Canon EOS M10 Review

Overview

For the first time, Canon has expanded its EOS mirrorless camera line with a second, concurrent model. With past models, each new successor replaced the one before it, but with the Canon EOS M10, the Japanese camera maker is offering an additional, more entry-level model to sit beneath the beefier, more complex EOS M3.

The goal of the EOS M10 is to provide step-up users -- be it from just a smartphone or from a compact camera -- with interchangeable-lens camera image quality and features in a compact and easy to use package.

Borrowing many of the features and design from the earlier Canon EOS M2, which never officially made it to US shores, the EOS M10 takes a step beyond the M2 with a newer image processor and improved image quality, as well as some cosmetic and operability enhancements.

Let's dive into the details!

Starting with the heart of the camera, the image sensor, the Canon EOS M10 takes a small step down from its bigger sibling in terms of sheer megapixel count. The Canon M10 utilizes an 18-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, which is the same resolution as the original EOS M and M2. (The EOS M3, on the other hand, offers a bump up to a 24.2-megapixel chip.)

However, while the EOS M10 shares the same sensor resolution as the original Canon EOS M, the chip has been updated with improved on-sensor autofocus. Unlike the original EOS M camera, which used Canon's first-generation Hybrid CMOS AF system with combined on-sensor phase-detect and contrast-detect autofocus, the Canon EOS M10 uses the company's faster, more advanced Hybrid CMOS AF II system -- similar to the EOS M2 and Canon SL1.

The Hybrid CMOS AF II system in the EOS M10 provides 49 total AF points, a bump up from 31 AF points in the M2. Autofocus coverage spans about 70% by 80% of the total image frame area, which makes it easier to compose shots and get the focus point right where you want it.

As for image quality improvements, one of the major upgrades to the EOS M10 is the inclusion of Canon's DIGIC 6 image processor. According to Canon, the newer processor greatly improves the noise performance of the M10 compared to the M2. For example, Canon claims ISO 1600 images should have similar noise performance as ISO 400 shots on the EOS M2 -- a two-stop improvement for JPEGs as well as videos. RAW image quality, however, is said to be relatively unchanged.

Since the EOS M2 never came to the US and hence we've not reviewed it, we can't judge these claims. We can say, though, that while we saw minimal improvements in noise levels and overall image quality versus the original EOS M, the EOS M10 still turns in a fairly respectable performance by entry-level standards.

Like the previous EOS M models, the ISO sensitivity range begins at 100 and tops-out at 12,800, though you can expand the maximum ISO a step higher to 25,600.

Also like the earlier EOS M2, the continuous burst shooting rate is still pegged at 4.6 frames per second with autofocus, and maximum video resolutions and frame rates are also unchanged -- up to 1080/30p and 720/60p, as well as PAL-specific frame rates (24fps is also available).

The EOS M10 gains the M3's Creative Assist mode, which provides users the ability to tweak image parameters like sharpening and contrast, but in an easy to use, real-time, on-screen preview with touch-based sliders. The camera also gains the Hybrid Auto mode, which captures a few moments of video simultaneously along with a still image.

As with most of Canon's more recent camera offerings, the M10 also has Wi-Fi and NFC wireless connectivity that is compatible with the Canon Camera Connect app (iOS and Android) for both file transfer and remote control operation. The camera is also compatible with the Canon Connect Station CS100 home media device.

On the physical side of things, the Canon EOS M10 looks like a sleek blend of the original EOS M and the PowerShot G7X. The camera itself is very compact and lightweight, with its physical properties nearly identical to those of the original M.

The controls on the Canon EOS M10 are very minimal -- even more so than on the original EOS M. Like the original, there is no standard Mode Dial, but rather a simpler three-way switch on the top deck which powers-on the camera and places it in one of three shooting modes: full auto (Scene Intelligent Auto), stills mode and video mode. To select other available shooting modes, such as Aperture- or Shutter-Priority, you'll need to use the touchscreen interface. Around the shutter release button is the camera's single control dial, which is used to adjust shooting settings like aperture or shutter speed, depending on the mode. Lastly, there is a small movie record button to the right of the shutter release.

Original M/M2 owners will notice the lack of a hot shoe -- therefore making the M10 incompatible with Canon's Speedlite flash system. However, unlike these earlier models, the M10 gains a pop-up flash.

Like the Canon G7X, the M10 has a full 180-degree tilting rear touchscreen panel. The 3.0-inch touch-screen LCD monitor features a 1.04-million dot resolution just as in the G7X and features the traditional array of Canon touch panel amenities like tap-to-focus and touch-shutter.

And speaking of the touch-screen, it's a great feature to have on this camera, given the scarcity of physical control dials and buttons. Apart from the screen, the rear of the camera is quite sparse in terms of controls. Gone, even, is the secondary control wheel that surrounded the 4-way control button of the original M and M2 cameras -- it's now just a 4-way button. Apart from this control cluster button, only two other buttons sit on the rear of the camera: the menu and playback buttons.

Other physical controls consist of a small flash release on the left side of the camera and a Mobile Device Connect button on the right side.

A High-Speed USB 2.0 port is provided for connecting to a computer or printer, as well as a Mini HDMI (Type-C) port for playback on an HDTV. Unlike the M and M2 cameras, the M10 does not have an external microphone input jack (which isn't all that surprising given the lack of a hot shoe to mount an external mic).

The Canon EOS M10 derives its power from a proprietary LP-E12 lithiium-ion battery pack, which is CIPA-rated for only 255 shots per charge. In-camera charging is not supported, so a dedicated LC-E12 battery charger is included in the bundle.

Images and videos are stored on a single SD/SDHC/SDXC card, and the Canon M10 includes support for UHS-I types.

In the Box

The Canon EOS M10 retail kit contains the following items:

• Canon EOS M10 camera body
• EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens
• LC-E12 Battery Charger
• LP-E12 Lithium-ion Battery Pack
• Front and Rear Lens Caps
• RF-4 Body Cap
• Battery Cover
• Hot Shoe Cover
• USB Cable
• EM-200DB Strap

Recommended Accessories

• Large capacity SDHC/SDXC memory card. 16GB Class 10 should be a minimum, UHS-I type recommended.
• Extra battery pack LP-E12 (~US$60)
• EF-EOS M mount adapter if you have any EF or EF-S lenses (~US100)
• Small to medium camera bag

Optics

The Canon EOS M10 is available bundled with the new, collapsible Canon EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM zoom lens. Below are the results of our optical tests with this new lens. Other lab images were taken with our reference prime lenses.

Kit Lens Test Results

Zoom
The Canon EF-M 15-45mm IS STM lens offers a wider angle than typical kit lenses, with decent far-field performance for its class.

The Canon EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM kit lens offers a typical optical zoom ratio of about 3x, with a 35mm-equivalent range of about 24-72mm. That's wider than most kit lenses go, but it gives up a bit of reach on the telephoto end compared to more common 18-55mm kit lenses. Still, most users will likely appreciate the significantly wider angle than a slightly longer lens.

Sharpness and contrast are pretty good across most of the frame throughout the zoom range at f/8, however corners show some blurring even at f/8. Chromatic aberration is well controlled, suppressed by the camera's processor. Decent far-field performance for an inexpensive kit lens, but see below for our lab test results.

Macro
A larger-than-average macro area with slightly soft detail. The flash throttled down well.

