Full test: Canon EOS M6 Mk II
There’s been a coup: the Canon EOS M6 Mark II is the new EOS M flagship – it’s perfect for photographers and vloggers
A delightful APS-C mirrorless camera, but how does it fare in the lab?
The original Canon EOS M6 was easy to like, but difficult to love – much like the EOS M line as a whole. With Canon’s APS-C mirrorless camera range having seemingly plateaued at 24.2Mp, there were only so many bells and whistles that could make the M6 feel exciting – things like 4K video, which were sadly absent.
It left the M6 with that awkward ‘second camera’ tag – it was good enough to be your backup, or the one you took out when pictures weren’t quite as important, but it wouldn’t demand your attention beyond that. Well, you can officially throw that line of thinking out the window – both for the new Canon EOS M6 Mark II and the EOS M series as a whole.
With all the tech that comes across our desks, it takes a lot for a camera to impress us these days.
The M6 Mark II, however, took us by surprise with what it can do. It’s one of the best cameras for vlogging right now, and certainly one of the best Canon cameras for those who want to go mirrorless. If you want the best camera for film-making, however, you may want to set your sights a little higher.
The new powerhouse 32.5Mp sensor gives it a higher resolution than its big full-frame brother, the Canon EOS R. The M6 Mk II packs more megapixels than any Canon body, in fact, save the 50Mp 5DS/R. Not only does it outmuscle the EOS R in the resolution stakes, it also betters it in a number of other ways – not least its freakish 14 frames per second continuous shooting mode, and the fact that it can shoot 4K video without any crop.
Putting the two systems side by side, it becomes a challenge not to choose the EOS M6 Mark II over its full-frame mirrorless siblings; it’s a more compact camera than the EOS RP, and a more capable camera than the EOS R. While the Canon RF lens roadmap is better curated than the EF-M lineup, both mirrorless formats are still largely dependent on their seamless compatibility with traditional EF lenses.
Build and handling
The EOS M6 Mark II is beefier than its predecessor, which measured 112x68x44.5mm and weighed in at 390g, but it remains a micro marvel. Even more so, in fact; for a camera this capable to be packed into a body this small is remarkable.
However, there’s a temptation to conclude that its pocketable profile means it’s only fit for being a, “travel camera” or a, “street camera.” And yes, it is ideal for both of those – but a more apt conclusion would be that the M6 Mark II is so small that it can transform the way you shoot, because you just don’t need the bulky system that you thought you did.
By once again omitting a built-in viewfinder, the Mark II retains the sleek form factor that makes it compact for travel, discreet for street photography and one-handable for vlogging.
Far from being a churlish move on Canon’s part, the decision to make the viewfinder an optional extra plays to the M6 Mark II’S strengths. The existing EVF-DC2 (available in a kit with the camera) can be kept in a pocket and mounted to the hotshoe when required – this keeps the camera pocketable and portable.
One of the nifiest additions to the Canon EOS M6 Mark II’S exterior is the new MF/AF toggle switch, filling part of the huge space next to the rear thumb grip. Seemingly superfluous at first, it quickly becomes a valuable part of your muscle memory – particularly with lenses that don’t feature their own an external MF/AF switch.
The body features a slightly chunkier grip, which helps it retain balance, especially when using adapted EF lenses – something that will almost definitely be required, since the EF-M mount isn’t nearly as well catered for as its EF and RF counterparts.
Performance
We first tried the EOS M6 Mark II in conditions that were far from optimal – in a dimly lit indoor karting track that was somewhat akin to shooting in the basement of a parking lot at night. Even so, the M6 Mark II impressed us. Subsequently we’ve tried it in more normal outdoor lighting, both for stills and video.
The poor lighting tested the ISO performance, while also putting the improved -5EV low light focusing through its paces. With the smaller sensor, noise does start to rear its head when you push beyond ISO1250, and capturing moving subjects at high speed meant that we had to exceed this by quite a bit.
We cranked the ISO all the way up to 6400 for some low light test shots, and despite the torrid illumination, the EOS M6 Mark II’S 14 frames per second continuous shooting (with continuous AF) did a stellar job of keeping up with the action, capturing the cars as they came careening around corners. In fact, in some extremely limited testing, the improved Eye AF tracking even came in useful if drivers’ visors were up, as the camera was quick enough to find and follow eyeballs.
Video
The EOS M6 Mark II does make a
The new powerhouse 32.5Mp sensor gives this camera a higher resolution than its big brother
great camera for video, though it’s more for the vlogging end of the market, than serious filmmaking. It’s compact, it’s light and it’s the easiest camera we’ve tried for gimbal mounting.
The face/eye AF is excellent, and worked for our walking video test. It also has a large AF area (100% vertical x 88% horizontal). The 32.5Mp resolution is not directly relevant for video, where the 4K UHD resolution is 3840x2160 pixels – a lot less than the full 6960x4640 pixels for stills – but the M6 Mark II produces decent quality 4K footage regardless, with great colours.
The 180-degree flip-screen is useful when you’re filming yourself, though it has a tilting mechanism rather than the fully-articulating pivot found on many other Canons.
It’s not all good. The EOS M6 Mark II does not yet shoot 4K at the popular 24fps frame rate (which we’re told is coming), or at 60/50p (which isn’t). There’s no in-body stabilization, so it’s just as well it’s light and wieldy on a gimbal, there’s no zebra pattern exposure warnings, and no headphone jack to monitor the sound.
You can shoot at a high frame rate in 1080p resolution, but not with continuous autofocus, and you don’t get any log profiles either – though normally you’d only expect that in more expensive cameras.