Canon PowerShot D10

Viewfinder (0.00)

The D10 has no viewfinder: everything is done through the LCD screen. 

LCD (4.40)

A 2.5-inch LCD screen is on the rear of the D10. This has a 230k pixel resolution, which is a little on the low side. However, it is high enough resolution to get a decent feel for the sharpness of a photo, and the screen is nice and bright.

The LCD screen of the D10

Flash (4.00)

The small flash is located above the lens, with a diffuser in front of it that softens the light a little. Canon claims that this flash can work up to 10 feet with the zoom at the wide setting, but this seems somewhat overoptimistic to us; we found it barely illuminated objects at this distance.

The flash of the SD10 is directly above the lens

Having the flash right next to the lens also means that you get a lot of red-eye in photos. The SD10 can deal with this in two ways; a red-eye flash mode that uses a pre-flash to contract the iris of the eyes, and post-processing that removes the red-eye after shooting.

Lens (4.50)

A 3X zoom is built into the body of this camera with a focal length of 6.2 to 18.6mm. That's equivalent to a 35mm to 105mm zoom on a 35mm film camera. That range is shorter than many point and shoots (some, like the Samsung TL225, have 12X zoom lenses), but it is pretty average for underwater cameras, as long zooms don't really help underwater as the water obscures things.

The lens of the D10 is a 3x zoom that is within the sealed body

The aperture range of this camera is pretty decent; the lens has an aperture range of f/2.8 to f/9 across the zoom range. The smaller the first number, the more light the lens can gather and the better the images will look in low light. That's particularly important when shooting underwater, as things can get pretty dim in the murky depths. 

Zoom Ratio Examples
6.2mm	11.6mm	18.6mm

Battery (5.00)

The D10 is juiced up by a small Li-ion rechargeable battery that fits into the cavity under the bottom of the camera body. This holds 1000 mAh of charge, which we found was good for a day or two of casual shooting, or a few hours serious shooting. There is no higher capacity battery available, so you might want to pick up a spare battery. These cost about $40.

The battery and memory cards fit into a cavity at the bottom
of the camera body, with a latching waterproof cover

The cover that seals the battery and memory card cover closed is pretty tough, requiring you to slide a latch down to open it. That's for the best, though; the last thing you want is it accidentally popping open when you are trying to take photos of a great white feeding frenzy.

The battery has to be charged in the external charger; it cannot be recharged in the camera. An AC adapter is available, but this does not charge the battery in the camera; it runs the camera only.

Memory (3.00)

Photos and video are stored on SDHC memory cards which fit in next to the battery. An 8GB SDHC card will cost you about $25 and will hold about 2500 images at the highest resolution and quality, or about 1.5 hours of video.

One nice touch here is that the wrist strap included with the D10 includes a small plastic knob on the fastener that can be used to help open the battery and memory card compartment. This is useful because it means you can change batteries or memory cards while wearing gloves, so you don't have to freeze your fingers off inserting a new memory card

Jacks, Ports & Plugs (1.00)

Two ports are located under a cover on the right side of the camera body: a power input for the optional AC adapter and a single multi-purpose port. With the included cables, the latter can connect the camera to a computer (via the USB cable) or to a TV via the composite video and audio out cable. There is no way to output digital video from this camera.

 
The two ports of the D10: power and a multi-function port

Other Features (6.00)

Waterproofing to 33 feet - The D10 is built to withstand water at depths of up to 33 feet, which is enough for snorkel and shallow scuba dives.

Drop-proof from up to 6 feet - it can also withstand a drop from up to 6 feet onto a hard surface.

Weather proof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit - This camera also laughs at temperatures down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 degrees Centigrade), so it will be fine taking photos when you go off-piste on a double diamond run. Which is more than can be said for how you will probably be.

See how the competition stacked up against the Canon D10
Fuji Z33WP	Olympus Stylus Tough 8000	Pentax W80