The Canon EOS M10's macro performance will of course depend entirely on the lens in use. With the 15-45mm STM lens set to 45mm, the Canon M10 captured a somewhat larger-than-average minimum area measuring 2.90 x 1.93 inches (74 x 49 millimeters). Details are a little soft in the center of the frame, and quite soft in the corners. (Most lenses have some softening in the corners at macro distances, so this is not unusual.) The cameras's built-in flash throttled down well, producing a well-exposed image, but it's slightly unevenly lit because of the offset location of the flash.

Geometric Distortion
Higher than average barrel distortion at wide angle and moderate barrel distortion at telephoto.

Barrel distortion at 15mm is about 1.0%

Barrel distortion at 45mm is about 0.5%

The Canon EF-M 15-45mm STM lens produces images with about 1.0 percent barrel distortion at full wide angle, which is higher than average and noticeable in some shots. At the telephoto end, there is about 0.5% barrel distortion instead of the usual pincushion, which is also somewhat noticeable. The Canon EOS M10 does not correct for geometric distortion in its JPEGs, as uncorrected RAW files have identical amounts. Geometric Distortion is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide-angle) or inward (like a pincushion -- usually at telephoto).

Chromatic Aberration and Corner Sharpness
Low chromatic aberration in camera JPEGs. Some softening in the corners at both wide angle and telephoto.

Aperture: Maximum
Wide, f/3.5: Upper right C.A.: Low Softness: Soft	Wide, f/3.5: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp
Tele, f/6.3: Upper right C.A.: Low Softness: Soft	Tele, f/6.3: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp

Chromatic Aberration. Chromatic aberration in the corners of JPEGs with the Canon 15-45mm STM lens is low at both wide angle (15mm) and full telephoto (45mm) when wide open thanks to effective chromatic aberration suppression. See below for uncorrected results.

Corner Softness. The 15-45mm STM lens produces some soft corners when wide-open at maximum aperture. At full wide angle, corners on the right side of our test target are a little softer than the left, though not by much. Some softness does extend a fair bit into the frame, though, and while the center is fairly sharp, it's not tack sharp. At full telephoto, corners are also somewhat soft with the top right being the softest, but the softness doesn't extend as far into the frame, and the center is slightly sharper, but again, not tack sharp.

Vignetting. Vignetting or corner shading is quite pronounced at wide angle when wide open, and that's with Peripheral Illumination Correction enabled by default. Vignetting is not an issue at full telephoto.

Aperture: f/5.6 (W), f/8 (T)
Wide, f/5.6: Upper right C.A.: Low Softness: Soft	Wide, f/5.6: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp
Tele, f/8: Upper right C.A.: Low Softness: Soft	Tele, f/8: Center C.A.: Very low Softness: Fairly sharp

Stopped-down: Stopping down a few clicks at wide angle to f/5.6 did improve center sharpness slightly, but corners still remained soft although contrast is better. Vignetting is however much improved. Stopping down to f/8 at full telephoto had surprisingly little effect in terms of sharpness and contrast in both the corners and center.

Lens Aberration Corrections

The Canon EOS M10 has options for in-camera Peripheral Illumination Correction ("vignetting") and Chromatic Aberration correction, which are both enabled by default.

In-camera JPEG	Uncorrected RAW
Wide, f/3.5: Upper left C.A.: Very low	Wide, f/3.5: Upper left C.A.: Moderately high
Tele, f/6.3: Upper left C.A.:Very low	Tele, f/6.3: Upper left C.A.: Moderate

As you can see by comparing in-camera JPEGs on the left to uncorrected converted RAW files on the right, the Canon EOS M10's chromatic aberration correction is very effective at removing almost all the lateral chromatic aberration in our 15-45mm lens test shots above. Peripheral Illumination Correction has also reduced corner shading compared to the RAW conversion, although it still left some significant shading behind at wide angle when wide open.

Bottom line: While its not sharp in the corners and there is plenty of distortion and vignetting at wide angle, this 24-72mm equivalent lens offers fair performance for an inexpensive kit lens in a compact form factor.

Viewfinder Test Results

Accuracy
Excellent accuracy from the LCD in record mode.

The Canon EOS-M10's LCD monitor was very accurate, with 100% coverage in our test.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Canon EOS M10 Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Typical saturation levels with very good hue accuracy.

ISO Sensitivity
100	200	400	800	1600
3200	6400	12800	25600
In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Mouse over the links above to compare ISOs, and click to load a larger version.

Saturation. The Canon EOS M10 produces images with mean saturation levels that are quite typical. Strong reds, oranges, dark greens, dark brown and dark blues are pushed by minor to moderate amounts, while yellow, light green and cyan are just slightly muted. The mean saturation of 110.6% (10.6% oversaturated) at base ISO about average for cameras we've tested, and mean saturation is quite stable as ISO rises to 3200, but falls off to a low of 103.2% at extended ISO 25,600. That's also typical, though, and overall saturation levels are quite pleasing. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. The Canon EOS M10 produced pleasing, natural-looking Caucasian skin tones in our simulated daylight tests when Auto white balance setting was used. Interestingly, Manual white balance produced skin tones that were a bit too saturated for our tastes. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. The Canon EOS M10's hue accuracy is better than average. There are the usual shifts in cyan toward blue (actually quite small), red toward orange, and orange toward yellow, but all are fairly minor. (The cyan to blue shift is very common among the digital cameras we test; we think it's a deliberate choice by camera engineers to produce better-looking sky colors.) Average "delta-C" color error at base ISO is 4.18, which is very good. Delta-C color error increases with sensitivity, but remains better than average across the ISO range. Hue is "what color" the color is.

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Auto and Incandescent white balance settings both struggled with household incandescent lighting, though Manual white balance worked well. Average exposure compensation required.

Color balance indoors under incandescent lighting was pretty awful with Auto white balance setting, producing a strong red/magenta cast. The Incandescent white balance option was better, but too warm, with a strong yellow/orange cast. The Manual setting however produced very good white balance here. The Canon EOS M10 required +0.3 EV exposure compensation for this shot, which is average among the cameras we've tested. (Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.)

Outdoors, daylight
Color and saturation are very good, though a tendency towards slightly cool colors and somewhat high contrast under harsh lighting. Slightly below average exposure accuracy.

Outdoors, the Canon EOS M10 tended toward a slightly cool color balance, though overall color was generally very pleasing. The Canon EOS M10 required +1.0 EV exposure compensation to keep our mannequin's face bright, a little more than the typical +0.7 EV we're accustomed to needing for our "Sunlit" Portrait shot. The Canon EOS M10's default contrast is a little high, producing some washed-out highlights and dark shadows under the deliberately harsh lighting of our portrait test shown above left, though the camera's contrast can always be adjusted, and more advanced features like Auto Lighting Optimizer and Highlight Tone Priority do help with high contrast scenes like these. See below for examples of this. The Far-field shot (above right) is also a touch cool, and default exposure a tad dim, though the camera did a good job of avoiding blown highlights at default exposure. Deep shadows are however a little noisy and discolored, as we've seen from other previous generation Canons (models with newer sensors general have improved shadow noise), but they contain good detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
~2,350 to 2,400 lines of strong detail from JPEGs, about the same from RAW.

An in-camera JPEG image of our laboratory resolution chart contains sharp, distinct line patterns up to about 2,400 lines per picture height horizontally and about 2,350 lines vertically. Some may argue for higher numbers, but lines begin to merge at these resolutions. Extinction of the pattern occurred just past 3,200 lines horizontally and at about 3,000 lines vertically. A matching Adobe Camera Raw converted .CR2 file does not show any higher resolution than the in-camera JPEG, however ACR produced more moiré and false colors than in-camera JPEGs, especially in vertical lines. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Decent sharpness and detail with a sharp lens, though with moderate sharpening artifacts. Some minor detail loss to noise reduction processing even at low ISOs.

