Small and simple
The EOS M10 joins a very crowded entry- level mirrorless camera market.
Story and photos by tAN KIt HOONG CANON has been making EOS branded mirrorless cameras for some time with limited success – one figures that the company’s heart just isn’t quite into making a mirrorless camera, perhaps for fear of cannibalising DSLR sales.
Be that as it may, Canon hasn’t given up on mirrorless – it has launched a more enthusiast level EOS M3 and the camera we have on review today, the EOS M10.
Unlike the EOS M3 which is aimed at more advanced photographers ( perhaps looking for a second camera body), the M10 is aimed at people who want a simple camera that they can just point and shoot.
First off, there’s no mode dial and there’s no hotshoe for attaching an external flash like the EOS M3.
When I first picked up the M10, it took me a few seconds to realise that Canon has rather confusingly integrated the power button into the middle of the mode selector switch. The integration is so seamles it was hard to tell that I had to push the power button down to turn on the camera.
The mode selector itself is very simple – you get three settings, namely intelligent auto mode, regular shooting mode and movie mode.
In the fully automatic mode the camera chooses modes and settings for you depending on the situation and lighting condition, while the regular camera mode is where you get to select the usual program, shutter- priority, aperture- priority and full manual modes.
Because the M10 has so few buttons, most navigation and selections especially in shooting mode, are made using the 3.0in touchscreen on the back – you can change practically all the settings by touch and that includes shooting modes, ISO settings and image quality.
The camera also has a little pop- up flash, but it’s pretty weak so it’ll only be useful for some quick snaps indoors or at short distances.
As a point and shoot, the M10 actually works quite well – in bright light, the camera’s 49- point second- generation hybrid CMOS autofocus is fast.
The M10 also comes with a tilting LCD that flips all the way to face forward, making it quite a good vlogging camera.
In low light, however, the autofocus system tends to struggle a little bit.
This is made worse by the fact the kit lens has a very small maximum aperture at the telephoto end – at f/ 6.3 when fully zoomed out, there’s not a lot of light hitting the sensor which hinders the autofocus system when shooting in low- light situations even when using the camera’s focus assist light.
Standard ISO settings are between ISO 100 to ISO 12,800 with ISO 25,600 available in boost mode.
In terms of noise, the EOS M10’ s APS- C sized sensor holds its own very well compared to other mirrorless systems with smaller sensors – ISO 100 to 800 are essentially noiseless, while at ISO 1600 and ISO 3200 you can see some noise but they’re still perfectly usable.
From ISO 6400 and up, noise reduction kicks in quite hard and you see quite a bit of detail lost as the camera tries to control the noise and give you a cleaner image. ( Mirrorless interchangeable lens camera 18.0- megapixel CMos optical, 3.0in ( 1.04- million dot) touchscreen LCD EF- s 15- 45mm Is stM kit 100- 12,800 ( 25,600 in boost mode) P, tv, Av, M 1080p ( up to
875mAh lithium ion sDXC usB 2.0, micro- DIMENSIONS ( w x H x D): 66.6 x 35mm 565g www. canon. com. my RM1,999 ( with kit lens) Review unit courtesy of Canon Marketing ( Malaysia) sdn Bhd,
Compact in size; focuses well in bright light; touchscreen controls.
Focusing ability falls in low- light situations; limited functionality.
Battery life is only so- so, which is not surprising since you’re exclusively shooting and viewing with the LCD on all the time – the official rating is about 255 shots and I got about 180 or so before I needed to recharge.
Video shooting is okay, though not outstanding – you can shoot 1080p video at up to 30fps but there’s no option for an external stereo microphone.
It captures good enough audio for simple vlogging, but don’t expect much more than that. The EOS M10 isn’t bad – as a simple point- and- shoot camera with the capability to switch lenses, it actually functions quite well.
The problem is that unless you’re going to use it for vlogging or simple snapshots, the EOS M10 is quite limited in terms of features – the lack of flash hotshoe and the simple controls mean that the camera is going to limit you somewhat if you grow as a photographer.