Canon eos 6d Mk II
An upgrade that spent five years in the making – the 6D Mark II is better in every conceivable way
launched back in 2012, the original EOS 6D brought full-frame photography to the masses. It delivered excellent image quality but some of its
specifications left a lot to be desired.
The Mark II bumps up the megapixel count by 30 per cent and has a vastly improved 45-point rather than 11-point autofocus system, in which all of the points are cross-type rather than just the central one. Also, nine of these points can be used at f/8, compared with none in the original camera.
Autofocus is much better for live view and movie capture, thanks to phase-detection Dual Pixel AF technology on the upgraded sensor, as in all of the other cameras in this group apart from the 5DS and 5DS R. The Mk II’S metering system is also revamped, and has a faster continuous drive rate of 6.5fps compared with 4.5fps. Whereas the original 6D had built-in Wi-fi and GPS, the Mark II adds NFC and Bluetooth.
Build and handling
The aluminium chassis and glass fibre reinforced polycarbonate shell feel durable and solid yet reasonably lightweight. Weatherseals are included to ensure a dust/ water-resistant construction. Typical of Canon’s recent enthusiast-grade SLRS, the original 6D had an enthusiast-friendly control layout that was easy to live with. The Mark II sticks with the tried and trusted formula but, instead of having a fixed screen around the back, it has fully pivoting ‘vari-angle’ LCD that also gains touch-sensitivity. This is for operation of the Quick menu
and making the most of the enhanced autofocus system for live view and filming – a key upgrade.
Another handling improvement that’s rare to find on a Canon SLR is that you can disable the exposure setting being locked when autofocus is achieved, in evaluative metering mode. The choice is available from the custom settings menu, and suits photographers who like to autofocus on a particular point, then swivel to compose a shot.
Performance
The 6D Mark II received early criticism from some quarters, suggesting there was no real improvement in image quality, and that dynamic range and high-iso image noise were worse than in the original – in JPEG mode and when processing Raw files with Canon’s own software. But, we’ve experienced top image quality from this camera in all respects, with no shortage of dynamic range. Images captured under low lighting levels at high ISO settings also remain impressively noise-free. They’re only a bit noisier than the original 6D. The maximum burst rate is only 0.5fps slower than in the 5D Mk IV and battery life practically equals that of the
1D X Mk II, almost beating every other camera in test.