Back in the mid-2000s, The Flip Video camera was all the rage, a vertically held, brick of a camera that was purpose-built for easy video in an age where video wasn't easy. With the Canon PowerShot V10, the company seems to want to channel some of that magic, but I have to ask: Why?
The world into which the Flip was launched was a very different place, photographically speaking. Cell phones could barely take photos and video was still cumbersome and difficult to both get into a computer and work with. Flip solved both of those issues with a built-in USB-A connector and proprietary software.
The Canon PowerShot V10, however, seems to not understand the reality of this, or at least that's according to Kasey Stern over at Camera Conspiracies, who offers what, at least based on what Canon's presenting on paper, an honest take at the disappointing nature of the camera, which is ostensibly aimed at bloggers, but to Stern, doesn't appear to hit the target.
Fundamentally, I have an iPhone that can do 4K at 60p, while the Canon tops out at 30p, and that same iPhone can do 1080p at 240 fps to the V10's 60p. Beyond that bit boggling my mind, there are some other decidedly not 2023 features in there. There's a minuscule 2-inch screen that you can seemingly see all the pixels on in Gordon Laing's review (and why this barely seems to bother him, I don't get) and that screen is also partially blocked when you place the "dead cats" on them to reduce wind noise, as Kai Wong points out in his look of the camera. Both reviewers also point out how these are optional accessories that aren't included with the camera and include magnetic mounts that must be attached with adhesives. Really.
Canon's autofocus on everything from the tiny R50 all the way up to the prodigious R3 is amazing. Dual Pixel CMOS AF, the technology behind all of this amazing, was launched 10 years ago in the EOS 70D. And it's nowhere to be found in this new camera, which relies on ancient contrast-detect autofocus. Seems like a miss at the $429 asking price. The $399 M50 Mark II I bought last year has this better autofocus system, a flip-out screen for vlogging, a microphone input, and included a 15-45mm lens. I got even more confused by the V10 as I wrote that all out.
I watched the entirety of Gordon Laing's review of the beta version of the camera, and poring over all the clips, I didn't see any earth-shattering results that an iPhone couldn't already to, with a bigger screen and more options. I wouldn't even need a computer to live-stream with a phone, unlike the V10. I can also do this all in the rain with an iPhone, which has some degree of weatherproofing, whereas the V10 does not. And when I'm all done with that, I can make a phone call with my iPhone.
What do you make of Canon's PowerShot V10? Are you as perplexed as I am? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
sorry to tell you this but your Canon M50 Mark II is also contrast detect AF when using 4K...
https://youtu.be/DCeOFdmRdl0
I made this video and over 1/3 of the footage came from the V10! Maybe around 40%. The rest was from my R5 with the 16 2.8 or 24 mm 1.8. I was quite surprised how the camera performed even in very low light. Like at the restaurant, that place was pitch dark. While a couple shots were obviously from the V10, there was quite a few segments that you would be hardpressed to distinguish from the R5.
https://youtu.be/vMv-VQHYpoc
here was another video I made with the V10/R5 combo. I did find that because the V10 was fun to handle, I was kind of frantic or more appropriately carefree in terms of handling which does affect footage quality. If you really want the footage to be max quality, you need to be more aware of the standard video tips like ninja walk, stable pans, etc. With the V10, I was constantly just slinging it rather than proper recording. Plus I always ran the V10 in skin smoothing mode because people preferred that look so I had to sacrifice image stabilization. Also, I do recommend using auto nd filter and auto anything. I was playing around with the manual settings and forgot to adjust during scene changes. So in manual mode, there's no log profile or anything. So there's very little you can do to fix the footage if you have your manual settings really wrong (like you set up for outdoors but then you start recording indoors). Auto mode just gives you video that you can somewhat tweak but is fully usable.