It seems our exploratory swim in the waters of full-frame DSLRs is far from complete. With the ink from his recent reviews of the D600 and the mirrorless Panasonic GH3 still drying, I asked my homie Ben Pitt to put the Canon EOS 6D between his microscope plates and share his findings here. As you’d expect with a lower-priced semi-pro camera, the EOS 6D is a mixed-bag. It’s light and boasts integrated GPS + Wi-Fi, but a couple notable omissions are enough to yank this camera from the “obvious choice” list. Scrutinizing consumers have come to expect a catch with the $2,000 price point products. Does the EOS 6D have a big one? I’ll let Ben take it from here. – Chase
A year ago, a full-frame camera meant a professional camera. They were simply too expensive for the majority of amateur photography enthusiasts. But with the Nikon D600 and Canon EOS 6D, the landscape has changed.
Last month I wrote about the Nikon D600, and whether the inevitable compromises it makes compared to the pricier D800 are worth living with. I concluded that – for me at least – they were. Given the choice of a D800 or a D600 plus an extra $800 to spend on glass (or more realistically, household bills), I’d happily go for the latter.
This month, it’s time to ask the same question about the Canon EOS 6D.
There are no nasty surprises regarding image quality. The 6D’s 20-megapixel full-frame sensor is new, but quality is hard to distinguish from the EOS 5D Mark III’s 22.3-megapixel output. Details are marginally lower, but so too are noise levels. Incidentally, detail and noise levels are very similar to the D600, too. Canon and Nikon each has its distinctive colour processing but there’s nothing much to separate these three cameras’ image quality on an objective basis.
1/320s, f/5.6, ISO 400, 400mm (click to enlarge)
1/60s, f/5, ISO 100, 32mm
1/125s, f/2.2, ISO 320, 50mm (click to enlarge)
1/200s, f/2.2, ISO 12800, 50mm (click to enlarge)
Their video modes are more varied. The 6D’s videos lag a little behind the D600’s for detail levels, and it lacks a headphone out to monitor the microphone input. However, unlike the D600, its aperture setting can be adjusted while recording. Overall, I’d class that as a draw, but both come a distant second to the Panasonic GH3 for video.
As with the D600, the 6D takes its design cues from a cropped-sensor sibling – in this case, the EOS 60D. The 6D is only fractionally larger and heavier than the 60D, although the lack of an integrated flash and articulated screen possibly account for the minimal weight gain. The layout of buttons is very similar, with a generous number of single-function buttons but a few less than on the 5D Mark III. It’s great to have the AF-ON button included – something Nikon chose to omit from the D600. The lack of direct access to white balance settings is disappointing, though.
Some people will lament the single SDXC slot, which compares unfavourably to the D600’s dual SDXC and the 5D Mark III’s SDXC and CompactFlash slots. I can live with a single slot, but it seems that this particular one hampers performance. Testing with an SDHC card rated at 94MB/s, burst mode set off at 4.2fps but slowed to 2.3fps after 26 frames. When I tested the 5D Mark III (which uses the same DIGIC 5+ processor), I found that the 6fps burst rate lasted indefinitely with a 90MB/s CompactFlash card but slowed to 2fps after 28 shots with a 94MB/s SDHC card.
Still, 4.2fps for 26 frames isn’t so bad. If you’re looking for a fast camera for sports or wildlife photography, you should be more wary of the 6D’s autofocus sensor.
As with the Nikon D600, its points are bunched towards the centre of the frame – it’s as if Canon has taken an APS-C SLR’s autofocus sensor and plonked it into a full-frame camera. But whereas the D600 has 39 AF points, nine of which are cross-type, the 6D has a much simpler 11-point autofocus with just a single cross-type point in the centre. That rules out the automatic subject tracking that’s available in the D600 and 5D Mark III – there simply aren’t enough AF points to track moving subjects. It’s also a pretty big drawback for portrait work, where you want to be able to focus on the eye without having to focus and recompose the shot. Then again, the 5D Mark II had a nine-point autofocus system, and it sold by the bucket load.
So far, the D600 is coming out on top for features, but the 6D’s trump card is integrated Wi-Fi and GPS. GPS worked without a hitch in my tests. The GPS radio stays on when the camera is switched off, so it needn’t spend ages recalculating its position when you want to take a photo. An icon on the passive LCD screen reminds you to switch it off (via the menu) at the end of the day – shame there’s no hardware switch.
The Wi-Fi implementation is one of the most sophisticated I’ve seen. With the help of the EOS Remote app for iOS and Android, the camera can be remotely controlled from a smartphone or tablet, complete with live view, touchscreen control over the autofocus point and full access to exposure settings. Image browsing is well catered for too, with responsive full-screen previews, detailed EXIF data and the ability to apply star ratings. There’s no option to transfer photos to the app at the full 20-megapixel resolution, though.
The EOS Remote app running on an iPad
The 6D also supports wireless tethering to a PC or Mac, which worked flawlessly once I’d jumped through various hoops to set it up. There are various other features, such as uploads to Facebook and YouTube over a local network and the ability to stream slideshows to a Smart TV via DLNA.
Overall, the EOS 6D is a heady mix. Image quality is outstanding. Video capture has its limitations but picture quality is certainly flattering. Its controls and performance are decent enough, the autofocus is disappointing and the wireless features are spot on. That might sound like a fair compromise considering the breakthrough price, but it’s very much a case of taking the rough with the smooth. To me, the D600 feels more balanced.
