Canon PowerShot D10 12.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-Inch LCD by Canon
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Digital camera reviews of Canon PowerShot D10 12.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-Inch LCD
Digital camera Review: Awesome piece of Engineering
Summary: 5 Stars
I was about to leave for a vacation to the Virgin islands and wanted a camera that I could carry around without worrying about salt, water or salt water. If possible, I wanted something that I could take into the water with me.
Came across this gem while searching for a waterproof enclosure for my existing canon super zoom. Since the price was comparable to an enclosure and after reading reviews, I decided that getting this camera was probably a better option.
When I finally bought it, I had my fingers crossed (cause of the reviews which indicated water getting into it). I decided this camera would be great, even if it lasted only a day of snorkeling, otherwise I still had my old camera (which I would lose if water got into the enclosure).
I was surprised at the actual results. The camera does an awesome job both inside and outside water. The underwater shots are simply superb. It becomes noisy at >= ISO 400, but this shouldn't affect your underwater shots (which I noticed were almost all at ISO 80 - the lowest for this camera).
I took about 200 test shots (all outside water) before the trip, to get used to the camera and thereby put it through a full drain and charge cycle. The camera has a rated spec of about 220 shots per full charge. Well my results from 3 continuous days of use (with a full recharge in-between) were 640, 700+ and 750+ shots! Most of them were underwater (without a flash) and a few used the flash. All of them were at 12 MP. I used a Transcend 8 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS8GSDHC6 for this trip. The camera lasted the trip - all the water, surf and beaches.
If you decide to get this camera.. here are a few tips:
1. Put it through a charge discharge cycle before taking it for a real shoot. The way I discharged it was by taking test shots.
2. Switch off the camera while not using it (every second saves the battery power - that's probably how I squeezed out 700 shots). It only takes a second to power up and be ready for shooting.
3. Unless absolutely required don't preview the photos - take another snap if you have a doubt. This will definitely save battery power. Your battery will run out long before an 8 GB memory card runs out of space.
4. The manual asks you to soak it for 30 mins in fresh water after each underwater session. Do this! What it doesn't tell you is to detach the wristband and to soak it separately. The wristband takes a little longer to dry - and if still attached, can splash water when you you open your camera's SD/battery slot. Soak it for a full 30 mins. Wipe it dry and then allow it to dry in air. The good thing is that you can continue snapping new pictures while it is drying. Just don't open it until say after an hour of drying in air.
5. Secure the wristband while in water. Keep in-water camera transfers (to another person) to a minimum, it can easily slip off and sink. You can dive and retrieve it - but it may sink beyond 10m before that or probably end up on a fire coral :-).
6. You can take snaps of the beach while in water - but make sure you switch from the underwater mode to any other mode before doing that (eg.beach mode). If you just surfaced, allow the camera a few seconds for it to 'realize' that it's not underwater (guess there is some white balance and exposure adjustment that automatically happens) and you'll end up with a great snap.
7. When you just surface, there will be drops of water on the lens. Get rid of those (by dipping it again in water and not using your fingers!) before snapping - or you'll end up having blurry spots on those snaps. You'll always have droplets, that shouldn't matter - it's only the big drops which cause these blurry spots (you'll know if its bad enough while composing the snap on the display).
8. Finally make sure the camera is in underwater mode while shooting underwater :-)
Read the manual, clean and dry the camera before opening it. It worked for me and it should work for you. Happy shooting! You will love the underwater snaps!!!
**** UPDATE - Got this error:- "Lens error restart camera" and fixed it *****
Got this error about a month after using it for the first time. I think I know how I got the error - I drained all the juice out of the battery while taking snaps and it probably died before it could close the lens. The solution - turn the camera on and quickly give the lens housing a firm snap with your finger - that should fix it :-). It's better not to take snaps once you get a Low Battery indication. Replace the battery and continue shooting else you may end up with the Lens stuck in between.
This is still a great camera and I would still buy it given it's the best among the options currently available.
Digital camera Review: BEST CANON CAMERA EVER- Even better being waterproof
Summary: 5 Stars
So I have never written a review before & my fiance was laughing after the first day of the camera's use when I loudly stated "I am going to write my 1st product review". Being someone who relies on reviews before any large item purchase, I think it was my duty to write a great review on a FANTASTIC product!
Knowing that I would be going on a trip to Mexico, I knew water activities would be included so naturally I thought it was important to purchase a camera for those times. I had 5 days until trip take-off, so it was hard taking the time to find the "right one". With about 2 hours of searching I stumbled upon a few that I thought would suit me well. I paid for the 2 day shipping and got it right on time, ran out to the store to get the SD card while the battery charged. The first few pics were amazing so I knew this camera wouldn't fail me. Scared for the let down (per several other reviews), I did not test it in water first, in fact my fiance threw it in the swimming pool about an hour after arriving to our resort!!!! Screaming I went in after the camera... everything was just fine with it! The seals are solid, in fact at times hard to open the compartments, but would take that considering it's protectint it from water. I did also by the yellow CHUMS wrist float, which also held up incredibly well, in the ocean & pool the camera did not sink to the bottom thanks to that floatation device. The thing I wish I would have known is that for water proof cameras there is a solution to help keep the water from fogging up the lens & screen. It allows the water to bead up and roll off the screens. A friend told us in that pinch that spitting, YES, SPITTING on the lens and screen, rub the salive around then re-submerge in whatever water you are in would help. Sure enough, it did! Of course you have to do it a few times during your trip if you are in water a lot but it worked!!!
