The Price: $329

The Waterproof-ness: Good down to 10 meters, making it suitable for light diving and heavy snorkel duty, as well as making it impervious to higher pressure of waves that may slap you and the camera around at lesser depths. The most waterproof camera without a housing, by far. And although they don't do a great job of advertising it, the camera is actually good to 14 degrees F and is shockproof to 1.22 meters, so its at least as rugged as the Pentax W80 I looked at last week.

The Images: DPreview unequivocally gives this camera their top ranks on image quality, without acknowledging the issues of bulge (later on that). We looked at it in a battle with the TS1 Lumix and John found the casing (or something) to affect color in low light shots, and the camera had problems autofocusing underwater comparatively. I only noticed that the Canon's shots were some of the best of the bunch, reaching for a touch more exposure than the others at appropriate times in its 12mp shots. The lens is a 35mm to 105mm equivalent, which is a solid range, but not the longest in the group by any means. Unlike periscoping lenses in cameras like the waterproof Lumix, Fuji and others, there's no lens distortion on the outside of the focal range. It has face detection and a mode that allows you to set the camera on a tripod and it will wait for you (an additional face) to enter the frame before shooting. There is also optical shake reduction.

The Chassis: The case design here is bulbous, and crazy and yet so appropriate under the sea (even if obscene outside of the water). That is what affords it a sort of no nonsense dive reach of 10 meters without the use of an external housing, as well as these four cornered locking joints that are mounting points for the accessory kit: essentially a bunch of tentacles and loops so you don't lose it. It's crazy, and yet, totally appropriate for mounting the camera to dive belts or around your wetsuit when in a kayak. Check it out. As you can see, those straps make it much more accessible than a camera stowed inside a jacket on a ski trip or in a bag on a canoe. But note that there's no accessory for flotation in this expensive $130 kit, as Olympus and Pentax offer as $10 accessories. No matter, you can easily fit those, or a keyring floatie from West Marine to make the most ocean friendly point and shoot even more appropriate for life at sea.

The Interface: It's neat that the buttons are all so well laid out and you can easily hit all the major controls while wearing dive gloves. Confession: The automatic scene detection knows when you're shooting people or underwater, but I never discovered how to switch it to manual.

The Video: At best, it shoots 640 by 480. And everything I shot had a nasty blue tint to it.

Verdict: Good if you're a inshore merman or mermaid, or other creature that spends the majority of its life out at shallow sea, but totally inappropriate for anything not considered an extreme or quasi extreme sport where bulge is an excusable thing when you're trying to take the sharpest shots possible of your wet exploits.

Big, simple buttons and LCD icons. Goes to 10 meters deep. Cool accessory straps available for extra cost.



Only shoots video at 640x480. Expensive. Bulges so much it won't fit into pockets. Awkward looking out of the water.

Summermodo is a chance for Giz to get outside and test our gear where it belongs.

Let me say first that I did not use either of these cameras in their ideal conditions—namely, outside, underwater while swimming. For some reason, Canon and Panasonic did not tailor the release dates of these cameras to coincide with my trip to Egypt a few months ago, which is where I wanted to test them out (why not guys??). Back here in New York, any outdoor body of water is way too frigid right now, and there's something pretty creepy and ultimately unacceptable about taking an underwater camera to the YMCA for test shots. So, instead of the verdant coral reefs of the Red Sea off the Sinai coast, which were straight out of Planet Earth, our test shots are of me playing with a Kraken Attackin' Lego Pirates playset in my kitchen sink. Which is a cool playset, but, you know, not the same.

But still, we've gathered enough data I think to inform your decision, if you're thinking of picking up a waterproof toughcam for this summer. Here are the main points of differentiation I see:

Form Factor/Interface
Both cameras are waterproof, but the Canon D10 is protected up to 10 meters (around 32 feet), where the Panasonic TS1 is only protected up to three meters (around 10 feet). And that's immediately apparent in their shapes:

The D10 looks like it was designed by Ringo on the set of Yellow Submarine—its bulbous shell and porthole-like screws drive home the fact that this baby is going underwater. But on land, it'll be tough to fit it into a pants pocket without some serious bulging.

It does have some nice, easy-to-press buttons for changing into video mode, for instance, and the icons on the LCD screen are nice and big, easily spotted through a snorkeling mask. There are some superfluous button presses to lock in settings which could be tedious underwater, but the UI is not horrible, and you'll easily get used to it. The D10 also has come big screw-mounts on each corner for mounting various underwater grips and other accessories that you can buy from Canon.

The TS1 takes a totally different approach, with a sleek rectangular slab shape that at first glance is hard to distinguish from regular non-tough weeniecams. The buttons are a bit smaller, but not prohibitively so, and shootings modes are selected with a thumb dial instead of dedicated buttons—I didn't see anything I couldn't operate with a bit of practice while snorkeling. A basic locking wrist-strap comes in the box.

The important thing is that the TS1 is not at all out of place in non-toughcam situations, where the D10 may be. But if you're a deep snorkeler, three meters may not be enough for you compared to the D10's 10 meters (I imagine if you're a serious SCUBA diver, you'll need something beefier than either of these), but where you lose usability under water with the TS1 you will gain it on land. Consider that.

Video
Another big difference, if not the biggest, is that the Panasonic TS1 shoots 720p in the AVCHD format, where the Canon only does 640x480 VGA vids. The TS1 video recording mode isn't the most polished—there's a good two to three second delay from when you hit the dedicated video button to when recording actually starts and stops, and it's unclear exactly when everything does start, but if you're OK with that, the HD video mode is awesome. I mean, underwater HD in such a tiny package—that's a no-brainer right? I would kill to have some HD clips of my friends and I swimming around in crazy schools of neon fish in Egypt.

