Ergonomic logic of the Canon EOS R10 camera 17 June 2026

The upper-entry level Canon EOS R10 slipped quietly onto the market in 2022. It was overshadowed as to specifications and performance (and price) by the EOS R7, released at the same time and got some luke warm reviews because of the limited number of RF-S lenses available at the time.

That problem has been resolved with more RF-S lenses from Canon and numerous RF-S compatible primes and zooms from Sigma. And of course Canon APSC RF mount bodies can utilise any full frame RF lens although some are more suitable than others.

The R10 is a small, modest looking device. It does not attract attention to itself with bling and brightwork. It does not shout lookatmeeee.

If we stick black electrical tape over the Canon and EOS R10 labels, as I do, the camera slips quietly into the world.

It is ready and waiting to be used, not displayed. 

With a low profile lens such as the RF28mm f2.8 the R10 is no larger than some compacts such as the Fujifilm X100 series or the new Lumix L10, particularly if an accessory grip is fitted to the compacts.

The R10s image quality, specifications, performance and overall capability for stills and video are in line with its competitors in the upper entry segment of the market. Better on some parameters such as autofocus reliability, not quite best in group for high ISO noise levels and dynamic range but close enough that we will never notice it in actual photos.

I have been using cameras for more than 70 years. When the initial fuss about a new camera subsides and long term acquaintance comes into play, I find there are two kinds of camera. The first becomes less endearing with long term use, as annoyance with various failings and foibles impairs my ownership experience. Sometimes these problems are technical in nature like the inconsistent autofocus on many cameras with old-style contrast detect autofocus. But I find that in the long run, most disappointments are ergonomic in nature.

The second type of camera is one which appears rather ordinary at first but endears itself in the long term with good ergonomic design leading to a satisfying user experience. The Canon EOS R10 is one of these.

As I work through the R10’s ergonomics I will compare it with five other cameras, each in about the same price/capability/performance/size/intended user group range.

These are, from largest to smallest determined by published specifications for width and height, the depth being dependent on the lens fitted.

The largest are the Lumix G97 and Nikon Z50-2.

Next down are the OM5-2 and Canon EOS R10 which are both slightly larger than the Fujifilm X-T30-3.

The smallest of this group is the Sony a6400. Being small does this model no ergonomic favours though.

Neither does a smaller sensor necessarily mean a smaller camera. The equal largest of this group is the Lumix G97 which has the small micro four thirds sensor.

This blog and this post are about camera ergonomics.  I want to clarify that the concept of ergonomics is quite separate from and in many respects unrelated to likes, desires or preferences.  We can like a camera or any other device for any reason. This might be its appearance or some kind of emotional connection or preference for a particular operating experience or nostalgia or reputation….the list is endless.

Another issue which always operates in the realm of camera design and operation is that of opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of crafting a camera one way is that it cannot be crafted another way. This may seem self evident and obvious but some camera designs present the user with a conceptual muddle, having elements of one type of control philosophy mixed up with elements borrowed from a very different approach to camera operation. 

Let’s switch the camera ON.

This might seem a trivial issue to some, but it actually generates quite a bit of discussion on user forums. 

The most ergonomically efficient location for an On/Off switch is probably around the shutter button, as seen on the Sony, Nikon and Fujifilm models in this comparison. But the opportunity cost of this is the loss of ability to locate controls for Capture Phase of use in this location. In particular a front control dial has to be pushed down to the front of the body (Fujifilm) or handle (Nikon) or omitted altogether (Sony). 

OM has the On/Off lever on the left side of the EVF housing. Canon and Lumix have it on the right side.

We can get accustomed to any of these arrangements and I have used them all, including on some cameras a button on the top-plate somewhere.  But on balance I find the Canon/Lumix lever on the right side best. It allows us to switch On/Off with the right index finger while holding the camera and it frees up space around the shutter button for a front control dial and one or more customisable function buttons.

