Canon’s PowerShot V10: A Nod to the Classic Flip Video Cameras with a Focus on Vlogging

Canon has entered the vlogging camera market with a unique new point-and-shoot camera that is perfect for a mindless “set-it-and-forget-it” audience. The Canon PowerShot V10, priced at $429.99, is a small, cute camera with a fixed 19mm equivalent f/2.8 lens and a 20.9-megapixel one-inch-type sensor that will be released in June.

The PowerShot V10 has an articulating screen, front and rear record buttons, stereo mics with a 3.5mm mic jack, a Micro HDMI port, digital image stabilization, and a kickstand for propping it up. It records up to 4K at 30 fps and is ideal for filming yourself. It is designed for YouTube content creation rather than TikTok or Instagram Reels since it films horizontally when held upright, similar to the ancient Flip Video cameras. It can be turned sideways for vertical recording, but the built-in kickstand is not suitable for holding it up that way.

The PowerShot V10 has a postage stamp-sized two-inch 3:2 LCD with limited physical buttons and mostly relies on touch controls. Although it is intended for entry-level content creation, it is not designed to offer control over every little setting. It has a fixed ISO range of 125 to 12,800 in stills mode, and the camera does not support manual focusing. Furthermore, the ISO range is limited to a maximum of 3,200 for 4K filming and 6,400 in 1080p. The camera’s 20.9-megapixel sensor uses only 13.1 megapixels for videos and 15.2 megapixels for photos, but it has five levels of software skin smoothing.

Nevertheless, the V10 is video-focused, so it comes with some useful features, including a built-in neutral density filter, face detection ability of the contrast-based autofocus to recognize when you’re holding up a product to focus on it, and 8-bit recording in Rec.709 color with MP4 files. However, there is no eye detection, log recording, or raw capture for photos. It has a small size, weighs 211 grams, and supports only microSD cards. It has a built-in 1,250mAh battery that can be recharged via USB-C and can last up to 55 minutes in 4K video recording.

While the V10’s limitations may not be deal-breakers for vloggers who only require portable and easy-to-use cameras, Canon needs to respect the skills of content creators and offer more advanced upside features for future models. For instance, the camera lacks manual settings and fine-tune controls that are helpful for beginners to learn and grow. Drew MacCallum, senior manager of camera product planning for Canon USA, confirmed that Canon would release more vlog-centric cameras. With this new line, Canon is well aware that vlogging is one of the last niches for point-and-shoot cameras, so it should avoid slipping into the same PowerShot trappings of the past.