Sharpness. The Canon EOS M10's 18-megapixel sensor and processor capture reasonably sharp images with good detail when coupled with a sharp lens, though they aren't as crisp as images from some competitors, and edge-enhancement artifacts are visible around high-contrast edges, such as the halos around the lettering and border in the crop above left. This is typical for models from Canon at default settings, though. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows some detail loss due to noise suppression in darker areas and in areas with low contrast, but that's to be expected for this class. Typical performance for a Canon 18-megapixel APS-C sensor. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above the Canon EOS M10 produces reasonably sharp JPEG images with good detail. With a good RAW converter, additional detail can often be extracted with fewer sharpening artifacts. See below:

Base ISO (100)
Camera JPEG, defaults	RAW via Adobe Camera Raw

In the table above, we compare a best quality in-camera JPEG taken at base ISO using default noise reduction and sharpening (on the left) to the matching RAW file converted with Adobe Camera Raw 9.1 via DNG Converter 9.4 using default noise reduction with some strong but tight unsharp masking applied in Photoshop (300%, radius of 0.3 pixels, and a threshold of 0).

Looking closely at the images, we can see ACR extracts additional detail that isn't present in the JPEG from the camera, particularly in the red-leaf swatch where the fine thread pattern is likely treated as noise by the JPEG engine. Fine detail in the mosaic crop is also improved, but as is often the case, more noise can be seen. You can of course apply stronger noise reduction (default ACR NR used here) to arrive at your ideal noise versus detail tradeoff. And, as expected, sharpening haloes aren't nearly as strong as default camera output. Still, not bad in-camera default JPEG processing, but as usual you can do noticeably better by shooting in RAW mode and using a good RAW converter.

ISO & Noise Performance
Very good detail versus noise up to ISO 1,600, though detail suffers at higher ISOs.

Default High ISO Noise Reduction
ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 1,600	ISO 3,200
ISO 6,400	ISO 12,800	ISO 25,600

The Canon EOS M10's high ISO performance is fairly good, very similar to Canon's more recent 18-megapixel DSLRs. Images are quite clean at ISOs 100 through 400, with just a tiny amount of luminance noise seen in the shadows, as well as what looks to be chrominance noise in the darker areas, though chroma noise appears well controlled. Noise "grain" is slightly more evident at ISO 800, but detail remains strong despite stronger blurring due to noise reduction. ISO 1,600 is of course noisier, but fine detail is still quite good. At ISO 3,200 noise grain becomes coarser, blurring stronger, and chroma noise is more apparent in the hair, but still under control. ISO 6,400 is quite grainy with obvious chroma blotching in dark to mid tones, but there is still some fine detail left. At ISO 12,800 fine detail is heavily blurred, however the noise grain becomes tighter and chroma noise is actually lower than at ISO 6400, indicating a change in noise reduction. ISO 25,600 is however very noisy with little detail and more noticeable chroma blotching.

Overall though, not a bad performance for an entry-level mirrorless camera. See the Print Quality section below for our evaluation of maximum print sizes at each ISO setting.

Note that we now shoot this series at f/8 instead of f/4, for increased depth of field (at f/4, it was very difficult to focus for maximum sharpness in the crop area while maintaining consistent focus between models).

Extremes: Sunlit, dynamic range and low light tests
Somewhat high default contrast with unremarkable dynamic range. Highlight Tone Priority and Auto Lighting Optimization options help with tough lighting. Good low-light performance, but autofocus can struggle at lower light levels.

The Canon EOS M10 struggled a bit here, producing moderately high contrast with some washed-out highlights and deep shadows under the deliberately harsh lighting of the test above. Our mannequin's face was too dim at the +0.3 EV and +0.7 EV settings, so we preferred the image with +1.0 EV exposure compensation here. This resulted in more clipped highlights in the shirt and flowers than we're used to seeing from an APS-C sensor lately, indicating mediocre dynamic range compared to the best of recent competitors. Despite the +1.0 EV exposure compensation, there are still some dark shadows and very deep shadows are on the noisy side, though they contain good detail. Bottom line: Dynamic range isn't as good as some competing models, at least not without features such as HTP and ALO enabled (see below).

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here. In actual shooting conditions, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown here; it's better to shoot in open shade whenever possible.)

Highlight Tone Priority
The Canon EOS M10's Highlight Tone Priority (HTP) option did a good job of preserving highlight detail without impacting shadows and midtones much, as shown below. (Mouse over the Off and On links to load the corresponding thumbnail and histogram, and click on the links to load full resolution images.)

Highlight Tone Priority (+0.3 EV)
HTP Setting: Off On
Histogram

Both shots above were captured at the same exposure (+0.3 EV), the only difference being that HTP was enabled for the second shot which necessarily increases the ISO to 200; part of how HTP works. The result is evident in the histograms and thumbnails above, clearly showing the superior highlight preservation when HTP is enabled, while shadows were only slightly affected. If you look closely at shadows in the full resolution images, though, you'll notice an increase in noise is the price you pay when ISO is boosted from 100 to 200. Except in the very deepest shadows, though, overall noise is low enough at ISO 200 that this is really a negligible trade-off for all but the most critical applications.

Far-field Highlight Tone Priority (0 EV)
Off	On

Here, you can see HTP at work on our Far-field shot. There weren't many highlights blown to begin with though, so the effect on highlights is quite subtle.

Automatic Lighting Optimization
Like most EOS models, the Canon EOS M10 offers three selectable levels of Automatic Lighting Optimization (ALO), plus Off. In fully automatic, M, Av, Tv, P and some scene modes, ALO is automatically enabled. Again, mouse over the links below to load the associated thumbnail and histogram, and click on the links to load full resolution images.

Automatic Lighting Optimization (+0.3 EV)
ALO Setting: Off Low Standard (default) High

As you can see above, ALO has the effect of shifting shadows and midtones in the histograms to the right, brightening shadows and indeed most of the image without clipping too many additional highlights. ISO is not boosted for ALO so increased noise is not an issue, though it may be slightly more visible in shadows that have been boosted significantly.

Far-field Automatic Lighting Optimization (0 EV)
Off	Low	Standard	High

As you can see above, ALO had a similar effect on our Far-field shot.

Dynamic Range Analysis (RAW mode)
While we once performed our own dynamic range measurements based on in-camera JPEGs as well as converted RAW images (when the camera was supported by Adobe Camera Raw), we've switched to using DxO Labs' results from their DxOMark website. As technology advanced, the dynamic range of modern high-end cameras in some cases exceeded the range of the Stouffer T4110 density scale that we used for our own measurements. DxO's approach based on RAW data before demosaicing is also more revealing, because it measures the fundamental dynamic range of the sensor, irrespective of whatever processing is applied to JPEGs, or to RAW data by off-the-shelf conversion software.

In the following, we use DxO's "Print" dynamic range results, which are scaled based on camera resolution. As the name suggests, this scaling corresponds to the situation in which you print at a given size, regardless of how many megapixels the camera might have. (In other words, if you've decided to make a 13x19 inch print, that's the size you're printing, whether the camera's resolution is 16 or 300 megapixels.) For the technically-minded, you can find a discussion of the reasoning behind this here on the DxOMark website. Also note that DxO Labs uses a signal-to-noise (SNR) threshold of 1 when defining the lower boundary of acceptable luminance noise in their dynamic range measurements, which corresponds to the "Low Quality" threshold of the Imatest software we used to use for this measurement.