I describe a camera’s ergonomics in terms of the four phases of use: Setup, Prepare, Capture and Review.

* Setup Phase refers to  getting the camera configured for our personal requirements and mostly involves Menu settings. 

I rate none of these cameras as offering the user an engaging experience in Setup Phase. They each use some form of olde-worlde, techy-geek camera-centric menu system which is desperately in need of updating. The exemplar for menus at the time of writing is the Hasselblad X2D 100C series of medium format models. I think the Japanese camera industry might do itself and its customers a big favour by paying careful attention to what DJI is doing with Hasselblad menus.

Instead of idiosyncratic categories like [camera icon, red] or [wrench icon, yellow] which make no photographic sense at all, Hasselblad has a splash screen populated by photographically meaningful categories with submenus to follow. 

There are several other features missing from most Japanese cameras, such as GPS, built-in memory, searchable menus and fast file transfer to other devices,  to name a few. I think that If  Japanese camera makers don’t start making their cameras more user friendly pretty soon, they might find the Chinese eating their lunch.

The a6400 is the oldest model of this group, with an old-style Sony menu which is overburdened with superfluous items and idiosyncratic jargon ridden names. So it has probably the least user friendly menu system of this group. 

The R10 is one of the better ones but in this company that is not difficult.

* Prepare Phase.   This is the minute or few when we need to quickly re-configure our camera when moving from one use case to another. This often involves changing several camera functions efficiently without forgetting any and without the process taking too much time or effort. 

This Phase involves engaging with Fixed Function control modules, a Quick Menu of some kind and Custom Menus which can appear on a Mode Dial or equivalent or on a quick access menu of some kind. 

Most current model cameras have all or most of these features but there are substantial differences in the way they function and their usefulness.

We need to clarify the problem to be solved in Prepare Phase of use.

This is to ready the camera for a new subject type which requires several changes to camera settings.  These subject types might include landscape on tripod, landscape hand held, street, documentary, portraiture, moving subjects, sports, birds perched, birds in flight, macro…….and so on.

Typically when we move from one of these use cases to another we want to prepare the camera by changing many settings simultaneously. 

The most efficient way to do this is via user configured Custom Modes. These are typically accessed by a [C(custom)] or [M(memory)] setting on a Mode Dial or equivalent. Some cameras ask us to first access a summary screen or press a function button to access a User Profile or similar.

Problems arise when we have a camera with one or several fixed function controls (buttons, dials, levers etc) and also a custom profile of some kind. We cannot allocate the functions mediated by a fixed function control module to a Custom profile. The more fixed function control modules we have the more tedious is the process of shifting from one use case to the next. We have to remember which functions are not on our user profile and go round the camera altering each separately.

This is one of the reasons that professional cameras generally have no fixed function controls apart from a Mode Dial or equivalent and no aperture ring on the lens. 

Some cameras have and some users like to have many fixed function control modules, such as an aperture ring, shutter speed dial with an ISO window, exposure compensation dial, drive mode dial, autofocus dial/ lever or similar as AF/MF or M.C.S and sometimes others. 

These might seem like a good idea to some users and for those who rarely want to switch from one use case to another they might represent a viable approach to camera operation.  I am actually very familiar with cameras which exclusively use fixed function controls as that was all we had for many years in the 20th Century. That was when the only “drive mode” we had was the film wind-on lever.

Of the cameras in this post the user configurable Sony 12 item Function Menu and Canon 12 item Q menu represent good practice, unburdened by fixed function modules. 

I rarely cite Sony as an exemplar of good ergonomic practice but they got this item right.

The Canon and Sony each have an AF/MF switch but I always leave that to AF so it does not present an obstacle to quickly changing multiple camera parameters.

The OM5-2 has the Olympus Super Control Panel which is cluttered with too many items many of which belong in Setup or Capture Phase of operation  and none of which is user configurable. Too bad if the one we want is not there.