The camera was submerged the majority of the 8 days there, in swimming pools, hot tubs and the ocean, amazingly there were no issues, it held up great throughout the whole thing. One downfall was the battery (granted a day and a half of constant video taking and photographing is not bad) but I was devastated that it died while we were out whale watching, and it was about 15 minutes after we found the whales!
We laughed all the time about people screaming that their cameras or cells phone were getting wet in the various activities, since that was the last thing we had to worry about. I had two cameras with me and after the second day I quit switching back and forth between dry and wet activities cause the CANON far superceeded my expectations, even when taking noraml dry land photos. I forgot this this was a 12megapix camera so of course the photos were clear, bright and outstanding!
It is no SLR but who would want to spend that kind of money for a camera that can't get wet on the spot, we still have our nice camera for professional looking photos, but it's not something we want to risk breaking, losing or damaging while on vacation, not to mention it's sheer size! This canon is portable, compact and goes anywhere and everywhere with you esp on those fun family trips! In hind sight I would have paid $500-600 on this thing for the quality and durability. We did drop it about 10 feet, on accident, but it never skipped a beat. This little thing is a gem!
At first I was in agreement with others who said that it does lag between picture taking, but for those times when you want it to go faster you can change it to take more, even continuously by just pressing and holding the shutter button! Highly satisfactory!
If you are still concerned, I wouldn't be. Even if something happens to the camera (drops and doesn't work or water damage) there is a factory warrenty and from prior experience with Canon they honor their warrenties, and fast.
Hope this helps others of you!! Great purchase.
Digital camera Review: Best "Waterproof" Camera so far.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have owned a few other waterproof cameras in the past and have been disappointed with the picture quality. Being a Canon SLR user for years I was excited to hear that they were coming out with their own "rugged" camera. I picked the D-10 up earlier this year for a trip to Hawaii with the hopes that the reviews were correct and the picture quality was decent. I have to say I was VERY impressed with this camera. I had really only intended to use it snorkeling or kayaking but it was so easy to use and the picture quality was so impressive I ended up using it as my main camera. I used it in every condition; indoors, outdoors, night, day, beach, jungle, underwater and every time it performed perfectly. I was probable most impressed with the underwater capabilities. I have never been a fan of vacation videos but being able to switch over to take a video of a turtle swimming by and then right back to stills without leaving the water was VERRY cool! I probably used it underwater 5 or 6 times during my stay and I never had a problems with leaks, and truth be told I was not that diligent about cleaning all the seals after each use.
Ok, a couple of minor gripes. As other reviews have mentioned the battery life is very short. I always carry spares which was a good thing, I usually went through 2 in a day. Not that big a deal but if you are looking to purchase this camera I would Definitely recommend a spare. My second minor gripe is the shape. I know the bulging lens is probably integral to the rugged capabilities, but it makes it tough to put in a pocket. Also I am hoping the next gen of this camera has HD video, but who knows what that would do to the battery life!
Digital camera Review: Best All Around Camera
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this camera for my trip to Maui, which I just came back from. This camera took great land and water photos. I used a lot of the different scenery settings, which was great. The foliage pictures turned out great. The only disappointment I had was when I found a green gecko on a red plant (how awesome of a contrast is that), the details were great, but the plant looked more orange than red in my photo. Landscape mode was good for Iao Needle and Hana.
Underwater pictures were great and the water wasn't too choppy on the surface. We went to Honolua Bay and the colors of the fish and coral were vibrant underwater. It was amazing, some pictures you could not even tell you were underwater. You have to get under the water and face the camera up to get nicer pictures and even though the fish were swimming, you can still capture the clear picture. The battery life for the camera is awesome! My friend had another Canon camera with the underwater case, his battery died after a few hours. My battery was still strong and I had the camera on the whole time as you never know when that cool fish will swim by.
We next went to the Ka'anapali Beach outside of the hotel and unfortunately the surf was a bit rougher. However, there were turtles near the beach near Black Rock and I had the underwater setting so I took both pictures outside the water and in the water. The surf was kicking up a lot of sand, so it was hard to get a clear picture of the turtle under the water. I was getting knocked over by the waves and I'm sure my camera was hitting the sand a bit as was I, but it had no problems at all.
One of my favorite pictures was using the Sunset scenery setting. The sunset was bright orange and the details of the pictures turned out great. When you look on the LCD screen, it looked a bit off, but after you took the picture, it was just magnificent. The color quality was a vibrant orange and you can see the reflection on the water and detail was just great.
This is a great all around camera for land or water. It's easy to use once you read the manual and it's a Canon (need I say more). It's a recognized camera as it's bright blue and I love the large LCD screen. It really helps when your underwater taking pictures.
Digital camera Review: Best Camera Canon Makes
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best camera Canon makes for the average user. It works well in almost any situation. I have owned this camera for almost 2 years - since it first came out. It has travelled the world and seen every type of environmental challenge and met them without issue. The underwater performance is amazing and you can swim with it for hours. My kids have taken it to Greece and St. John island and swum for hours with any problems. The performance of the camera outside the water is amazing as well. It is as easy to use as any Canon camera and the case design is very rugged which is one major reason why I like the camera so much - it is basically almost indestructible. If you want a camera that does it all with minimal compromises this is a great choice.