Here, we decided to compare the 18-megapixel Canon EOS M10's dynamic range (in orange) to its 24-megapixel sibling's, the M3 (red), and also to the Sony A5100 (yellow), a competing entry-level mirrorless camera that also has a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor. You can always compare other models on DxOMark.com.

As you can see from the above graph (click for a larger version), the Canon EOS M10's dynamic range is lower than the M3's across the board, peaking only at about 11.4 EV at base ISO, versus 11.8 EV for the M3. The M3's higher resolution helps it in this regard, since noise is reduced more when downsampled to the same size as these results are. Still, the difference is significant when printing at the same size.

Compared to the Sony A5100, the M10's dynamic range is even lower, as the Sony managed about 12.7 EV at base ISO. However the A5100's advantage falls to roughly match the M3's advantage at moderate to high ISOs.

Bottom line: Like older generation Canons that share the same or similar 18-megapixel APS-C sensor, the EOS M10 offers less dynamic range than most competing models, meaning shadows are noisier and/or highlights are more easily clipped compared to most peers. Click here to visit the DxOMark page for the Canon EOS M10 for more of their test results and additional comparisons.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16 fc Minimum NR
ISO 100	2s, f2.8	25s, f2.8	25s, f2.8
ISO 3200	1/15s, f2.8	1s, f2.8	1s, f2.8
ISO 12800	1/60s, f2.8	1/5s, f2.8	1/5s, f2.8

Low Light. The Canon EOS M10 performed fairly well in our low-light imaging test, capturing bright images at the lowest light level we test (1/16 foot-candle), even with the lowest sensitivity setting (ISO 100). As expected, noise is visible at ISO 3,200, but it's quite fine grained, and not at all objectionable. As expected, images at the EOS M10's top native ISO of 12,800 are quite grainy particularly when noise reduction is minimized (right column in the table above), but may still usable after being resized for web use or for small prints.

We didn't see any significant issues with hot/bright pixels or heat blooming, though some minor banding (fixed pattern noise) can be seen in deep shadows.

Color balance is pretty neutral with Canon EOS M10's Auto white balance setting, just a touch cool a very slight magenta or cyan tint depending on the light level and ISO.

Low Light AF: The Canon EOS M10's autofocus system was able to focus on our low-contrast test AF target down to just below the 1/8 foot-candle light level (down to -1.2 EV) unassisted with an f/2.8 lens, which is fair performance, however it was able to focus down to below 1/16 foot-candle (-2.4 EV) unassisted with our high-contrast AF target, which is pretty good. Both results are actually better than Canon's specification. The EOS M10 has a built-in AF illuminator which lets it autofocus in complete darkness when the subject is within range and has sufficient contrast.

As always, keep in mind that the longer shutter speeds here demand the use of a tripod to prevent any blurring from camera movement. (A useful trick is to just prop the camera on a convenient surface, and use its self-timer to release the shutter. This avoids any jiggling from your finger pressing the shutter button, and can work quite well when you don't have a tripod handy.)

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Mirrorless cameras like the Canon EOS M10 generally do much better than point & shoots thanks to its hybrid autofocus and larger sensor, but you still shouldn't expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects.

Output Quality

Print Quality
Very nice, high-resolution prints up to 24 x 36 inches at ISO 100-400; Pleasing 8 x 10 inch prints at ISO 3200; and usable 4 x 6 inch prints at ISO 12,800.

ISO 100 through 400 images all look great up to an impressive 24 x 36 inches. Despite the 18-megapixel sensor, the camera can produce prints that push its resolving power quite a bit. Fine detail is there, yet not overly sharpened. There is very mild pixelation if you look closely, but at normal viewing distances for prints of this size, it's not much of an issue. We'd also be okay with a 30 x 40 inch print for wall display, too.

ISO 800 prints are a bit tricky. We'll play it safe here and call it at 20 x 30 inches as there's a slight loss in detail in some areas due to the minor increase in noise. Noise here is very mild and primarily visible in the shadow areas. For less critical applications, we'd be okay with a 24 x 36 inch print at this ISO sensitivity.

ISO 1600 images show a noticeable jump in shadow noise, which limits our print size to only 11 x 14. Colors and detail are both still pleasing, but the shadow noise is a little strong for our tastes at higher print sizes. Perhaps with some careful raw processing, you could get a usable print at 16 x 20.

ISO 3200 prints top-out at 8 x 10 inches. There's still a good amount of fine detail, decent color, and well-behaved noise at this print size. There's quite a bit of shadow noise that discourages us from printing any larger.

ISO 6400 images, again, display a lot of shadow noise, and now, quite a bit of detail loss that prevents us from calling anything "good" above 5 x 7 inches.

ISO 12,800 prints just pass muster at 4 x 6 inches. At this ISO, detail is very lacking and the strong noise significantly impacts making prints at larger sizes.

ISO 25,600 images are unfortunately too soft and noisy to be considered usable.

The diminutive EOS M10, Canon's entry-level mirrorless model, has a strong showing in the print department, despite its humble size and price point. Sporting a familiar 18-megapixel APS-C sensor but a relatively new, faster DIGIC 6 image processor, the camera is capable of sharp, detailed images that can make for some very large prints, especially at lower ISOs. From base ISO to ISO 400, images look by and large nearly identical and make the cut at up to 24 x 36 inches. Noise is very gradual to make an appearance up until about ISO 1600, at which point we observe stronger shadow noise, which limits prints to a still-respectable 11 x 14 inches. Print sizes steadily decrease as ISO rises, where we call the finale at a 4 x 6 print at ISO 12,800. The maximum ISO of 25,600 is best avoided if you're looking to make prints.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Canon EOS M10 Photo Gallery .

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Canon EOS M10 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

Performance

Image Quality

Below are crops from our laboratory Still Life target comparing Canon EOS M10 image quality to the original EOS M (sorry, the M2 was not released in the US and thus didn't make it into our lab), its more expensive sibling the EOS M3, as well as against several other entry-level mirrorless cameras: the Olympus E-PL7, Panasonic GF7 and Sony A5100.

NOTE: These images are from best quality JPEGs straight out of the camera, at default settings including noise reduction and using the camera's actual base ISO (not extended ISO settings). All cameras in this comparison were shot with our very sharp reference lenses. Clicking any crop will take you to a carrier page where you can click once again to access the full resolution image as delivered straight from the camera. For those interested in working with the RAW files involved, click these links to visit each camera's respective sample image thumbnail page: Canon EOS M10, Canon EOS M, Canon EOS M3, Olympus E-PL7, Panasonic GF7 and Sony A5100 -- links to the RAW files appear beneath those for the JPEG images, wherever we have them. And remember, you can always go to our world-renowned Comparometer to compare the Canon EOS M10 to any camera we've ever tested!

Canon EOS M10 vs Canon EOS M at Base ISO

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 100	Canon EOS M at ISO 100
Here, we compare the original 18-megapixel Canon EOS M which came out in 2012 to the 18-megapixel Canon EOS M10. As you can see, apart from brighter, more pleasing colors from the newer model, image quality is very similar here at base ISO.

Canon EOS M10 vs Canon EOS M3 at Base ISO

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 100	Canon EOS M3 at ISO 100
Above we compare the M10 to its bigger brother, the 24-megapixel EOS M3. The M3 does resolve a bit more detail as expected, but the M10 produces slightly nicer colors. Otherwise image quality is quite similar although the M10 renders the red-leaf pattern a bit better than the M3. The latter resolves more of the fine thread pattern which likely gets treated as noise, degrading the leaf pattern a little more than the M10.

