The Canon EOS M100 replaces the M10 and features a 24 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, Full HD video recording, a 3inch tilting touch-screen, creative filters, and numerous shooting modes to make it easy to shoot with. The M100 has an RRP of £449 body only.

Canon EOS M100 Features

The Canon EOS M100 replaces the EOS M10 on the market, and if you’re looking for a bargain CSC (Compact System Camera), then get the M10 while you can, as it’s currently £299 with lens. Potentially one that’s not likely to be repeated once stocks have sold out, as the new M100 will be priced at £449 body only and £569 with 15-45mm kit lens. Canon seemed to imply that the age of the sub £3/400 mirrorless camera doesn’t have long left, although we’re pretty sure Panasonic’s Lumix GX800 would be happy to mop up sales in this price segment.

The Canon EOS M100 offers a user-friendly shooting experience, with a curved soft and approachable camera design, available in three colours, black, silver and white. Olympus also offer multiple colours for their entry level Olympus PEN E-PL8.

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Canon’s EOS M100 offers a 24 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, with Hybrid AF (Phase detection pixels on the sensor), giving improved focus speeds over contrast detection alone. What’s interesting to see about Canon’s EOS M / EF-M lens range is that Canon seems to understand that mirrorless cameras and importantly lenses, should be small, and as the range of EF-M lenses increases, it seems to be with a number of compact lenses, including both compact retractable zoom lens, and compact prime lenses.

The camera records Full HD video, with optical image stabilisation available in the lens (if you use a lens with IS), as well as electronic image stabilisation also available. There is no microphone socket, but you can switch to manual video mode if you want full control over settings.

The mode dial on top of the camera has only three modes, intelligent Auto, “Creative”, and Video mode. In the middle is the on/off button. If you first pick up the camera, on default settings you might wonder where the full options and settings are hiding, as the Auto and Creative mode doesn’t give full access to settings and options, with ISO and White Balance mysteriously hidden from view. Luckily you can switch to more advanced modes in the “Creative” mode, with a quick touch of the top-left of the screen bringing up the much more familiar camera modes, including Manual, Program, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, and numerous scene modes.

With the Canon EF-M 28mm f/3.5 IS STM Macro lens with macro lights built-in to the lens. 

On the side of the camera if an SD memory card slot, which is a nice feature on an entry level product, and the battery compartment is underneath.

The 3inch touch-screen can be tilted fully forwards for selfies or group shots, and there’s a built-in pop-up flash. You can use the screen to set the focus-point, take photos, and change settings, with the menus being quick and easy to scroll through and use, even when using sausage-like fingers.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are built-in, as you’d expect in a new camera from Canon, and there’s also NFC for quicker connections to compatible devices. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth mean you can quickly transfer images to a compatible device, whether it’s your smartphone, or a Wi-Fi Canon SELPHY printer or Pixma printer. The Canon Camera Connect app also lets you remotely control the camera, for remote shooting.  

Canon EOS M100 Key Features

• 24mp APS-C CMOS Sensor
• Hybrid AF / Dual pixel Phase Detection Auto Focus
• DIGIC 7 image processor
• 3inch tilting touch-screen, 1040K dots
• ISO100-25600
• 6.1fps continuous shooting
• Creative filters
• FullHD video recording
• Built-in pop-up flash
• HDR scene mode
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC built-in

Canon EOS M100 Handling

When squeezing the camera to grip it, there is some movement in the plastic at the front of the camera, which gives the camera a fairly low-cost feel. However, ignoring this part, the camera feels relatively robust considering the mostly plastic construction.There’s a textured grip on the front of the camera, although no raised area. On the back, there’s a small thumb grip but unfortunately, this is simply plastic and does not offer much in the way of a texture to hold on to. Use of a wrist strap or neck strap is therefore recommended.

The menus are “classic EOS” – red for the photo menus, blue for playback, green for setup, and yellow for the custom options. It’s nice to see these neatly arranged, and large enough to be used with the touchscreen. However, it’s unfortunate for an entry-level product, designed to be easy for beginners to use, that the M100 doesn’t share the new easier to use graphical user interface introduced with the EOS 77D, 800D, and 200D. Another option that isn’t available on the M100 (or any other EOS M series camera) is the “White priority” auto white balance mode (great for product shots) – which is a shame considering even the entry level (and cheaper) 1300D features this.

Battery life is rated at 295 shots – although this can be extended by switching on ECO mode. This increases battery life to 410 shots. Which is good, but still no match for most Digital SLRs. The camera also shows little warning that the battery is draining, until the battery is almost completely flat, and then the battery indicator will flash on screen. 

You can’t add an electronic viewfinder to the camera, and there is no flash hot-shoe. For this, you’ll need to look at the more expensive Canon EOS M6.

We used the M100 with the 22mm pancake lens, 28mm macro lens, 11-22mm wide-angle zoom lens, and 15-45mm kit lens. All of them compact and lightweight, making the whole package small. If they used the same size lenses as Canon EF DSLR lenses, then half of the size advantage of the mirrorless cameras would be lost straight away.