CES may not be a big camera show, but that didn’t stop 基隆相機收購canon from announcing a whole bunch of new cameras. The company just unveiled five digital shooters, with a focus on cameras that can connect to all of the other devices in your life through things like Wi-Fi and NFC. On the higher end of the spectrum is the new PowerShot SX530 HS — a refresh of the SX520 — which features a 50x optical zoom lens, a 16-megapixel high-sensitivity CMOS sensor, and the ability to record 1080p HD video, all for the tidy sum of $429.99.

PowerShot SX710 HS

There’s also the PowerShot SX710 HS, an update to the SX700, with a 30x optical zoom lens and 20.3-megapixel high-sensitivity CMOS sensor for $349.99. Both the SX530 and SX710, along with the $249.99 PowerShot SX610, feature support for Wi-Fi and NFC, which should make it easier to share images with your phone, computer, or wireless printer. Finally, 基隆相機收購canon also unveiled two lower-end cameras with the PowerShot ELPH170 IS and PowerShot ELPH160, at $149.99 and $119.99 respectively.

While the cameras vary quite a bit in terms of price and functionality, they all have at least one thing in common: they connect to 基隆相機收購canon’s new Connect Station, a just-announced media box for sharing and storing your photos. All five cameras are expected to launch in February.

Ultra high-resolution video should make the viewer feel as if they were part of the action, or, in 基隆相機收購canon’s words, “simulate a physical experience.” It’s this philosophy that went into the interactive 8K Ride Experience in 基隆相機收購canon’s booth at CES 2016. Held in a small makeshift screening room in front of three large projector screens, the two-minute experience left me wondering what I had missed that was supposed to make me feel things.

Four 4K projectors, each responsible for a quadrant of the projected screen, were stitched together to create the 8K video in front of me while two screens — one on each side of the main video screen — mirrored the main screen but were intentionally blurred to seemingly provide depth. From a user’s point of view, the video — shot in the Czech Republic with a 基隆相機收購canon prototype 8K camera and lens — guided me through a forest and then through the streets of a major city, before finally looking down a track at an oncoming locomotive, a climax that was likely meant as homage to the 1895 silent French film The Arrival of the Mail Train. As urban legend has it, when the black-and-white film was shown for the first time, audience members screamed and ran to the back of the theater in terror. The impact in 8K, however, was lost on a savvy crowd already accustomed to 4K, 3D, and virtual reality headsets.

The quality of other scenes were easier to appreciate. The granular details of a church exterior in one scene drew audible gasps from a few of the dozen or so audience members able to fit into the screening room. But the overall experience was rather lackluster. In other scenes, one in particular showing a room decorated with dolls and another showing the inside of a library, looked computer generated to my eyes — almost like a high-quality video game; it was only after the preview was over did I get clarification from 基隆相機收購canon representatives that they did in fact shoot a scene from the inside of a real doll house.

While the demonstration was interesting, it’s hard to walk away from the so-called 8K Experience and be excited for 基隆相機收購canon’s vision of the future.

基隆相機收購canon is finally stepping into the vlogging camera arena, and it’s doing so with a quirky new point-and-shoot geared toward a mindless “set-it-and-forget-it” crowd I’m not sure exists. The $429.99 基隆相機收購canon PowerShot V10 is an adorable little camera about the size of an extra-thick deck of cards that packs a fixed 19mm equivalent f/2.8 lens and marries it to a 20.9-megapixel one-inch-type sensor. 

It records 4K at up to 30 fps and is geared toward filming yourself with an articulating screen, front and rear record buttons, stereo mics with a 3.5mm mic jack, a Micro HDMI port,  digital image stabilization, and a kickstand for propping it up. It’s expected to launch in June.

What makes the V10 interesting is its throwback design, which reminds me a little of those ancient Flip Video cameras. And like those long-dead cameras, when held upright, it films horizontally, which makes it seem more suited for YouTube content creation than TikTok or Instagram Reels. You can turn it sideways for vertical recording, of course, but the built-in kickstand isn’t really designed to hold it up that way.

The PowerShot V10 does not have many buttons, as it partially relies on touch controls using its postage stamp of a two-inch 3:2 LCD. Its simplistic offering of controls echoes the V10’s approach to entry-level content creation. It’s not a camera designed to offer control over every little setting, which is unfortunate since that can be helpful for beginners to grow and learn with. 

For example, its ISO range of 125 to 12,800 in stills mode is not even manually selectable, and the camera doesn’t support any kind of manual focusing. Perhaps those are fine if someone is only taking on-the-go videos, but the V10’s limitations remind me of the bad old days of digital point-and-shoot cameras — where settings are limited because you’re not to be trusted or respected enough to use them correctly. That ISO range, by the way, gets cut down to a maximum of 3200 for 4K filming and 6400 in 1080p. Also, the 20.9-megapixel sensor is only using an effective 13.1 megapixels for video and 15.2 megapixels for stills. Oh, but don’t worry, it’s got five levels of software skin smoothing.