Canon EOS M10 vs Olympus E-PL7 at Base ISO

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 100	Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 200
Here we compare the 18-megapixel APS-C M10 to the 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds Olympus E-PL7. These two cameras actually have identical vertical resolutions which is how this scene is framed, so the Canon doesn't have a resolution advantage in this comparison. In fact, the E-PL7's weaker anti-aliasing filter and better default sharpening give it an edge in terms of detail and crispness. Colors are more pleasing from the Canon, though, and noise slightly more visible from the Olympus, but keep in mind the E-PL7's higher base ISO of 200.

Canon EOS M10 vs Panasonic GF7 at Base ISO

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 100	Panasonic GF7 at ISO 200
Here's another comparison with a 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds camera, the Panasonic GF7. Again, both cameras have very similar vertical resolutions and therefore resolve very similar levels of detail, but the Panasonic's more conservative default sharpening and contrast make its image look a bit soft and less punchy compared to the Canon's, and again the M10 produces better color.

Canon EOS M10 vs Sony A5100 at Base ISO

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 100	Sony A5100 at ISO 100
The 24-megapixel APS-C Sony A5100 does resolve more detail than the 18-megapixel M10 here at base ISO, and its more advanced sharpening algorithm produces crisper fine detail while at the same time producing noticeably lower sharpening halos along high-contrast edges. Noise levels are however slightly higher from the Sony, and again, the Canon produces more pleasing colors.

Canon EOS M10 vs Canon EOS M at ISO 1600

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 1600	Canon EOS M at ISO 1600
The M10 does show slightly less noise than the original M at ISO 1600, as well as some refinement in how it treats edges and transitions between different subject matter, but other than the improved color, there's not a huge difference in image quality. Both cameras smear a lot of detail away in our tricky red-leaf swatch though contrast is a bit better from the older camera.

Canon EOS M10 vs Canon EOS M3 at ISO 1600

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 1600	Canon EOS M3 at ISO 1600
The M3 continues to resolve a bit more detail than the M10 here at ISO 1600, though the difference isn't as much as at base ISO. Noise levels are however higher from the M3 and again the M10 produces more pleasing colors.

Canon EOS M10 vs Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 1600

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 1600	Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 1600
The E-PL7 continues to produce a crisper image at ISO 1600 along with lower luminance noise levels, but chrominance noise is a bit higher in the shadows and noise reduction artifacts distort fine details a bit more than from the Canon. Color remains more pleasing from the Canon.

Canon EOS M10 vs Panasonic GF7 at ISO 1600

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 1600	Panasonic GF7 at ISO 1600
Noise in flatter areas is actually lower and more fine-grained from the Panasonic, but its area-specific noise reduction leaves more noise in areas with fine detail and along edges, making them appear grainer but with slightly better detail than the Canon. Color and contrast are still superior from the Canon.

Canon EOS M10 vs Sony A5100 at ISO 1600

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 1600	Sony A5100 at ISO 1600
It's tough to pick a winner in this comparison. The Sony still resolves more detail, but while its heavy-handed noise reduction keeps noise lower than the M10, it starts to produce unwanted artifacts and softens much of the image. The Sony does a little better in our tricky fabrics, however much of the detail is distorted. And once again, the Canon produces better color.

Canon EOS M10 vs Canon EOS M at ISO 3200

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 3200	Canon EOS M at ISO 3200
Similar to what we saw at ISO 1600, the M10 produces a slightly more refined-looking image with better colors, but image quality is otherwise similar.

Canon EOS M10 vs Canon EOS M3 at ISO 3200

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 3200	Canon EOS M3 at ISO 3200
The Canon M3 is still able to resolve more high-contrast detail, but higher noise and more aggressive noise reduction negates the resolution advantage in areas with subtle detail, especially noticeable in our red-leaf fabric which has much stronger blurring than from the M10. Again, the M10 produces slightly better colors overall.

Canon EOS M10 vs Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 3200

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 3200	Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 3200
The Olympus still produces a crisper, more contrasty, yet smoother image with a finer noise "grain" here at ISO 3200, but it's obviously working hard to suppress noise, producing more unwanted noise reduction artifacts. Colors continue to be more pleasing from the Canon.

Canon EOS M10 vs Panasonic GF7 at ISO 3200

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 3200	Panasonic GF7 at ISO 3200
Also similar to what we saw at ISO 1600 between these two cameras, the GF7 leaves behind less noise in shadow areas but subject matter with fine detail is grainier thanks to its area-specific noise reduction compared to Canon's more traditional approach to noise reduction. It's a tough call as to which is better overall, but we give the edge to the Canon, which has better color as well.

Canon EOS M10 vs Sony A5100 at ISO 3200

Canon EOS M10 at ISO 3200	Sony A5100 at ISO 3200
Very heavy-handed noise reduction from the A5100 makes its image quite soft and fuzzy, with a much more processed looked in flatter areas as well. Although detail looks better in our troublesome red-leaf fabric, much of it is false. And the M10 continues to produce better color.

Canon EOS M10 vs. Canon EOS M, Canon EOS M3, Olympus E-PL7, Panasonic GF7, Sony A5100

Canon EOS M10 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Canon EOS M ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Canon EOS M3 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Olympus E-PL7 ISO 200 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Panasonic GF7 ISO 200 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Sony A5100 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400
Detail comparison. High-contrast detail is also important, pushing the camera in different ways, so we like to look at it, too. Here we can see the Canon M10 is just slightly improved over the Canon M at ISO 3200 and 6400, but the difference is very minor. At base ISO, the Sony A5100 comes out on top, with the Canon M3 a close second, but both degrade as ISO rises. The Olympus E-PL7 does very well, with very little degradation as ISO is increased. The Panasonic GF7 starts off with the lowest contrast, but it doesn't degrade much either at higher ISOs.

Very nice, high-resolution prints up to 24 x 36 inches at ISO 100-400; Pleasing 8 x 10 inch prints at ISO 3200; and usable 4 x 6 inch prints at ISO 12,800.

ISO 100 through 400 images all look great up to an impressive 24 x 36 inches. Despite the 18-megapixel sensor, the camera can produce prints that push its resolving power quite a bit. Fine detail is there, yet not overly sharpened. There is very mild pixelation if you look closely, but at normal viewing distances for prints of this size, it's not much of an issue. We'd also be okay with a 30 x 40 inch print for wall display, too.

ISO 800 prints are a bit tricky. We'll play it safe here and call it at 20 x 30 inches as there's a slight loss in detail in some areas due to the minor increase in noise. Noise here is very mild and primarily visible in the shadow areas. For less critical applications, we'd be okay with a 24 x 36 inch print at this ISO sensitivity.

ISO 1600 images show a noticeable jump in shadow noise, which limits our print size to only 11 x 14. Colors and detail are both still pleasing, but the shadow noise is a little strong for our tastes at higher print sizes. Perhaps with some careful raw processing, you could get a usable print at 16 x 20.

ISO 3200 prints top-out at 8 x 10 inches. There's still a good amount of fine detail, decent color, and well-behaved noise at this print size. There's quite a bit of shadow noise that discourages us from printing any larger.

ISO 6400 images, again, display a lot of shadow noise, and now, quite a bit of detail loss that prevents us from calling anything "good" above 5 x 7 inches.

ISO 12,800 prints just pass muster at 4 x 6 inches. At this ISO, detail is very lacking and the strong noise significantly impacts making prints at larger sizes.

ISO 25,600 images are unfortunately too soft and noisy to be considered usable.

