Smart Photography

Ergonomics

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The EOS R6 measures approximat­ely 138 x 97.5 x 88.4 mm and weighs approximat­ely 680 g including battery and SD card.

The EOS R6 has a very intuitive interface. A dedicated movie record button and the joystick add to user comfort. Most of the buttons (12) and dials (4) are customisab­le, which is certainly a plus point for a video and still camera packed with features. Live View is just another mode in the INFO button cycle, instead of activation via a dedicated lever or button. The camera is comfortabl­e to hold and operate with a textured and deep grip and an ergonomic thumb rest. It balanced well with the RF 50 mm f/1.2L USM lens we used for this review.

Performanc­e

The Canon EOS R6 is a video and still camera that would appeal to most

ISO 12800 ISO 25600

photograph­ers who do not require extremely high-resolution images.

Autofocus was fast and accurate. Eye even in dim light. We have no way of measuring the number of stops advantage that image stabilisat­on provides, but we were able to use very slow shutter speeds (almost 5 stops slower than ‘normal’) and still get acceptably sharp images. This of course could depend on various factors.

The camera provided continuous speeds of up to 10 frames per second with Raw +JPEG selected and up to 14 fps with only Raw in H+ setting with electronic shutter. Please note that I have been using a Sandisk Extreme PRO SD card with a maximum transfer speed of 95MB per second. A faster card could, in principle, provide close to the 20-fps speed that Canon claims. In this mode, the camera is perfectly silent.

ISO 51200

The camera provides a native print size of 18.24 x 12.16 inches at 300 ppi. The R6 provided excellent noise control. I checked the images on a calibrated Full HD monitor 92ppi screen resolution. At 25 percent of screen size, the images appeared incredibly noise-free up to ISO 51,200. Even ISO 102,400 proved perfectly usable. ISO 204,800 was noisy, but still usable in an emergency. At 50 percent view, it was absolutely noise-free up to ISO 25,600, however, the images were still usable up to ISO 102,400. Even at 100 percent, it was absolutely noisefree up to ISO 6400 and remained usable up to ISO 25,600. We would consider this extremely good.

Auto White Balance produced a mild blue cast consistent­ly, but we wouldn’t worry too much about it since the cast was very easy to remove in postproces­sing. Images were quite sharp with the 50 mm lens.

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Coming to videos, 4K output was very smooth and quite punchy. Time-lapse movies are easy to set up and capture. The settings are quite easy to understand. 4K videos at the highest quality are limited to 30 minutes. However, in our case, the camera heated up and discontinu­ed the movie at approximat­ely 29 minutes and further 10 minutes of shooting as Canon

KEY SPECIFICAT­IONS

Effective pixels: Approx. 20.1 million

Image sensor: Full Frame (36 x 24 mm) CMOS sensor

Lens mount: Canon RF mount

Compatible lenses: Canon RF lenses (Canon EF or EF-S supported via EF-EOS R adapter)

Dust deletion feature: Self cleaning sensor unit Image format Still: JPEG, HEIF, Raw (Includes C-Raw)

Movies: ALL-I (Time-lapse only), IPB, MP4 (Simultaneo­us recording of any combinatio­n of RAW/C-RAW and JPEG/HEIF image-recording quality is supported)

Picture style: Auto, Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Fine Detail, Neutral, Faithful,

White Balance: Auto (Ambience priority/White priority), Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, temperatur­e

White Balance shift: Blue/amber bias: ±9 levels

Magenta/green bias: ±9 levels OLED colour EVF

Autofocus method: Dual Pixel CMOS AF Number of AF zones available Stills: Max. 6072 positions (92 x 66)

Movies: Max 4968 positions (92 x 54)

AF working range: EV -6.5 to 20 (f/1.2 lens, centre AF point, One-Shot AF)

Eye detection: Auto, Manual

Metering method: 384-zone real-time metering with image sensor

Metering modes: Evaluative, Partial (approx. 5.8% of the area), Spot (approx. 2.9% of the area), Centre-weighted average

Metering range: EV -3 - 20 (at ISO 100) Exposure modes: Scene Intelligen­t Auto, Flexible-priority AE (Fv), Program AE (P), Shutter-priority AE (Safety shift possible) (Tv), Aperture-priority AE (Safety shift possible) (Av), Manual (M), Bulb, Custom (C1, C2, C3) Exposure compensati­on: ±3 stops in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments claimed. Please note that we conducted the test with overheat protection switched on.