The Fujifilm does allow user profiles to be allocated to the film sim dial but also has  dedicated shutter speed and exposure comp dials and a M.C.S switch on the front, out of sight and out of mind.  It also has XC lenses without, and XF lenses with an aperture dial so each requires a different approach to aperture control.

Moving right along we come to the Capture Phase of use which involves Holding, Viewing and Operating.

Half closed relaxed position top

* Holding 

In my early years with this blog I conducted many practical experiments with wooden mock-up handles on mock-up camera bodies. I studied the functional anatomy of hands and fingers and came to understand the significance of the “half closed relaxed” position. If designers shape the camera and handle to fit into the half closed relaxed position of the hand then the camera will feel comfortable and secure and the controls will be easily operated with minimal stretching provided they are located optimally and have good haptics.

I realised that an important feature of a well shaped ergonomic handle is the overhang. This allows the terminal phalanx of the third finger of the right hand to  fit securely under the overhang, supporting the weight of the body with minimal need to contract the flexor muscles of the hand.

Unfortunately many cameras continue to be shaped without regard to the natural contours of the holding hands. This may not be immediately apparent to camera buyers who lack experience with many different brands and design styles. They might pick up a model which looks nice and just accept the way it feels without being aware that there are more user-friendly alternatives.

R10 in hand front  The hand is 95mm wide at the palm and 190mm long to the first wrist crease
Comfortable, relaxed  and secure grip. 

There is however an easy way to discover which camera models are comfortable and secure in the hand over the long term and which are lacking. That is to look in the market place for accessory grips, accessory handles and baseplates available from the original maker or as is often the case from third party fabricators.

In our group of 6 cameras we will find hardly any such accessories for the Canon EOS R10 or the Lumix G97. This tells us that users are happy to hold their unmodified cameras. 

Same size camera as the R10 but with no ergonomic handle and no overhang.
Very different disposition of fingers, even if an accessory grip is added.
Less comfortable and less secure.

For the other four models we find a proliferation of grips and extenders from many sources. 

The Nikon Z50-2 is the tallest model in this group, but it has a short handle because 

a) the designers saw fit for some reason to place the top plate lower in relation to the overall height than we see on most other cameras and  

b) the front dial is located on the front of the upper part of the handle, facing forward where it uses up  significant  vertical space. 

So the part of the handle available for the third, fourth and fifth fingers on the Nikon is the same height as we find on the shortest camera of the group which is the Sony a6400.  Neither represents good design. The Nikon is not using its overall height to best effect. The Sony has no front dial at all. 

Nikon or Sony users might say: why am I making a fuss over such a small issue ?  Because the long term user experience is made up of an accumulation of many of small issues. The cameras which become annoying over time  are those with the greatest number of these small but inconvenient issues. 

In the case of Nikon I suspect the problem might possibly be that the design people simply scaled down their established DSLR/MILC full frame body shape and control layout to the smaller size of the APSC crop sensor model. If so, they forgot that cameras do not scale up or down for the simple reason that the hands which use them  obstinately remain the same size no matter what camera they are using.

A very important function of the handle on a camera is to act as a platform on and around which to place control modules. On the six models in this post we can see six different approaches to this challenge. 

Viewing

I expect a current model proper mirrorless interchangeable lens camera to have a good quality built-in EVF with a good eyepiece and soft eyecup and a bright, good quality touch screen monitor which can be tilted and or flipped out to facilitate viewing from above or below or front of camera in landscape or portrait orientation. 

The cameras in this group meet most of these criteria but with some differences between them. 

All but the Sony have an over-the-optical-axis EVF in a viewfinder hump. The Sony has a smaller EVF with a smaller eyepiece on the top left corner. This requires the accessory soft eyecup to block stray light but that snags on the camera bag all the time and blocks the monitor screen when this is swung up to face forward.

The Fuji monitor can tilt up/down which some users favour and which works well as long as we have little interest in using the camera in portrait orientation and no intention of vlogging with it.

