Canon EOS M6 Review

May 11, 2017 | Tim Coleman |

Introduction
Ease of Use
Image Quality
Sample Images
Product Images
Rating & Conclusion
Main Rivals
Review Roundup
Specifications
Comment
More…

Introduction

Canon continues to develop its EOS M range of compact system cameras (CSC) through the EOS M6, a diminutive camera packed with the sort of features one would expect from a Canon DSLR.

Aimed at enthusiast photographers, the EOS M6 replaces the two-year-old EOS M3 and is similar to the EOS M5, save for the exclusion of a built-in electronic viewfinder (EVF). Without a built-in EVF, the EOS M6 is significantly cheaper than the EOS M5 (and smaller), though there is an optional EVF available.

New camera systems take time to mature - we’ve seen it again and again that a camera might take several versions before realising its potential. Relatively speaking, the Canon EOS M range is the new kid on the compact system camera block (coming a good 5 years after Olympus), but the range has been present for 5 years now, which should have provided enough time to come into its own.

A glance of the camera, its specification, plus Photography Blog's positive response to the similar EOS M5, all make for an enticing prospect. The Canon EOS M6 costs £729 / $779 body only or £839 / $899 with the 15-45mm EF-M IS STM kit lens.

For this test of the EOS M6, we had our hands on the Canon EF-M 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3, 28mm f/3.5 macro and 22mm f/2 (pancake) lenses, though we did not use the optional EVF. Read on for our full Canon EOS M6 review.

Ease of Use

In the hand, first impressions are good. The Canon EOS M6 is compact yet solid and reassuringly weighty, while the faux-leather finish feels more luxurious than the smooth plastic body of its predecessor.

The physical distance required between the APS-C sensor and lens mount (known as flange depth) in turn makes for a relatively deep camera when compared to Micro Four Thirds cameras, but in every other dimension the EOS M6 is truly dinky.

A further note on size - usually one would expect disproportionately large and heavy lenses with a compact system camera that features an APS-C sensor, like the EOS M6. Yet Canon’s EF-M lenses are comparable to micro four thirds lenses (M4T), which are part of a significantly smaller image sensor format. Impressive stuff.

All three EF-M lenses used during this test are well balanced with the camera, even the 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 lens. The 22mm f/2 lens is particular tiny, which definitely brought a nod of approval from me when first attaching it to the camera.

For a compact system camera such as the Canon EOS M6, it makes perfect sense to exclude a viewfinder yet offer an optional external unit. That way, the camera body design is more compact (without the optional viewfinder attached) and it takes up less space in a bag too.

Front of the Canon EOS M6

Those that want the optional EVF unit have a choice between the EVF-DC1 or DC2. When the cost of a viewfinder is factored in, the price of the EOS M6 is comparable to the EOS M5, which is a tad on the expensive side.

I did not have the viewfinder for this test so instead relied upon the rear LCD screen, which is a touch-sensitive, 3in, 1.04-million-dot unit. Given the diminutive size of the Canon EOS M6, it surprised me to naturally desire a viewfinder when using the camera, but that is not to suggest the LCD touchscreen is lacking.

For a significant part of the test I was shooting in bright sunshine. In such conditions, the default setting of the LCD touchscreen is not quite bright enough to see clearly, but once the brightness was manually cranked up to its brightest setting, visibility is fine.

The touchscreen tilts which is of course useful for viewing from low and high angles. Combine that with the touch focus and touch shutter functionality, the screen becomes a truly integral part of operating the camera. For selfie-shooters the screen flips 180° and is viewed above the camera. I took one or two pictures in this mode, for the sake of the test and nothing else, honestly!

Those likely to use both an optional external flash and viewfinder will have to choose between one of the two, because both require the same hotshoe port.

Rear of the Canon EOS M6

Focusing wise, the autofocus of the Canon EOS M6 is snappy without quite matching the best cameras at this price point. Adjust focus between a subject in the foreground and the background and one can see the focus transition - so it’s not lightning fast. There is a bit of hunting in particularly low contrast light, which is to be expected.

For more static subjects, the autofocus on the EOS M6 works well, but those interested in fast moving subjects may find a few missed shots. Autofocusing for video is on the whole very smooth.

I was particularly keen to use the 22mm f/2 (35mm effective) lens because I like to take a lot of street and reportage photos and that is my go to focal length. With the lens attached, the EOS M6 looks like it could accommodate street photographers, but does its handling cut it as a serious alternative to cameras such as the Fuji-X100 series?