Since the V10 is video-focused, it’s got some convenient features like a built-in neutral density filter, and its contrast-based autofocus supports face detection that can sense when you’re holding up a product to focus on it. But there’s no eye detection to speak of and no log recording or raw capture for photos, either. You’re limited to 8-bit recording in Rec.709 color with MP4 files. And the V10’s small stature (which weighs just 211 grams) means it only supports microSD cards, with a built-in 1,250mAh battery that recharges via USB-C and tops out at an estimated 55 minutes of 4K video recording.

The V10’s restrictions and omissions may not be deal-breakers if you use the camera for portable vlogging and simple livestreaming and barely ever worry about fine-tuned controls. But content creators, even beginners, are not stupid. Many of these creators are already filming on their very capable phones, which does offer some room to grow if you opt for third-party accessories like a gimbal or apps like Halide, and making the jump to a dedicated camera needs to respect their capabilities and show more upside than just a larger sensor to record on.

But since this is the start of a new line for 基隆相機收購canon, perhaps it’s just the first peek at what’s to come. When I asked 基隆相機收購canon if we can assume more vlog-centric cameras are still to come, Drew MacCallum, senior manager of camera product planning for 基隆相機收購canon USA, said “absolutely.” With this new line, 基隆相機收購canon seems aware that vlogging is one of the last vestiges for dedicated point-and-shoot cameras, so here’s to hoping future models don’t endlessly slip into the same PowerShot trappings of old. There’s a reason most of those types of point-and-shoots died off.

基隆相機收購canon is finally stepping into the vlogging camera arena, and it’s doing so with a quirky new point-and-shoot geared toward a mindless “set-it-and-forget-it” crowd I’m not sure exists. The $429.99 基隆相機收購canon PowerShot V10 is an adorable little camera about the size of an extra-thick deck of cards that packs a fixed 19mm equivalent f/2.8 lens and marries it to a 20.9-megapixel one-inch-type sensor. 

It records 4K at up to 30 fps and is geared toward filming yourself with an articulating screen, front and rear record buttons, stereo mics with a 3.5mm mic jack, a Micro HDMI port,  digital image stabilization, and a kickstand for propping it up. It’s expected to launch in June.

What makes the V10 interesting is its throwback design, which reminds me a little of those ancient Flip Video cameras. And like those long-dead cameras, when held upright, it films horizontally, which makes it seem more suited for YouTube content creation than TikTok or Instagram Reels. You can turn it sideways for vertical recording, of course, but the built-in kickstand isn’t really designed to hold it up that way.

The PowerShot V10 does not have many buttons, as it partially relies on touch controls using its postage stamp of a two-inch 3:2 LCD. Its simplistic offering of controls echoes the V10’s approach to entry-level content creation. It’s not a camera designed to offer control over every little setting, which is unfortunate since that can be helpful for beginners to grow and learn with. 

For example, its ISO range of 125 to 12,800 in stills mode is not even manually selectable, and the camera doesn’t support any kind of manual focusing. Perhaps those are fine if someone is only taking on-the-go videos, but the V10’s limitations remind me of the bad old days of digital point-and-shoot cameras — where settings are limited because you’re not to be trusted or respected enough to use them correctly. That ISO range, by the way, gets cut down to a maximum of 3200 for 4K filming and 6400 in 1080p. Also, the 20.9-megapixel sensor is only using an effective 13.1 megapixels for video and 15.2 megapixels for stills. Oh, but don’t worry, it’s got five levels of software skin smoothing.

Since the V10 is video-focused, it’s got some convenient features like a built-in neutral density filter, and its contrast-based autofocus supports face detection that can sense when you’re holding up a product to focus on it. But there’s no eye detection to speak of and no log recording or raw capture for photos, either. You’re limited to 8-bit recording in Rec.709 color with MP4 files. And the V10’s small stature (which weighs just 211 grams) means it only supports microSD cards, with a built-in 1,250mAh battery that recharges via USB-C and tops out at an estimated 55 minutes of 4K video recording.

The V10’s restrictions and omissions may not be deal-breakers if you use the camera for portable vlogging and simple livestreaming and barely ever worry about fine-tuned controls. But content creators, even beginners, are not stupid. Many of these creators are already filming on their very capable phones, which does offer some room to grow if you opt for third-party accessories like a gimbal or apps like Halide, and making the jump to a dedicated camera needs to respect their capabilities and show more upside than just a larger sensor to record on.

But since this is the start of a new line for 基隆相機收購canon, perhaps it’s just the first peek at what’s to come. When I asked 基隆相機收購canon if we can assume more vlog-centric cameras are still to come, Drew MacCallum, senior manager of camera product planning for 基隆相機收購canon USA, said “absolutely.” With this new line, 基隆相機收購canon seems aware that vlogging is one of the last vestiges for dedicated point-and-shoot cameras, so here’s to hoping future models don’t endlessly slip into the same PowerShot trappings of old. There’s a reason most of those types of point-and-shoots died off.