The Canon, Nikon, OM and Lumix each have a flip/ out/ rotate screen which is the most popular arrangement in this market sector as it works for both landscape and portrait orientation and for vlogging.

Operating

My main criterion for evaluating cameras in this Phase of use is: It must enable me to 

a) change all primary and secondary focus and exposure parameters 

b)  while I look continuously through the viewfinder,  

c) without having to shift grip with either hand and 

d) with the fewest, least complex actions consistent with achieving full control of the device

Many current model cameras can meet this criterion but some fall short. 

Here is a brief illustration of the idea of number and complexity of actions. Let us say we want to change aperture setting. On a camera like the Canon R10 we move the right index finger 15mm back from the shutter button, rotate the front control dial and return the finger to the shutter button. We move just one finger a short distance and make a simple action without moving any other finger, disrupting grip or having to take our eye from the viewfinder. This works in landscape or portrait orientation.

Some people say they really prefer to change aperture with a dedicated ring on the lens barrel. That’s fine, people can have any preference they desire. But from an ergonomic perspective, turning a lens ring involves moving the whole left hand so the thumb and one other finger can bear on the aperture ring then moving the whole hand and usually all fingers to rotate the ring. Some lenses lack lands all around the circumference of the ring, having just two raised tabs. In this case we must bring the left hand to a different position for wide and small apertures and for landscape and portrait orientation. More actions, more complexity.

Of the six models in this group the Canon is the clear winner on this multi-part criterion and that is the main reason I prefer this model over the others.

The Canon has a Fn button and front control dial behind the angled,  forward facing shutter button where they are easily operated by moving the index finger just 15mm without disrupting the grip. The rear dial is to the right of and the thumb-stick to the left of the thumb in holding position such that either can be operated by moving the thumb just 15mm to the right or left, again without disrupting grip.

Next best on this criterion is the Lumix G97, followed by the Nikon Z50-2 and OM5-2 both of which are quite capable.

The Sony a6400 is showing both its age and Sony’s lack of commitment to the APSC sector in recent years.  It has a very sort handle with no front dial. On the back there is no thumbstick.  It does not rate well ergonomically. 

The Fujifilm X-T30-3 is marching to the beat of a different drum. The leitmotiv of Fujifilm’s cameras since 2010 has been to provide users with a different kind of experience from mainstream models. This is about heritage, tradition, appearance and style. It is about nostalgia and authenticity. About cameras which harken back to the glory days of mid 20th Century 35mm SLRs. About cameras which appeal at an emotional level, which are not just about technical capability.

This is all part of the rich fabric of life and the camera world is the better for Fujifilm’s mission to provide users with an alternative approach to the experience of operating camera. 

When evaluated against ergonomic criteria the X-T30-3 does not fare well. But that is not what this camera is trying to achieve. 

Unlike most potential camera buyers I am an old person who actually spent many years through the latter part of  the 20th Century using 35mm SLRs when they were not heritage items at all but were just what was available. And I have no yearning to go back to any kind of camera which seeks to re-create, in some fashion, the experience of using this type of device. 

But that is just my story. Others prefer a different story. Fair enough.

Summary

In this little post I touch on some aspects of the ergonomic logic of the Canon EOS R10 camera, comparing it along the way with a selection of similarly priced upper entry models from other brands. Every camera has its pros and cons but as to ergonomics I find the Canon to be the best of this group. In fact I think it delivers a more capable ergonomic realisation than many camera models from any brand at any price. 

One of the reasons Canon has been number one camera maker for many years is their ability to deliver products like the R10. It’s specifications, performance and image quality are as good as any other model in its market segment, it is a pleasure to use, well priced, compact and has access to good lenses and support services. It is altogether sensible and practical. But there are buyers who are not seeking sensible or practical. They want something stylish.

It appears Canon has received this memo. There are plenty of rumors that sometime in 2026 or 2027 Canon will add something more stylish to its catalogue, maybe a re-worked version of the R8. Canon does like to have a model in every market sector.

We shall see.