Well, start up time is not quite as immediate as I would like and unfortunately there is no option for a silent electronic shutter. Shutter noise is rather obvious, so it’s hard to shoot quietly. For me that is not a problem because I like to interact with subjects, but it may be a sticking point for others.

I found the touchscreen to be helpful for street photography. Not only does touch focus and touch shutter improve your chances of getting a sharp shot, but the tilt function of the screen enables a modern recreation of the waist-level finder, shooting from the hip method, which can be less intrusive to a passersby. So all in all, the camera isn’t quite geared for street photos, but is definitely workable!

Top of the Canon EOS M6

Canon has truly been able to squeeze a lot of controls onto the small body, which includes two top control dials and a dedicated exposure compensation dial, which is stacked onto the rear top dial located near your thumb when holding the camera. Easy access to exposure compensation pleased me and will be sure to for other enthusiast photographers.

If like me you like to shoot in aperture or shutter speed priority mode, then the rear top dial is by default set to control ISO. It takes but a small knock to move the dial, from auto ISO to ISO 25,600, which is quite frustrating - I had several overexposed shots taken in bright daylight at ISO 25,600. Ultimately, the rear top dial is too easily rotated.

To avoid the rear top dial ISO problem, the default can be disabled through the custom settings menu. Canon might consider upping the resistance of the rear dial or disabling the possibility of skipping from the lower to upper ends of the ISO range.

That said, having exposure control, exposure compensation and ISO control all immediately to hand is brilliant. There is also exposure lock (AEL) and focus point navigator buttons. Furthermore, on the rear control wheel, there is a manual focus (MF) button, so its really easy to flick between auto and manual focus.

For easy manual focusing, the Canon EOS M6 offers magnification and focus peaking. Focus peaking colours the edges of the areas that are in focus. I found it useful to manually select the M-Fn button on the top of the camera to disable/ activate focus peaking. However, I could not find a way of displaying a focusing distance scale, which is disappointing.

Tilting LCD Screen

In playback, it is possible to display the focus areas selected for a picture, as well as highlighting overexposure areas - both are helpful for quick image reviews.

I cannot test a compact system camera without commenting on the battery life, because this is typically a weak area for this type of camera. The LP-E17 battery (as used in the EOS M3, 750D and 760D) actually has a respectable 295-shot life. However, in Eco mode the battery shot life is quoted at 425-shots and I found limited affect on operation using this mode. Depending on the day’s shooting, it is still worth taking a second battery. The battery/memory card door is a bit sticky and I’d speculate how durable it is.

As for the Wi-Fi function, it works well when used with an iOS phone - pairing is quick and providing you’re in range then the shooting response is good too. I had the camera with me for a trip away where these was no computer access and found transferring images to my phone for quick editing and sharing really useful.

With both auto and manual shooting modes, plus a plethora of camera controls, I can really see the EOS M6 satisfying a wide range of users.

If an enthusiast photographer takes the time to explore what is possible with the camera controls (yes read the manual!), manually setting up for one’s own shooting styles, then the Canon EOS M6 is truly a delight to use. While not perfect, the EOS M6 delivers where it really counts.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 24 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 8Mb.

The Canon EOS M6 features the same 24.2-million pixel APS-C sensor as found in the EOS M5, EOS 760D and EOS M6, with a ISO 100-25,600 range.

I had plenty of time with the camera, using it in a wide range of scenarios - for example shooting landscapes in bright sunshine and cloud, being under tungsten light inside, wandering the streets at night and so on. During this time, I have used the whole range of ISO settings.

To comment on the Canon EOS M6’s handling of noise, I have examined the large 6000x4000 pixel images at 100% magnification. Downscaling images to, say, 16-million-pixels, reduces critical observations.

Raw files that have not had any lens correction and noise reduction applied start to show signs of luminance noise at ISO 800. All images taken at this setting or below are crisp and vibrant. Noise brings a gradual albeit small loss in sharpness and saturation from this point (ISO 1600 and ISO 3200) and once at ISO 6400, noise is more prominent and images are tonally flatter. Certainly the top two settings of ISO 12,800 and ISO 25,600 are less useable.

Noise reduction applied to JPEG images at ISO 1600 and higher render edge detail softer and smoothed over. Again, JPEG images at ISO 100 through to ISO 800 are crisp and pack a punch.

There is a slight loss of detail in dark shadow and bright highlight areas that is otherwise found in the matching raw file, as one would expect, so it is worth it to shoot in raw format in scenes when the Canon EOS M6’s dynamic range is really tested.