As ever, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Are 11 autofocus points enough, or has Canon misjudged its market here? Bear in mind that Canon wants the 6D to appeal to people who are ready to move up from a cropped-sensor SLR – it’s not designed for potential 5D Mark III owners who are looking to save some cash. Are the Wi-Fi and GPS must-have features, tempting extras or a waste of space? And putting any allegiances to one side, which company do you feel has made the best cut-price full-frame camera?
I am a landscape photographer. I started with a 5d, then the 5d MkII and now I use the 5d MkIII. My typical pattern is to sell the oldest camera body and buy the newest. Now, with a 5d MkII and a MkIII, I will probably sell the MkII and get the 6D. Here’s my reasoning. I care a lot about image quality and low light performance, I don’t shoot (much) video and I don’t do burst-mode shooting. All that speed is mostly wasted on me. I really need the custom functions badly so I can tweak my settings the way I need them. Since star trails and night photography are so much fun, I care about the ability to control the 6D with an ios app. I don’t think there’s an intervalometer yet on the iphone to control the 6D but I would be interested in one when it comes out.
Finally, as I get a bit (ahem) older, I prefer to have less weight in my camera bag and the 6D is lighter than the 5D’s. So for me this looks like a nice step up for what I need, I will likely pick one up soon.
I am a food photographer and filmmaker, originally a nikon shooter I switched 2 years ago because the d7000 was so disappointing for my film work I had to switch to canon. I loved the look of the full frame but the lack of 60fps in the 5dmk2 meant it wasn’t an option. so I went with the 7d instead. The autofocus was wonderful and the video great, but it still lacked that pop of DOF of a full frame camera. 4 grand for a camera is insane for a small company like mine, so when the 6d was announced I jumped on it and bought 2, trading in my 7d’s.
Yes, it has its faults, like the God aweful moire. it has made me cry in public more than once. and the 11 focus points feels very 2005, but then I remembered who I was. I was a photographer and a filmmaker. I manually pull focus half the time, I shoot films in the dead of winter on the side of a slippery ice covered mountain…I love a challenge!
The limits that exist in the 6d will only make me a better shooter, because it will require me to use my brain and my skill to get the picture rather than just relying on the camera.
and the wi-fi?! holy moly! that thing is priceless! I shoot, transfer to my iphone, and post to instragram and it blows peoples minds! it makes shooting fun again…
so yes, the 6d has its flaws, but you know what, even the hottest swimsuit model has bad breath every now and then….no bodys perfect.
I’m a serious amateur photographer and shooting video is secondary to me. I’ve been using a Canon 40D for the past 5 years and was saving to buy a Canon 5D, then continued saving for a 5D MKII, then figured I have to continue saving to get a 5D MKIII. My goals were to have a full frame sensor with higher ISO settings, better noise reduction and better AF ability. And then, the 6D was announced last September and I realized that I was very glad I had not already purchased my MKII or MKIII because the 6D was a full frame camera, with much higher ISO and superb in-camera noise reduction and a much better AF than my 40D. And equally as important to me was its wireless capabilities. I’m used to using only 1 card slot but I do have a good collection of medium to high capacity CF cards I won’t be able to use in the 6D.
I had been searching for ways to control my DSLR remotely and also to have instant review of my images on my iPad or iPhone. I wanted to be able to attach my iPhone and iPad to my tripod for these functions. I found some outstanding clamps for this purpose and was so pleased with them, that I started an online company to sell them.
The Canon 6D solved my problems and gave me what I wanted most in my DSLR. It also saved me over $1,000 by not having to buy a 5D MKIII. It provided me with most of the improved features I’d been looking for, and it had wireless. I was really excited to order it and I received it a couple of weeks ago and it’s met my expectations. I’m Happy!
On paper Nikon always Bests Canon. Oh yeah, I am a canon user because after the film days I stopped photography eventually purchased a rebel (the first one). For video shooters, the moire issues are a deal-breaker (recommended: buy a video camera). If the 6D were billed as being a supremeo camera of the fast action, bad news. It’s difficult to oust personal bias comparing the 600/6D (from what I gather of the reviews)…I tried both. The deal-breaker was the klunkiness of the Nikon Menu System. Buttons flanking right and left, digging thru menus…
I borrowed by friends M9 for a while…and recall 1 focus point. I don’t remember the last time using 1/8000th shutter speed either. It’s nice being able to shoot/change settings with 1 hand, and the higher ISO performance for the style of photog I do suits my purposes better.
1 card slot=Argh, I feel the pain! WIFI=I’ll be getting into some time lapse stuff…neat (I would rather of seen a 7D like focus system…wait, give me 1 year with this wifi stuff.)
Mic Jack? I’m still a bit confused here. It’s a photo-camera, that can do the video. In 2-3 years video quality for phone sized devices with make this sort of thing a relic. Odd, how the 6D can sync timecode, canon went schizo video-wise with the 6D.
The initial 2100$ price vs. the 600s cheaper offering seems to have tapered off…body for 6D 1899USD…instead of all the Mac vs PC vs whatever…that after a few decades I can shoot in “FF”, (was an old Minolta+tmax shooter) finally is a good thing.
Screw the beginner-entry level-semi amateur-amateur-entusiast-kinda-pro-semi-pro-pro-real pro BS. Same thing with music/music production/composition.
Anyone else just-plain-happy that while our currency is worth practically zero, we can purchase real stores of value eg; lenses, pro-monitors (audio/visual)…4000USD today has lost 35% of its purchasing value post 2007ish debacle.
“bargain!”