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June 09 2009
Canon D10
NO mere dabbler at the water’s edge, Canon’s D10 underwater camera is happy to go for a long swim, a deep dive or a tumble down the ski slopes.
Canon has sold waterproof cases for its landlubber cameras for some years, but the D10 is the firm’s first attempt at a standalone deep-diving camera.
Certified to a water depth of 10 metres, shockproof enough to take a drop from 1m and freeze-proof enough to survive in temperatures down to minus 10 degrees centigrade, the rugged D10 is good for surfing, snorkelling, scuba diving and skiing snaps.
The review Canon D10 certainly had a watery appearance with its bulbous case, aqua blue faceplate and a lens surround that looks like it could double as a support for a deep-sea diver’s helmet. The whole plot weighs 190 grams.
A sturdy waterproof cover on the right side conceals the USB port, while another underneath shields the battery and SD memory card slot.
The battery has to be removed for charging and takes about two hours to work up a full head of sparks.
At the back, the cover for the 2.5in LCD screen is mounted flush to the rear of the case, making it vulnerable to scratches when the camera is rested on its back.
The well-used review D10 had already racked up a collection of scratches.
Buttons for menu navigation and activating other features are well organised, although I didn’t much like the zoom control—a two-button affair rather than the usual single push ring.
Recessed attachment points at each corner give extra flexibility when hooking up the included wrist strap and various accessory lanyards that are available for the D10. You can quickly attach and detach the wrist strap at any of the four mounts.
The D10 shoots via an image stabilised lens with a 3X optical zoom and captures pictures at a resolution of 12.1 megapixels.
The camera uses Canon’s Digic 4 processor, giving it a start-up time of less than one second.
Other features include face detection and red-eye correction.
It will shoot movies but not, unfortunately, in HD resolution. Its best movie resolution is 640 by 480 pixels at 30 frames per second.
We took it down to the local rock pools to scare the fish and had a great time planting the camera underwater and taking shots of anemone, shellfish and underwater rock formations, although the fish eluded us.
An accessory I’d love to see for the D10 is some form of remote control lanyard so you could lower the camera off a pier or rock platform and take shots of sea creatures as they swim buy. The shark tank at SeaWorld on the Gold Coast comes to mind.
Given the camera’s shockproof capabilities, I even entrusted it around the rock pools to our seven-year-old, with the strap cinched up tight on his wrist.
While the underwater ability is great, picture quality when using the camera in landlubber mode was OK but a bit washed out. That was shooting in good light down at the beach with the camera set to auto.
Canon D10
Price:$599
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