The diminutive EOS M10, Canon's entry-level mirrorless model, has a strong showing in the print department, despite its humble size and price point. Sporting a familiar 18-megapixel APS-C sensor but a relatively new, faster DIGIC 6 image processor, the camera is capable of sharp, detailed images that can make for some very large prints, especially at lower ISOs. From base ISO to ISO 400, images look by and large nearly identical and make the cut at up to 24 x 36 inches. Noise is very gradual to make an appearance up until about ISO 1600, at which point we observe stronger shadow noise, which limits prints to a still-respectable 11 x 14 inches. Print sizes steadily decrease as ISO rises, where we call the finale at a 4 x 6 print at ISO 12,800. The maximum ISO of 25,600 is best avoided if you're looking to make prints.

Field Test

The M10 is an easy to use, affordable mirrorless camera

By Jeremy Gray · 07/13/2016

Introduction

The Canon EOS M10 marks the first time that Canon expanded its mirrorless camera lineup to include more than one current camera. Joining the higher-resolution and more sophisticated EOS M3, the M10 is best described as the entry-level model in Canon's mirrorless lineup. The M10 provides a simple, user-friendly experience while still offering more advanced photographers a number of creative opportunities, although limited in some respects.

Canon EOS M10 Key Features

• 18.0-megapixel CMOS APS-C sensor
• Mirrorless
• Compact 10.6-ounce body with simple controls
• Tilting 3.0-inch rear touchscreen display
• Native ISO range of 100-12800, expandable to 25600
• Hybrid CMOS AF II with on sensor phase detect, 49 AF zones
• 1080/30p video
• Built-in Wi-Fi and NFC

The Canon EOS M10 offers a simple but decent camera body

The first thing you'll notice when you pick up the Canon M10 is that there are not very many controls. There's a control dial around the shutter release on the top of the camera, a movie record button next to that, a switch to toggle between video, stills and full auto, and a couple of buttons and a directional pad on the rear of the M10. Without many buttons, there are times when controlling the camera can be a little deliberate and slow. You'll come to rely on the touch-screen-friendly Quick Menu a lot for changing numerous camera settings.

The control dial has a nice feel to it, but it would be good to have a second one somewhere on the camera, even if it were around the directional buttons like there is on the EOS M3. You'll notice that there's not a traditional mode dial on the M10; selecting modes like Program, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority and Manual requires the use of the touchscreen. This isn't too bad, however, because the touchscreen works really well. The 3.0-inch display has 1,040,000 dots, and the 180-degree upward tilting mechanism moves smoothly and feels surprisingly robust.

Notably absent is any sort of electronic viewfinder or hotshoe for attaching an external viewfinder. The lack of a hotshoe (and resulting inability to attach Canon's optional EVF-DC1) is a rather large difference between the M10 and its more capable sibling. The rear display works well in most situations, but a viewfinder is hard to beat when it's sunny out or when you're using a longer lens.

Despite the price, the EOS M10's build quality is quite nice, and it feels very solid in the hand. On its own, the slim, candy-bar shape is very compact but can be a little slippery to hold. For under $30, you can purchase an optional Grip GR-E3 for the M10. I highly recommend doing so because the grip doesn't add much weight to the body, but it makes the M10 much more comfortable to hold.

Overall, particularly with the optional grip, the M10 offers a comfortable camera body that won't overwhelm novice users with complicated controls. It's a very simple camera to operate and the touchscreen interface works well. Fortunately, it doesn't eschew more serious shooting controls, it just puts them in the Quick Menu.

The EOS M10's APS-C sensor does a fine job

With about six fewer megapixels than the M3, the M10's 18-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor still captures high-quality images. Eighteen megapixels is plenty for most uses and the image quality is good. Paired with Canon's DIGIC 6 image processor, the M10 is designed to offer a full two-stop improvement in high ISO performance compared to the EOS M2, at least for JPEG images. The new processing doesn't apply to the camera's RAW images. On the plus side, the M10 can record 14-bit uncompressed RAW files, which is nice.

Dynamic range is a weak area for the M10. DxOMark found that the sensor has only 11.4 EVs of dynamic range, which is a fair bit less than some other competing APS-C sensors out there. I found that I was still able to make quite a good level of exposure adjustments to RAW files from the M10, but the files certainly provided less leniency than other cameras I've used -- including some with smaller sensors.

EF-M 15-45mm kit lens is okay, but has a lot of distortion

The M10 is sold with an EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM kit lens, which offers basically a 24-72mm equivalent focal length. It's a compact zoom lens (it's only 1.76 inches long), and works well for landscapes, portraits and general shooting. The lens does exhibit a lot of distortion and vignetting at the wide end, so keep that in mind. It's unfortunate that it's so slow at the telephoto end (f/6.3) -- though it does have image stabilization to help compensate -- but overall, it's an okay kit lens.

The touchscreen display makes the Canon EOS M10 enjoyable to use

The camera offers a lot of options to the user, but it doesn't have a lot of buttons or dials to worry about. Offering a good user experience, the Canon M10 feels like a camera designed for users who are becoming more serious about photography and want the ability to change lenses. Many features are accessible through the touchscreen, which is very user-friendly and easy to understand. I like that the camera body itself is so straightforward, but enthusiasts who want fast access and more physical controls for settings might not be satisfied with this simple design.

Metering

The M10 provides strong metering performance through its evaluative, partial, center-weighted and spot metering options. Partial meters approximately 11% of the center of the frame, and spot metering meters approximately 2.8% of the frame. Spot metering is, unfortunately, locked to the center of the frame and does not move based on the AF point.

When the camera doesn't meter as expected or you desire exposure compensation, you can press up on the directional pad on the rear of the body and access up to three EVs of compensation. Auto white balance worked well in my experience, providing consistently good results in a wide variety of situations, although the camera did have a slight tendency to reduce naturally warm tones in a scene.

Shooting Modes

It is clear by the lack of a mode dial that the camera is aimed at users who will often use the camera in a fully-automatic shooting mode. The camera works well in a fully-automatic shooting mode due to its reliable metering and autofocus performance. If you want to utilize P, A, S and M shooting modes, you need to access them via the touchscreen. When in aperture and shutter priority modes, the control dial on the top of the camera works perfectly well for adjusting your settings. When shooting in the fully manual mode, however, the camera body's limitations become apparent, and you have to toggle between which setting (aperture or shutter speed) the dial is controlling, making manual shooting quite tedious.

Touch-screen and menus

When shooting, the display can be set to show you a variety of settings and options. In the top left corner is the shooting mode (M, Av, Tv and P). The top right has the "Q" menu which lists eleven settings, six on each side (the top right corner is "back" to go back to the shooting screen) of the display with the central area dedicated to describing the setting and providing additional information. The settings are AF method, AF operation (One Shot versus Servo), image quality, video quality, drive mode, self-timer, white balance, picture style, auto lighting optimizer, metering and aspect ratio. None of these settings are accessible via physical buttons on the camera.

Along the bottom of the display is the aperture or shutter speed (or both when in manual mode), exposure compensation, ISO, zoom and a touch shutter toggle. By pressing up on the directional pad (which is otherwise an exposure control button) you can cycle through which of shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation is controlled by the camera's control dial. This is true in aperture and shutter priority as well, although you're only cycling between two options.

The touch-screen works quite well in most cases, providing quick and accurate performance, however I found it to become a little sluggish when selecting between shooting modes. Otherwise it worked well, including for the camera's system menus. A few of the on-screen buttons are small, so I found myself opting for a combination of touch and the physical buttons for system menu navigation. On the topic of the menus, they're generally well-organized and straightforward. As a note, you can navigate the quick menu with physical buttons as well; it is not exclusively touch-based, although touch-based control is definitely faster.