Overall, we were quite impressed by the camera’s performanc­e.

Value for Money

The Canon EOS R6 retails at an MRP of Rs.215,995 for the body. We would consider this a fair price for this camera.

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AE lock: Auto AE lock, User-set AE lock (with AE lock button)

Shutter type: Electronic­ally controlled focal-plane shutter

Shutter control: Mechanical shutter, Electronic shutter

Shutter speed: Mechanical/Electronic 1stcurtain: 30 to 1/8000 sec, Bulb

Electronic: 0.5 to 1/8000 sec

Shutter release: Soft-touch electromag­netic release

Self-timer: 10-sec., 2-sec.

Image Stabilisat­ion (IS mode): Still Photo IS, Always on

External speedlite: E-TTL balance Ambience

Flash exposure compensati­on: ±3 stops in 1/3- or 1/2-stop increments E-TTL each shot

Best video: 4K 50p (60p in NTSE system)

LCD Screen: 3.0-inch, 1.62 million-dot TFT colour touch LCD

Touch-screen operation: Supported for AF Point selection; Touch AF; Touch Shutter; Menu LCD coating: Clear View LCD II Anti-smudge coating applied

Highlight alert: Available

Customisab­le dials: Main dial, Quick control dial 1 & 2, Control ring

Interface: USB Type-C terminal (USB 3.1 Gen 1) HDMI Out terminal: HDMI micro OUT terminal Type D (Resolution switches automatica­lly) Microphone terminal: 3.5 mm stereo mini jack Headphone terminal: 3.5 mm stereo mini-plug Power Source: Canon LP-E6NH battery pack Recording media: Dual SD card slots (compatible with UHS-II)

Dimensions (W x H x D): Approx. 138 x 97.5 x 88.4 mm

Weight: Approx. 680 g (including battery, SD memory card; without body cap)

The RF 35 mm f/1.8 Macro is

Design & Build Quality

December 2020

Key Features Ergonomics Performanc­e

Value for Money | SP

and hence there is no lens extension during focussing.

There is no vibration reduction (SteadyShot) as that is provided in compatible Sony camera bodies. The during manual focus. An AF/MF switch to the left of the lens allows the user to quickly switch between autofocus and manual focus.

Apertures, ranging from f/1.8 to 22, are clearly marked on the Aperture Ring. Apertures are marked in 1/3 EV steps. ‘Still’ photograph­ers can opt for clickstops at 1/3 EV interval if they wish to and video photograph­ers can opt for smooth noiseless change of apertures to prevent any unwanted noise during video recording. This is done using a Click On/Off switch provided on the right side of the lens. A raised white dot on the lens facilitate­s in aligning the lens to the camera body. The wide f/1.8 aperture, when used on close-by subjects, can offer a smooth out-of-focus background (bokeh). The lens also offers a focus hold button, which locks the focus when pressed. The same button also permits the user to customise several alternativ­e functions via the camera menu settings.

Ergonomics

We reviewed the lens on a Sony A7R IV body. The lens, being light in weight, balanced very well and was easy to use and carry along the whole day.

Performanc­e Autofocus:

AF was quick and accurate. The lens, being ‘fast’ (f/1.8), even in less than good light.

Sharpness:

Images were sharp throughout the aperture range, with f/4 to f/5.6 being sharpest at the point of focus. At f/1.8 and f/2, images were just a tad softer at the corners, compared to when stopped down. At f/16 and f/22, some softness was observed due to diffractio­n of light at such narrow apertures, when the images were enlarged beyond a point. This is true with almost all lenses from all manufactur­ers. Overall, the lens provided excellent corner-tocorner sharpness.

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