Who says compact cameras are dead? Well, the market does, actually; the mobile phone has all but killed off the category altogether, so it’s interesting to see Canon take another stab at the market. The PowerShot series of cameras today gained its newest family member, the V10.
The main question this product has to overcome is ‘why not just use your phone,’ and the camera nerd in me is relieved to have a good answer: Phone cameras are great, but they have to be small. With that restriction removed, Canon can do what Canon does best: Build cameras. On paper, the little camera looks great; it is built around a 1-inch CMOS sensor. That alone is a big deal; phone cameras are getting good enough now that we are right at the edge of what physics can do for us: Sensors get hot, and with all those pixels packed into a tiny space, and limitations on how good and precise lenses can be, you’re butting up against the practical maximum image quality you can get.
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