It is worth noting that the camera doesn't have a built-in focus scale on the display, so night shooting that requires manual focus (such as shooting the night sky) is a tricky task that you must perform using live view and a lot of patience. It was at times immensely frustrating to work with at night, but it can still capture pretty good night shots.

Overall

I'm usually a proponent of cameras with a lot of physical controls because I find them faster and easier to work with, but I generally liked shooting with the M10. Its simple, streamlined approach worked well given its strong metering and decent autofocus performance (more on that shortly). Sure, it's not a high-end enthusiast camera, but it does seem well-suited to photographers who want something small and easy to use or are just getting started with their first non-point and shoot camera.

Autofocus performance is not the Canon EOS M10's strong suit

The Canon EOS M10 utilizes a Hybrid CMOS AF II autofocus system, which offers both on-sensor phase-detect and contrast-detect autofocus (hence "hybrid"). The camera has 49 autofocus zones and offers multi, single point and face detection + tracking autofocus areas, and you can use the touchscreen to adjust focus.

I found that the multi area (fully automatic) autofocus area mode worked decently well, although it occasionally missed the mark in terms of picking the correct subject. In these situations, single point autofocus was a suitable remedy and proved to be relatively quick. With that said, this camera doesn't offer blazing-fast autofocus speeds.

Continuous autofocus performance is decent, although it isn't particularly fast. The camera can track a subject with some success, so long as it isn't moving quickly and doesn't blend into its surroundings. Using subject tracking occasionally leads to the camera picking up on a somewhat similar-looking object in the scene as the system is not particularly sophisticated. I found that the M10 also had a tendency to hunt for focus.

The EOS M10's autofocus is reliable enough for many general-purpose situations, but it's far from what I would consider useful for action, sports or anything else fast-paced. In fact, based on my experience, I'd classify its overall AF performance as rather mediocre. With that said, one needs to keep the camera's performance in the appropriate context given the Canon EOS M10's price point and classification as an entry-level camera. With that, it strikes me as decent mirrorless camera in terms of focusing for the money, though there are certainly better offerings out there.

Canon EOS M10's performance dogged by slow burst rate & shallow buffer

Performance is about what you would expect from an entry-level camera, which is to say that it is not that great. The DIGIC 6-powered camera is slow pretty much across the board with single-shot cycling times one of the few areas where it's roughly average. Continuous shooting performance on the Canon M10 is sluggish. When shooting JPEG files, the buffer is at least good at over 80 frames captured at just under 4.6 frames per second. However, the buffer situation worsens dramatically when recording raw files, although the burst rate only drops down to 4.2 fps. The buffer sinks to a paltry six frames for raw, and when shooting raw + JPEG the buffer goes down to just five frames. The buffer does clear in roughly three seconds, though, which is quite good.

It's unfortunate that the Canon M10 is so slow to record images and that its raw buffer depth is so small, which all in all limits the M10's usefulness at shooting any sort of action or fast-paced subjects. However, as was the case with autofocus performance, the context is important. This is an entry-level camera with an entry-level price, so it's understandable that the M10's performance is not going to be up to the level of a higher-end camera.

Canon M10 does surprisingly well in low light

High sensitivity

Up through ISO 1600, JPEG images straight from the camera look pretty good. At ISO 3200, the situation is a bit murkier as images lose quite a lot of sharpness due to the in-camera noise reduction. The M10 has aggressive default noise reduction, although you can adjust it or disable entirely if desired. It's a staple of many entry-level cameras to place a strong emphasis on reducing visible noise, even at the cost of fine details and sharpness. At ISO 6400, images take on a very digital and processed appearance. At ISO 12800 and 25600, images display a severe lack of fine detail and heavy noise and are best avoided, in my opinion.

Canon M10 Noise Comparison 100% crops from JPEG images straight from the camera. (Click images for full-size files.)
ISO 100 Full Scene
ISO 100	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 12800
ISO H (25600)

RAW images look pretty good at ISO 1600, though there's a fair amount of noise. Contrast and detail are still good at this sensitivity, and you can process the file into something completely usable for moderately large viewing sizes and prints. ISO 6400 results in a large falloff in sharpness and a dramatic increase in visible noise, but I could see myself utilizing a processed RAW file at ISO 6400 for web display. All in all, high ISO performance is decent with the EOS M10. Its APS-C sensor does a good job and despite noise reduction being heavy-handed in-camera, its RAW files are pretty good for a camera of its class.

Canon M10 RAW samples - 100% center crops from RAW images using Adobe Camera Raw defaults. (Click to access the .CR2 RAW files.)
ISO 100	ISO 1600
ISO 6400	ISO 25600

Built-in flash

In lieu of having a hotshoe, the M10 offers a built-in flash. It's moderately powerful and is certainly powerful enough to provide good fill flash during the day, as you can see in the images below. I would rather the camera have a hotshoe (or both a hotshoe and a built-in flash, ideally), but it's an entry-level camera so I'm not surprised at the omission.

Video: What's here is good but what's missing is unfortunate

Video is something of a disappointment with the Canon M10, unfortunately. You can't record any sort of 4K video -- not that surprising, given the other current offerings of EOS models -- and 1080p resolution video is only offered at 24 and 30 frames per second. This is well below what I've come to expect from modern mirrorless cameras. There's no headphone jack, but at least there's a microphone jack -- though no hot-shoe to attach an external mic.

Autofocus performance when recording video is okay, but can be somewhat slow. I like being able to quietly move the focus point around the frame using the tilting touchscreen display, though. Exposure performance was consistently good, as was automatic white balance.

Movie modes are somewhat lacking as well. Your options are either a fully automatic movie mode (although you can still control autofocus if you so choose) and a manual movie mode. If you start a movie recording while in aperture or shutter priority, the camera enters automatic mode.

At high sensitivities, video looks pretty good through ISO 1600, although it becomes quite soft at ISO 3200. The softness is joined by noticeable noise at ISO 6400, but the 1080p resolution cap masks some of the issues.

Overall, the video features that are present work fairly well. I wish that autofocus performance was a bit better, but the camera works quite well for its class in fully automatic mode. Obviously the lack of 4K or even 1080/60p video is disappointing.

Built-in Wi-Fi and NFC work with Canon Camera Connect app

The Canon M10 has built-in Wi-Fi and NFC and can establish a connection via the dedicated wireless button on the side of the camera to both iOS and Android devices. I tested the wireless functionality on an iOS device, which means that I had to go through iOS's wireless settings menu before being able to connect to the camera. Once up and running, though, performance was good. The connection was stable, and the live view display on my phone's screen was close to real-time.

Canon Camera Connect application screenshots

There are quite a few options and controls available in the Canon Camera Connect application, including drive mode and autofocus settings, and the touchscreen works well for selecting focus. It's a relatively standard assortment of features, similar to those with other EOS cameras with wireless capabilities, and offers good remote control functionality; I can certainly see the utility of the app when using the M10, especially for things like family portraits.

Canon EOS M10 Field Test Summary

What I like:

• Tilting touchscreen display
• Intuitive to use
• Built-in flash
• Price point
• Can work with non EF-M Canon lenses with an adapter

What I dislike:

• No available electronic viewfinder
• Only one control dial
• Mediocre autofocus
• Poor continuous shooting performance
• No hotshoe
• No 4K or 60fps Full HD video
• Below average battery life (rated for 255 shots/charge)

Offering a simple, effective user experience, the Canon EOS M10 is not equipped to rattle off a big burst of raw images or to record 4K video, but it can easily capture fine images at a fairly wide range of sensitivities. When considering the Canon EOS M10, you need to keep your expectations in check with its entry-level status (and price point). Right now, you can purchase an M10 with the 15-45mm kit lens for only $450 ($150 less than MSRP). Considering its good image quality and intuitive, simple controls, it strikes me as a good option for someone looking to make the upgrade to his or her first interchangeable lens camera, while still keeping everything lightweight and compact.