Here are some sample clips from the sink:

TS1 720P Clip:

Note: There is a current bug with the TS1 that makes video imported into iMovie '08 and '09 play at double speed. I had to do some conversion to avoid this, which is a pain. Panasonic says they're working with Apple on this to include a fix in future versions of iMovie.

Canon D10 VGA Clip:

Keep in mind that the AVCHD format is kind of annoying, in that you might have to install special codecs and import video straight into your video editing software of choice and then export it in friendlier formats, rather than just grabbing an AVI or MOV clip from the memory card and uploading it to YouTube.

And yeah, the quality of these videos is pretty bad, but the difference in the actual output is clear: 720p underwater rules.

Shooting
Both cameras are 12-megapixels, for full-res shots at 4000x3000. Both have the same size CCD sensor, but the TS1's ISO goes up to 6400 where the Canon D10's only to 1600. I didn't do a thorough sensitivity test with either camera, but I would imagine you don't want to go much higher than 800 on either one, so the difference is probably fairly moot.

A difference that does matter is the TS1's wider-angle lens: it's a 28mm-128mm f/3.3-f/5.9 effective focal length zoom, compared to the D10's 35mm-105mm f/2.8-f/4.9.

As you can see, color reproduction via the TS1's Leica lens is far better than the D10s, which has to fight through a bit more protective plastic. Also, the TS1 tends to autofocus underwater with much greater ease—important, because you won't always be able to look at the LCD when composing shots while snorkeling.

Conclusion
Like I said, I only played with these cameras in the sink, so I didn't push their waterproof capabilities to their max. But having a waterproof and shockproof camera around the house is kind of cool in its own right—imagine taking bath time photos of your kid without having to worry about getting the camera wet, or taking shots with dirty hands while you're barbecuing, or anything like that. You can always dunk these cameras underwater to clean them off. It's nice. You don't have to be a snorkeler to use them and have fun with them.

Which is why for me, the balance shifts heavily toward the Panasonic TS1. Its form factor makes using it on land a lot more convenient, and the added HD video option is a huge plus. And my ears hurt if I go down much further than three meters underwater anyway. At a premium of only $70 ($400 list vs. $330 for the D10), I'd say it's well worth spending up for.

Panasonic Lumix DSC-TS1
HD video capture

Unobtrusive form factor good for both land and sea

28mm wide-angle lens

Buttons perhaps more difficult to use underwater

Only waterproof up to 3 meters

Canon PowerShot D10
Super-rugged body waterproof up to 10 meters

Big, simple buttons and LCD icons

Only shoots video at 640x480

Very bulky

The reason Canon gave for the D10 being so bulbous is to make the buttons big and easy to use underwater (which, if you look at 'em, while they're all very distinct and well separated, except for the giant shutter button, that reason doesn't hold a lot of water, really) and because the 3x zoom lens is designed to not build up any condensation inside. And, as you saw, despite being the Hulkiest toughcam we've seen today, Canon was the wimpiest about how much abuse they were willing to dish out to it. It's like wearing Kevlar and asking people to only shoot at you with paintballs. It uses the same image sensor as every other 12-megapixel, 720p video camera in Canon's new lineup (but for some reason doesn't shoot 720p like the others, as we noted in the announcement), so you can expect comparable still image quality to them, if you're curious about the guts.

So, while it looks perfect for underwater adventures frolicking with mermaids and I want to love it unconditionally, I don't know if this is the camera I'd take. Unless I wasn't wearing any pants.

Besides being shock, water (up to 33 feet) and freeze-proof (down to 14 degrees F), it's got a 12 megapixel sensor (like most of Canon's new line) and will shoot VGA video (unlike the most of the line, which shoots 720p video). Despite being tough, it actually feels pretty nice in your hand, though it won't fit in your pocket (unless you've got old school JNCOs). If you're not a fan of the blue, it'll have other plates, like orange and camo. I want to love it, so I hope it shoots nice pictures. It'll be $330 when it comes out in May.

Canon PowerShot D10 Digital Camera
Consumers looking for an all-around waterproof, freeze proof and shockproof camera should look no further. The Canon PowerShot D10 Digital Camera, a first of its kind for Canon, comes equipped with a 12.1-Megapixel resolution and 3x Optically Stabilized Zoom lens, making it an ideal companion for thrill-seekers of all types. This uniquely styled camera is amazing for capturing high-resolution images and off-camera editing. The PowerShot D10 Digital Camera can withstand depths up-to-33-feet deep, is freeze proof from 14 degrees Fahrenheit and shockproof up-to-four feet. To add a little fun and funky style to this great camera, an optional accessory kit is available containing distinctive accessories, such as a customized strap, cool face plates and a carabineer hook (attached to a strap). The PowerShot D10 IS Digital Camera is scheduled to be available in early May for an estimated retail price of $329.99.

[Canon]

The D25 will be an smaller update to the D10 (pictured here). Supposedly it will be an odd dictionary/translator/digital audio player hybrid. The D10 was only released in Asia, so don't get your hope up on the D25 coming stateside. The other new model, the ?10, is one the one worth getting excited over. The reported features say that this device is possibly a tablet PC or UMPC, will include DMB, GPS, maybe a camera and support WiBro. Like the D25, there is a good chance it will only be released to the Asian market, but that doesn't mean we can oooh and aaah over it from the states. – Travis Hudson

Even more new iRiver models [dapreview]