AF.
How is it to use?
The V10 is designed to take videos, and more specifically, videos of you. There are very few features other than shooting video and a basic 20MP still photo – but the basic video is what you want it for so I’m not complaining.
The camera is capable of shooting 4K video at 3840 x 2160 pixels at 30fps but at this size you will need an extremely fast microSD card to record into as the data transfer rates are excessive. The card Canon sent me was not fast enough to capture video at this rate unfortunately so I had to find one of my older cards to test it out on.
The V10 does not include any form of water or dust resistance so be careful when shooting with it in non-ideal conditions.
Due to the size of the camera it is easy to shoot it in a landscape mode (YouTube) or a portrait mode by rotating the camera (TikTok etc).
Using the camera was easy when taking a video of myself using the large record button on the front. If shooting content that is in front of you you will need to use the LCD display to start and stop any recording so if you are in direct sunlight you will need to have the LCD brightness turned up to max level. A physical button on the rear would have been nice but not essential.
I used the digital stabilisation for most videos because it was pretty windy where I was capturing the videos and the lens was able to capture quite a large field of view well. The stabilisation worked quite well as you can see in the videos of me walking below.
Now the problem here is that digital stabilisation is not possible in auto mode but the camera was still good at setting the correct brightness etc when I had auto turned off because my hands shake far too much to have the stabilisation turned off. Another issue is that if you are shooting content in front of you and you use the digital zoom function, that also turns off digital stabilisation. You can have one and not the other unfortunately.
The LCD display is a 2-inch display which is far too small but there’s not many dedicated cameras with bigger displays. When most beginner vloggers are shooting on iPhones etc its a tough sell with just a 2-inch display to quickly review videos and images on.
The LCD display does do the one thing it is meant to do though– enable you to see yourself while vlogging. Not many dedicated cameras have this option in a small package such as this.
You can easily place the phone on a table or similar and it will stay in that position due to the stand that kicks out and behind it. Great for landscape mode shooting but not for those who want to shoot for portrait mode social media such as TikTok.
The stand is great though and is much easier to set up than a tripod etc and allows for quick shooting. It’s a simple thing that helps the V10 be able to accomplish what it sets out to do – become a vloggers best friend – just get used to cropping those landscape videos into portrait mode.
Connectivity
The Powershot V10 offers Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity to the Canon CameraConnect app on your smartphone. This allows for wireless transfer of images to your smartphone, live streaming for YouTube, Facebook and more and also to be able to control the V10 remotes using your phone.
The connectivity options are great, once you get them working. It took a while to get the camera to connect to my phone but once connected it worked as advertised. While the controls are basic that is all they are meant to be and are all that is needed by most people using this camera.
The bottom of the device also houses the USB-C charging port which can also be used to connect the V10 directly to your PC and allow it to be used as a webcam. No need for an app either, just plug and play.
Performance
There are just five modes to use the Canon V10 to shoot video: Auto Movie, Smooth Skin Movie, Movie IS Mode and Manual Exposure Movie. Auto disables digital image stabilisation by default but it’s a simple step into the settings to enable that again.
Manual exposure mode enables you to change some of the settings but to be honest there is not all that much you can change outside of shutter and aperture. I kept these settings on auto and it worked just fine.
As for the resolution I shot at, make sure you get the fastest card you can so you can use whatever resolution and frame rate you want.
Shooting video mode is great. Sure, the videos taken were good but it is really a selfie video camera only. Shooting in front of you is a stretch because you cannot zoom in on the subject of the video while also having digital stabilisation enabled so it leaves a lot less flexibility in shooting.
Unfortunately for still images there is no zoom function at all and it is an auto mode only. This is not a camera you should be using to take still images on holidays.
Final Thoughts
The Canon Powershot V10 does what it sets out to do and it does it well — vlogging. You see many bloggers with their big expensive cameras that cannot be easy to lug around and in many situations who really needs a camera that big? Most vloggers just need something decent that focuses well on their face with some image stabilisation to create great videos.
The V10 does early that. Its lens is able to capture vibrant, detailed video and although its features pale in comparison to a fully fledges DSLR camera it is enough for most bloggers. You can also live stream with it, use it as a webcam and take still images.
A quick word on the still images. While decent images if your goal is to be taking nice images for keepsakes of a holiday I’d say to look elsewhere but if your goal is vlogging with the ability to quickly capture the occasional image then the V10 will suit you just fine. The lack of zoom and ability to change settings for the still images means they are handicapped from the outset. Smartphones have great digital imaging software these ays that can procure great images anyway — use that (or a DSLR).
The Canon Powershot V10 is a great vlogging camera and not just a great camera for the entry into the world of vlogging but also great for any blogger to quickly stick in their pocket on the way out the door on the off chance they want to create a vlog while out and about.
Available in Black or Silver, the Canon PowerShot V10 is available now with an RRP of $699 from all good camera stores.
