Canon EOS R10 Camera Review

The Canon EOS R10 is an entry-level APS-C mirrorless camera. In Canon’s lineup, it sits above the more explicitly beginner-oriented Canon EOS R50 and Canon EOS R100 but best buy video cameras below the more advanced Canon EOS R7. It represents a compelling middle ground, with an advanced Dual Pixel CMOS II autofocus system, compact and user-friendly design, and many automatic shooting modes, along with enough physical controls to keep more advanced photographers happy.

Our Verdict
7.8 Travel Photography
The Canon R10 is good for travel photography. Even with its relatively large handgrip, it’s small and light enough to be easily carried around in a bag or on a sling for hours. The overall image quality is also very good, and the camera’s autofocus system is fast and accurate enough to lock onto moving subjects. Its fully-articulated screen also makes it easier to snap pictures from unusual angles. Unfortunately, while it has a longer battery life than its M-mount predecessors, it’s still best to bring another pack or two for longer days.

Pros
Lightweight, well-built body.
Good image quality.
Reliable autofocus system.
Comfortable to shoot with.
Cons
Unspectacular battery life.

The Canon R10 is fairly portable. It’s not much taller or wider than the highly compact Canon EOS R50, but its deeper handgrip makes it a little harder to fit in a small bag. Thankfully, it isn’t all that heavy, so you shouldn’t find it too hard to carry around on a sling during long days on the go.

Build quality is great. The camera feels similarly sturdy to the pricier Canon EOS R7, with a body made mainly from dense, high-grade plastic, a robust screen articulation mechanism, and solid buttons and dials that can easily be identified by touch and provide good feedback. It also has a textured grip and thumb rest to maintain a secure hold. That said, there are a few weak-feeling points; the locking hinged door for the battery and SD card compartment feels a little flimsy, as does the spring-loaded flash, which can be seen here. Unlike the pricier R7, it also isn’t rated as being weather-sealed.

This camera features Canon’s new ‘multi-function shoe’ rather than a standard hot shoe. It includes a 21-pin electronic interface that’s supposed to offer more functionality with certain accessories, like data and power transfer to mics or flashes. It also has the standard quartet of legacy pins, allowing you to use older accessories.

It’s worth noting that this camera uses Canon’s RF lens mount and that there are only a small handful of dedicated RF-S APS-C lenses, with no third-party options currently available. Thankfully, the camera is fully compatible with full-frame RF lenses, too. Do note that if you choose to move onto a full-frame RF-mount Canon body later on, using it with an RF-S APS-C lens will block a portion of the larger sensor, resulting in a crop to your image.

The Canon R10 is very comfortable to use. Like the Canon EOS R50 and the Canon EOS R100, the large RF lens mount takes up quite a bit of real estate on its compact body. However, it has a much deeper grip than its cheaper stablemates, freeing up a bit of space for your fingers and making it much more comfortable to hold, even for those with larger hands. Another key difference between the R100 and R50 is the inclusion of a second command dial, so adjusting shutter speed and aperture is much less clunky. Like the Canon EOS R7 and most other new Canon cameras, it features a joystick for quick and intuitive changing of focus zones or menu navigation. There’s also a reprogrammable button within the AF/MF toggle, which can be remapped to 60 other functions. DOF preview is its default setting. Unfortunately, the camera’s small size makes it easy to press the right side of the directional pad with your palm when holding the camera, even if you’ve got relatively small hands.

The electronic viewfinder (EVF) has a 2.36 million dot resolution, which is typical and gives you a fairly sharp image. While it isn’t the largest viewfinder, it’s still quite comfortable, with ample padding and a good separation from the body. If you typically wear glasses and find your view of the scene blurry when shooting through the EVF without them, you can adjust the diopter adjustment slider.

The screen is fully articulated and includes full touch capability. You can use it to navigate the menus, select focus points, or as a touch shutter. It’s less sharp than the Canon EOS R7, but the display is still sufficiently crisp for most people. It gets bright enough to combat glare on sunnier days.

Canon’s user interface is superb. The Canon R10 has the same tab-based menu system as other newer models in the R series, like the Canon EOS R7 and Canon EOS R8. It’s well laid out and easy to navigate using the touchscreen, command dials, or joystick. There are also many customization options and a quick menu to access commonly used settings, not to mention a guide mode to provide detailed explanations of more complex settings.

If you want to transfer photos to your phone easily, the Canon Camera Connect app connects the camera to your phone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi; you can see a sample of the interface here. You can transfer files or control the camera remotely with a Wi-Fi connection. Unlike many other camera apps, you can still use and adjust the settings on the camera itself while using the app for Live View/remote control. That said, the Live View function and even shutter release through the app have a significant lag. If you own a compatible Canon printer, like the Canon SELPHY Square QX10, you can also connect directly to the SELPHY Photo Layout app and print your photos right away. See a brief video tour of the Canon Camera Connect app here.

The camera also has many auto-shooting modes, though not to the same overly-streamlined degree as the more explicitly beginner-oriented Canon EOS R100. The ‘A+’ (Scene Intelligent Auto) mode is the fully automatic shooting mode, in which the camera assesses the scene and automatically chooses the right settings for you. You can also access the ‘Creative Assist’ mode in the menu, which allows you to edit RAW images with a set of built-in effects before saving them as JPEGs.