Canon EOS M6 Review

The Canon EOS M6 is Canon's latest mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, updating the EOS M3, which will eventually leave the market. The M6 features a new 24mp APS-C CMOS sensor, a 3inch tilting touch-screen, FullHD video recording at 60p, plus built-in Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth. The M6 will be available in silver and black, or just black. The camera offers Improved speed over the M3, plus, 7fps continuous shooting with C-AF or 9fps with fixed AF. 

Canon EOS M6 Features

The Canon EOS M6 offers a 24 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, giving the same image quality as Canon's APS-C Digital SLR cameras, but thanks to the mirrorless design, with the Canon EOS EF-M lens mount, the camera is much smaller and uses EF-M mount lenses. There is a range of EF-M lenses from Canon, with 7 available at the moment, which range from 11mm wide-angle up to 200mm at the telephoto end. 

The M6 also offers fast continuous shooting at 9fps, and phase detection focus points are built-in to the sensor, which enables a relatively quick continuous shooting speed of 6-7fps with continuous AF. 

A new EVF-DC2 electronic viewfinder (EVF) has been introduced, this is an OLED EVF, 2.36m dots, 0.39-type, and it is also backwards compatible, whilst being smaller, and lighter than the previous EVF. The refresh rate is 120fps.

The camera offers full manual controls, shutter priority, aperture priority, auto, creative effects, and scene modes, as well as raw shooting. The M6 has an ISO range of ISO100 to ISO12800, which can be extended to ISO25600.

The 3inch tilting touch-screen can be tilted forwards so that it can be used as a selfie screen. There's a flash hot-shoe on top, plus a built-in pop-up flash. 

There is now a range of Canon EOS M cameras available on the market, let's see how they compare:

Wi-Fi is built-in and the camera includes NFC for quick connections, and Bluetooth is also available for low-power image transfers. 

FullHD video is recorded at 60fps, with stereo sound and a microphone socket. Electronic image stabilisation helps keep images steady, or you can use a lens with built-in optical image stabilisation (OIS). 

Canon EOS M6 With Adapter And 85mm f/1.2 L II USM lens.

Key Features

• 24mp APS-C CMOS sensor (New)
• Dual Pixel AF, 49 AF points 
• DIGIC 7 image processor
• 3inch tilting touch-screen, 1040K dots
• ISO100-ISO25600
• 9fps continuous shooting, up to 7fps with C-AF
• FullHD video at 60fps, stereo sound
• In-camera 5-axis electronic stabilisation (for video)
• Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth
• Flash hot-shoe
• Available in black or silver/black

Canon EOS M6 Handling

The Canon EOS M6 features a deep rubberised grip on the front, with a rubbery grip on the rear for your thumb making the camera feel good in your hand. On the rear, there is an updated button layout (compared to the M3), and the camera's buttons now match the Canon EOS M5.

Build quality is good with a solid metal and plastic construction. The pop-up flash is activated by pressing a side button and features a tough metal hinge that can be tilted backwards to use the flash as a bounce flash.

The top features a mode dial, on/off switch, shutter release surrounded by a control wheel, exposure compensation (surrounded by a control wheel), and an M-Fn button. This can be customised, along with the video and delete buttons. The exposure compensation dial is recessed far enough to avoid accidentally turning it. 

The controls, buttons and dials are neatly arranged and can all be accessed with your right hand, and the Q. Menu button makes it easy to quickly change settings on screen. You can use the 4-way controller/scroll wheel on the back or alternatively use the responsive touch screen to change settings. You can use the touch-screen to set the focus position, and the 49 AF points cover a fairly large area of the screen, covering 80 percent of the frame vertically and 70 percent horizontally.

The touch-screen has a high resolution of 1040K dots, and looks good, with good colour reproduction and viewing angles, and the ability to tilt it helps with viewing images outdoors in bright light, although you may prefer the optional electronic viewfinder if you shoot outdoors regularly.

Menus – The menu system on the Canon EOS M6 is colour coded to make it easy to find each section, and is also responsive and quick. You can use the buttons on the camera or the touch-screen to change options. The customisable My Menu area can be customised to add your favourite settings, and you can also customise the Q (Quick) menu to give quick access to settings. 

Wi-Fi features - The M6 features Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth. The Canon Camera Connect app has built-in guides, to take you through the process of connecting, which makes it easier to connect to the camera. If you have an Android smartphone with NFC, then simply touching the camera and the phone together will connect the camera to the smartphone. In the app, you can remotely control the camera, and the app lets you change a number of settings from the app, as well as use the touch screen to set the focus position. You can transfer location information from the phone to the camera so that images have GPS location data with them. 

Battery life - Battery life is rated at 295 shots according to Canon / CIPA test results, and ECO mode can extend this to 420 shots. You may want to invest in a spare battery if you think you are going to be away from a power source for a length of time.