Canon PowerShot D10

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.

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.