Flash

Canon EOS M10 Flash

Built-in Flash Test Results

Coverage, Exposure and Range
A weak flash with extremely narrow coverage. Above average exposure compensation required.

Coverage. Coverage from the EOS M10's built-in flash is very narrow at wide angle (24mm equivalent), leaving corners and edges in our flash test image very dim. Some of the corner fall-off is from the lens itself, though. We no longer test coverage at telephoto, as wide angle is always worst-case.

Exposure. Indoors, under incandescent background lighting, the Canon EOS M10 boosted sensitivity to ISO 800 and yet still required +1.0 EV positive exposure compensation for a bright image, indicating a weak flash. The camera chose a fairly typical 1/60s shutter speed which should be fast enough to avoid subject motion blur in most portraits.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
4.7 feet f/3.5, ISO 100

Manufacturer Specified Flash Range Test. The Canon EOS M10's built-in flash has a rated Guide Number of only 5 meters or 16.4 feet at ISO 100. That works out to a distance of about 4.7 feet at f/3.5 at ISO 100. In the shot above, we can see that the Canon EOS M10's built-in flash performed to specification, producing a well-exposed target in the center at the rated distance and aperture, though the very narrow coverage makes the test image look dim overall.

Conclusion

by Jeremy Gray

The Canon EOS M10 is the Japanese company's first entirely new model in its mirrorless camera lineup. Rather than replace a predecessor, the M10 expands the line in a new direction. Specifically, the Canon M10 is designed as an entry-level mirrorless interchangeable lens camera.

With a more stripped-down body, the M10 is user-friendly. Is its image quality and performance a big step down from its higher-end EOS M3 sibling? Read on to find out!

The Canon M10's body is simple and intuitive

Weighing in at 10.6 ounces (301 grams) for the body only, the M10 is a lightweight interchangeable lens camera. It's slightly lighter and smaller than the simultaneously-launched Canon M3, but the biggest difference between the two bodies is the amount of controls. The M10 has no mode dial on the top of the camera and a lot fewer buttons on the camera, particularly on the rear.

The rear of the M10 includes only 'Playback' and 'Menu' buttons in addition to the directional pad. The top of the camera has a shutter release, dial, movie record button, power button and a switch to toggle between stills and video. Besides that, you will be relying heavily upon the tilting 3.0-inch touchscreen LCD monitor, which has 1.04-million dots. The camera is streamlined and fans of physical controls will be disappointed, but we found the M10's touchscreen implementation to be very good. You will also be dependent upon the touchscreen for framing shots as the M10 doesn't include a viewfinder or a means for attaching an optional one.

For beginners, we think that the M10 will be an easy camera to use because of its streamlined design. For more advanced photographers, the lack of physical controls could be problematic. Overall, the body is well-designed and feels quite solid for a camera in this class, particularly the tilting touchscreen display.

The Canon M10 offers good image quality across a wide range of situations

Although not equipped with the same 24-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor as the M3, the Canon M10's 18-megapixel sensor does a good job. It captures reasonably sharp images with a good level of detail. In addition to its good resolving power, the M10 captures images with very good hue accuracy.

It isn't all good news in the sensor department, however, as the M10's dynamic range is quite a bit lower than the M3's across the entire ISO range. The gap between the two gets slightly larger as you increase the sensitivity. When comparing the M10 to a camera like the Sony A5100, the difference is quite a bit larger at base sensitivity, where there's a difference of 1.3 EV of dynamic range.

The Canon EOS M10's high ISO performance is strong considering the context

Through the range of ISO 100-400, the M10 can produce good 24 x 36 prints. At ISO 800, you could get away with a 24 x 36 print, but we are more comfortable with a 20 x 30 print as there is some slight loss of fine detail, particularly in shadow areas. ISO 1600 represents a considerable increase in visible noise which means a big decrease in the maximum acceptable print size to 11 x 14. Pumping up the ISO to 3200 leads to 8 x 10 prints being the maximum acceptable size. Beyond that, ISO 6400 and 12800 produce okay 5 x 7 and 4 x 6 prints respectively. ISO 25600 is best avoided entirely. Overall, the APS-C Canon M10 makes good high ISO prints considering its price point and entry-level status.

Canon EOS M10 user experience: A simplified, streamlined camera

Straightforward: That's how we can best describe the Canon M10. Despite being an interchangeable lens camera, which can at times be daunting to new users, the M10 does an excellent job of presenting its variety of shooting modes and options in an easy-to-understand touchscreen menu. It does not take long to become familiar with the M10's operation.

Metering and autofocus performance is dependable

The M10's metering performance is dependable. In most cases, the camera's evaluative metering system works well. Spot metering can also be linked to the autofocus point, which is very nice. In the event that you need to utilize exposure compensation, you can simply press up on the directional pad on the back of the camera and rotate the dial.

The M10's Hybrid CMOS AF II autofocus system is decent. It has 49 autofocus points and offers a variety of AF modes, including multi, single and face detection. Single shot autofocus works pretty well and is fairly quick in a variety of situations. Low light autofocus leaves something to be desired, but it is otherwise dependable.

Continuous autofocus is another story, however, as it is rather sluggish. The M10 does not dependably track moving subjects, particularly quick ones, and is not well-equipped to capture sharp, in-focus action shots.

DIGIC 6 image processor may help image quality, but doesn't do much for performance

The Canon EOS M10 can capture JPEG images at up to 4.6 frames per second for over 80 frames with a buffer that can clear in a mere two seconds. The speed may not be great, but the buffer depth and clearing is. When shooting raw images, the situation degrades dramatically. The camera's shooting speeds top out at 4.2 fps, but worse yet is that the buffer depth drops to only six frames, which clears in a relatively quick three seconds.

Single-shot cycle times are about average and the buffer clearing time is good for both JPEG and raw image capture, but the raw buffer depth is a big negative for photographers who want to shoot continuous raw files. Paired with the continuous autofocus performance, the M10 is simply not an action camera.

Video performance is good, but video features are lacking

Like Canon's other mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, the M10 doesn't record 4K video. Full HD (1,920 x 1,080-pixel) video can be recorded up at up to 30 frames per second, which is odd considering that Full HD video at 60fps is fairly standard these days. Nonetheless, video quality is quite good. Autofocus and metering performance is okay, but AF is far from fast. It is nice to be able to use the touchscreen display to quietly move the AF point around the frame.

Is the Canon EOS M10 more than a stripped down M3?

The Canon EOS M10 is a good option for beginning photographers looking for their first interchangeable lens camera. Its mirrorless design allows it to be quite compact while also utilizing relatively small lenses. The camera's straightforward, simple design may be a negative for some photographers, but we think that it should be considered a plus for beginners who might otherwise be overwhelmed by some of the options on the market. Given the M10's excellent use of its touchscreen display, we consider it a very user-friendly camera.

Its user-friendliness and reasonably low price point do come at a cost, though. The M10 lacks the physical controls and autofocus capabilities to perform well as an action camera, especially given its poor raw buffer depth. Video features are lacking as well. But overall, the Canon EOS M10 is a good value and a viable option for beginners.

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