For images at ISO 1600 and above, best results can be achieved by applying lens corrections to raw files manually, to make sure images are crisp and the maximum possible shadow and highlight detail maintained.

I’ve tested several Canon EOS digital cameras down the years and consistently the quality of JPEGs is a strong point. The EOS M6 does not disappoint, with faithful colour rendition, saturation and lens corrections applied.

By default, the EOS M6 uses an auto colour mode, which for the best part renders accurate colours. I did find on one or two occasions that the auto colour mode missed the mark, such as when shooting an outside area carpeted with bluebells among long green grass, where the vivd colour setting seemed to be applied with garish results.

If one is likely to edit images post shooting, then it is well worth choosing the natural colour mode or at least the standard colour mode to ensure a subtler colour rendition, from which one can then increase the saturation and so on to taste.

All in all, the Canon EOS M6 delivers really good quality images that are sure to please enthusiast photographers.

Noise

ISO sensitivity can be set between ISO 100 and ISO 25600 in full-stop increments. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and the RAW equivalent on the right.

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)


ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)


ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)


ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)


ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)


ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)


ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)


ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)


ISO 25600 (100% Crop)	ISO 25600 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Canon EOS M6 has 2 different JPEG file quality settings available, including Fine and Normal, with Fine being the higher quality option. Here are two 100% crops which show the quality of the two options.

Fine (7.57Mb) (100% Crop)	Normal (4.87Mb) (100% Crop)


RAW (31.1Mb) (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Canon EOS M6 are Auto, Manual Flash On/Off, and Red-Eye Reduction. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle	Flash On - Wide Angle


Flash Off - Telephoto	Flash On - Telephoto

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting nor the Red-Eye Reduction option caused any amount of red-eye.

Night

The Canon EOS M6's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's a Bulb mode for even longer exposures, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds, aperture of f/8 at ISO 100.

Picture Styles

Canon's Picture Styles are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. The available Picture Styles are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. You can tweak these Picture Styles to your liking, and there are also User Defined styles so that you can create your own look.

Standard	Portrait


Landscape	Fine Detail


Neutral	Faithful


Monochrome

Creative Filters

Essentially a more extreme version of the well-established Picture Styles, Creative Filters offers 10 options, all of which can be interactively tweaked to suit your taste.

Grainy B/W	Soft Focus


Fish-eye Effect	Toy Camera Effect


Miniature Effect	Water Painting Effect


HDR Art Standard	HDR Art Vivid


HDR Art Bold	HDR Art Embossed

Auto Lighting Optimizer

Auto Lighting Optimizer performs in-camera processing to even out the contrast and correct brightness. There are 4 different settings - Off, Low, Standard and Strong.

Off	Low


Standard	High

Highlight Tone Priority

Highlight Tone Priority is a custom function which can be enabled from the menu. Use of this custom function improves highlight detail by expanding the camera's dynamic range in the highlights. As you can see from these examples, Highlight Tone Priority reduced the extent of highlight blow-out considerably.

Off	On

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Canon EOS M6 camera, which were all taken using the 24 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	4
Value for money	3.5

Canon EOS M6 Review

Latest Reviews

Introduction

Ease of Use

Image Quality

Noise

File Quality

Flash

Night

Picture Styles

Creative Filters

Auto Lighting Optimizer

Highlight Tone Priority

Sample Images

Sample RAW Images

Sample Movies & Video

Product Images

Conclusion

Main Rivals

Fujifilm X-T20

Olympus PEN-F

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX80

Sony A6500

Review Roundup

the-digital-picture.com »

ephotozine.com »

Specifications

Image Sensor

Type

Effective Pixels

Total Pixels

Aspect Ratio

Low-Pass Filter

Sensor Cleaning

Colour Filter Type

Image Processor

Type

Lens

Lens Mount

Focal Length

Image Stabilisation

Focusing

Type

AF System/ Points

AF working range

AF Modes

AF Point Selection

Selected AF point display

AF Lock

AF Assist Beam

Manual Focus

Exposure Control

Metering modes

Metering Range

AE Lock

Exposure Compensation

AEB

ISO Sensitivity

Shutter

Type

Speed

White Balance

Type

Settings

Custom White Balance

Viewfinder

Type

Viewfinder Information

Depth of field preview

LCD Monitor

Type

Coverage

Brightness Adjustment

Display Options

Flash

Built-in Flash GN (ISO 100, meters)

Built-in Flash Coverage

Built-in Flash recycle time

Modes

Red-Eye Reduction