Canon R10 review: 4K and fast shooting speeds for less than $1,000

The most effective function of this digital camera is the AI-powered Twin Pixel autofocus that’s much like what you discover on the R7 and even the skilled EOS R3. It allowed me to maintain fast-moving topics in focus, both by conserving the AF level on them or utilizing face and eye monitoring. You’ll be able to observe folks, animals and automobiles, however it doesn’t actually assist tap-to-track like different Canon fashions.

With folks or animals it’ll fluidly observe the pinnacle or eyes, and does an excellent job of switching between the 2 seamlessly. For racing automobiles, it makes an attempt to deal with the helmet of the driving force. The system is responsive, dependable and almost idiot-proof, easily monitoring topics whether or not you’re in level or large space AF modes. That makes it nice for newbies who could not wish to dive into the guide to determine complicated settings for topic monitoring.

Picture high quality

The R10 delivers correct colours with heat pores and skin tones like most photographers need. JPEGs strike an excellent stability between sharpening and noise discount, whereas RAW information ship first rate however not spectacular dynamic vary. That enables for an excellent quantity of room to tweak photographs.

Low-light efficiency is a weak level, nevertheless. You’ll be able to take into account ISO 6400 to be a tough restrict, and even then, you’ll get quite a lot of noise should you attempt to enhance blacks on underexposed photographs. ISO 12,800 is feasible in a pinch, however I wouldn’t advocate it should you want a transparent photograph. The dearth of in-body stabilization additionally means you’ll danger getting blurry images at shutter speeds beneath 1/one centesimal, until your arms are spectacularly regular.

As I ceaselessly forgot, although, the R10 does have a built-in flash that’ll allow you to at the least get a transparent although not very creative photograph should you don’t have sufficient mild. Simply be sure to dial the flash energy down within the settings to keep away from blowing out your topic.

Video

The R10 is without doubt one of the greatest APS-C cameras for video. You get sharp, downsampled 4K at 30 fps or much less, and cropped video at 60 fps that’s not as sharp however actually nonetheless usable. In order for you tremendous gradual, it could possibly shoot at 120 fps at 1080p, however video is clearly softer nonetheless.

It’s additionally the one sub-$1,000 APS-C digital camera I can consider that provides 10-bit video by way of the HDR PQ mode. Nonetheless, not like with most log video, you received’t discover a typical lookup desk (LUT) for this in Adobe Premiere or different modifying methods. So until you play the video on to an HDR TV, it may be difficult to work with.

Autofocus isn’t fairly nearly as good for video as for images, because the system often focuses on the background as an alternative of the topic. That doesn’t occur typically although, so the video I shot was normally sharp besides in a number of circumstances.

The dearth of in-body IS means you’ll want to make use of stabilized lenses for handheld video. And for something like vlogging, you’ll additionally wish to activate the digital stabilization and even use the improved IS. Digital IS provides a major crop, on high of the 1.6X APS-C crop, so the 2 equipment lenses are simply barely large sufficient on the 18mm finish of the zoom.

Vlogging at 60 fps provides one other diploma of problem, as you get an extra 1.56x crop, so the 18mm lens turns into almost a 50mm lens. Whereas vlogging, I discovered I may barely match my head into the body, even whereas utilizing a Joby Gorillapod so as to add some additional arm size.

Rolling shutter may also be a difficulty, notably for oversampled 4K 30p video, although it’s far much less extreme than in Sony’s APS-C cameras. It improves in 4K 60p mode as a result of there’s much less sensor to learn out, however once more, you’re dealing with a critical crop and softer footage.

As with images, video high quality is great with dynamic vary on par with rival cameras, although a bit lower than what Sony has on supply. The oversampled video could be very sharp and once more, colours are exact and skin-friendly. You will get additional dynamic vary taking pictures in HDR mode for sunsets and the like, however once more, beware that it requires some work to look any good.

Wrap-up

The $980 EOS R10 is a stable begin for Canon’s finances crop-sensor RF cameras. It has superior taking pictures speeds, glorious autofocus, good picture high quality, good dealing with, a flip-out show and stable video capabilities.

There’s room for enchancment, although. It’s not as large a leap as I’d hoped over Sony’s $900, two-year-old A6400. And whereas it has 10-bit functionality and higher autofocus than Fujfilm’s $900 X-T30 II, the latter is healthier total for video and has barely larger decision. It’s additionally a bit too costly to qualify as a real finances digital camera.

Nonetheless, this digital camera is certain to enchantment to customers who wish to step up from a smartphone and are tempted by Canon’s stable repute. They received’t be disillusioned with the R10, as a result of it’s straightforward to make use of and delivers the place it counts with sharp, nice-looking images and video.