CANON EOS 6D MARK II
The original EOS 6D was compromised by its ‘poverty pack’ feature set, but the full-35mm sensor was still a big plus. The Mark II is the much more complete machine, especially if your budget won’t stretch to a 5D Mark IV.
The original EOS 6D was Canon’s affordable full-35mm format D-SLR, but it lacked a lot of what enthusiast shooters wanted. This wish list is fully ticked off in the Mark II camera which, consequently, shoots to the top of the D-SLR desirability charts.
FIt’s called product differentiation, and it’s how a model range is planned to avoid any cannibalisation of sales across price points. It’s a bit of a balancing act and it can be hard to get right, but the key objective is to prevent a less expensive model being perceived as a better buy than its pricier siblings. Canon’s big concern with the first EOS 6D was that it didn’t lure buyers away from the hugely profitable EOS 5D Mark III. After all, it was a much more affordable Canon EOS D-SLR with a full-35mm sensor, but that was essentially where comparisons ended. Canon’s red pen put a line through so many features and specifications that the 6D was effectively hobbled and not just compared to the 5D III, but also Nikon’s much better equipped D600 (and later D610).
Yet despite this, the EOS 6D was still a fine camera and gained a loyal following among users who were prepared to work around the many omissions in return for having a bigger sensor. With the EOS 5D Mark IV having been promoted up-market and priced accordingly, there’s now room to move with the next-gen 6D. Lots of room.
Of course, there are still some key differences between the two models which may or may not convince you to spend the extra dollars, including a tougher body (mostly alloy covers compared to GRP), dual memory card slots, more AF points, a faster top shutter speed, faster continuous shooting (albeit only marginally) and 4K video. With the 6D II not far away from being half the price
of the 5D IV, you’d expect it to be down-specced in most key areas, but what’s different now is that you aren’t being overly penalised for taking the budget route into a Canon full-35mm D-SLR because the main feature set is now more generous and important features – such as an adjustable monitor screen – are provided.
The Mark II camera looks much the same as its predecessor and is very similar in size and weight, so it’s still the most compact and lightest Canon full-35mm format D-SLR.
As before, it lacks a built-in flash (as, of course, does the 5D IV), but as just noted, gains a monitor screen that’s adjustable for both swing and tilt which, incidentally, is a first on any full35mm EOS D-SLR. Although the panel size and resolution remain the same, touch controls are provided and this implementation is quite extensive, including menu operations and the ‘Quick Control’ screen. The external covers are all glass-reinforced polycarbonate with sealing to prevent the intrusion of dust or moisture with, according to Canon, the same level of protection as is provided on the 5D IV (so no penny-pinching here then).
BY THE NUMBERS
The sensor is an all-new, Canonmade CMOS device with a total pixel count of 27.1 million and effective count of 26.2 million, giving a maximum image size of 6240x4160 pixels. It retains an optical low-pass filter and has a native sensitivity range equivalent to ISO 100 to 40,000. As before, the extensions are down to ISO 50 or all the way up to ISO 102,400, but with the latter now being slightly more realistic thanks to the new sensor design (which improves efficiency) and more efficient noise reduction courtesy of Canon’s latest-gen ‘DiG!C 7’ image processor. This also delivers a faster continuous shooting speed of 6.5 fps which is a full 2.0 fps snappier than before and only 0.5 fps slower than the 5D IV. There’s a bigger buffer memory which allows for up to 150 maximum-quality JPEGs or 21 RAW files when using an UHS-I speed memory card. The single card slot still doesn’t support the faster UHS-II speed devices, but it probably doesn’t need to given there’s no 4K video and the still image resolution is still under 30 MP so file sizes aren’t excessive.
There’s been some tweaking to the image settings on offer with the addition of a 1:1 aspect ratio – joining 3:2, 16:9 and 4:3 formats – but with one less image size in each for JPEG capture. As before, RAW files can be captured in large – also at 6240x4160 pixels – medium and small sizes. RAW+JPEG capture can be configured in any way you wish as far as image sizes and JPEG compression settings are concerned. RAW files are captured with 14-bit RGB colour and lossless compression.
The in-camera processing options for JPEGs has been upgraded to the current standard for higher-end Canon D-SLRs, starting with a choice of eight ‘Picture Style’ presets which include Auto and Fine Detail. Likewise, the adjustable parameters include more control over sharpness via the Strength, Fineness and Threshold settings. These work in a similar way to Photoshop’s Unsharp Masking – Strength controls the amount of sharpening, Fineness determines the size of the details which will be sharpened, and Threshold sets the contrast level at which an edge will be subjected to sharpening. Auto ‘Picture Style’ adjusts the processing parameters according to analysis of the subject using AF, AE and white balance data. Three customised ‘Picture Styles’ can be created and stored in-camera. The in-camera lens corrections are also expanded to include distortion and diffraction as well as vignetting and chromatic aberrations.
Canon’s long-serving ‘Auto Lighting Optimiser’ and ‘Highlight Tone Priority’ processing functions are provided for contrast control and dynamic range expansion respectively. Alternatively, the 6D II has multi-shot HDR capture which operates over three frames with the exposure adjustment manually set to +/-1.0, +/-2.0 or +/-3.0 or automatically adjusted according to the brightness range detected in the scene.
THE 6D II IS NOT FAR AWAY FROM BEING HALF THE PRICE OF THE 5D IV, BUT NOW YOU AREN’T BEING OVERLY PENALISED FOR TAKING THE BUDGET ROUTE INTO A CANON FULL-35MM D-SLR.