Canon 6D review and Canon 6D vs 5D mark III

[dswatson83]

Got a Canon 6D review with a sample pictures from the tests at : http://learningcameras.com/reviews/4-dslrs/91-canon-6d-review
Interesting results and it's kind of a mixed bag so take a look before buying this camera to make sure that you will not be turned off by the negatives.

Also put it up against the 5D mark III:
Canon 6D Vs. 5D Mark III Hands On Review

 

[pedro]

I do not call that a review, more one persons opinion about a camera.

intresting experience shared. does the 1/3 of a stop improvement in low light refer to JPEG or RAW. As the MP count of the sensor in the 6D is slightly lower, this might add to it as well.

 

[dswatson83]

intresting experience shared. does the 1/3 of a stop improvement in low light refer to JPEG or RAW. As the MP count of the sensor in the 6D is slightly lower, this might add to it as well.

RAW only, I did not shoot JPEG at all for any of these files. I'm sure the MP made a small difference. Most of the lower noise of the 6D however seemed to be in the shadow areas so maybe Canon is doing something a little different in the shadows. Either way it was not drastic enough to care about...you would only see the difference pixel peeping with side by side images.

 

[RLPhoto]

The 6D is canons way to make more money with the 20D 5dc 5D2 hardware.

 

[dswatson83]

Canon 6D - the good the bad and the ugly

I'm seeing a ton of various reviews on the Canon 6D, some loving it, and others giving it mediocre thoughts. I've been in the latter category and I really think that is where most of us should be.

Let's start with the good. It's not that the 6D takes a bad picture, it takes a great picture. In fact, it beat my 5D mark III in the low light test for example: http://www.learningcameras.com/reviews/4-dslrs/92-canon-6d-vs-5d-mark-iii. But there really is no such thing as a new $2000 camera that doesn't take a great picture so I feel that it is not enough to rank a camera great just because it takes a great picture. There are a ton of great bodies under $2000 from various manufactures that can take stunning images. What makes a great camera these days is the ability to offer you the tools you need for the job you need it to do.

Given that...If you are a video shooter, I think you will be disappointed slightly. Not with the quality, but why the lack of a headphone jack that even the Nikon D600 has. Why no swivel screen. Why not dual card slots that the Nikon D600, D7000, D800 and Canon 5D3 all have.

If you are a pro photographer, you will probably exchange some profanity with the focus system (although the 5D2 was slightly worse), likely miss the joystick for quick focus point changes, hate missing custom buttons, curse the impossible to press DOF preview button that I love to program, hate the missing WB button and inability to program any other button to take this task over, never use it with a flash due to the slow 1/160 flash sync speeds, and desire a bunch of other curiously absent features.

If you are a casual photographer or want something for vacations, you will love this camera...if you can afford it. $2000 is a ton to spend on a vacation camera but you will enjoy the simple operation, great quality, and small size for a FF DSLR. However, if you were considering the Nikon D600, you will likely buy it instead given the pop up flash, dual card slots for overflow or backing up those vacation memories, and the Nikon ability to utilize the dynamic range in the shadows: http://learningcameras.com/reviews/4-dslrs/79-nikon-d600-vs-canon-5d-mark-iii-

Once again, the 6D took stunning photographs, even in low light (though the D600 is better in dynamic range by a long shot), but I just feel like Canon artificially limited random elements to make it compete less with other cameras rather than make it a great camera for an intended purpose, whatever that may be.
I've got a full review with samples : http://learningcameras.com/reviews/4-dslrs/91-canon-6d-review
Am I wrong?

 

[Canon-F1]

syncspeed is 1/180s not 1/160s.. i hope your review is not full of such errors.

 

[jon_charron]

My girlfriend and I just picked up a 6D, and so far, I'm not really enjoying it as much as my 7D. I cannot get used to the button layout, and prefer the zoom function for image preview to be thumb access instead of scroll wheel. The iso button is in an awkward place the the selector wheel on the back of the camera is extremely annoying to use. My biggest pet peave is the display. I find it near impossible to view in any kind of sun and the brightness display is strange as well. If you increase the brightness to be able to see it, you cannot use it judge exposure at all. I agree that you should set your exposure based on the internal exposure meter, but that does not seem super accurate either. I use highlight alert, and that helps, but the display should more closely match the image shot. It's like trying to use non color corrected monitor to view your images. It's useless.

I'm sure much of this will come down to getting used to it, but that display issue is going to make me ditch this camera if I can't figure out a solution.

 

[baervan]

I really wanted to like the 6D but I got to hold it and coming from a 7D it really doesn't feel right. Also I don't like the controls. But I've never shot with it so I can't really judge it.

It's just that it feels just a bummer, even if it takes great photos in low light it's still only 1 feature more that the 5dII. I understand people who say that a camera should just take good pictures, but it's not so anymore and features are important nowadays.

I understand that in terms of business Canon hit the jackpot since they made people buy it by offering the lowest features set they could think of (ok ok GPS/WI-FI..), but in my opinion they've done a great disservice to many.

People have said that it's an entry level FF that appeals to Rebel users upgrading to FF, but that doesn't necessarily imply that they are the only ones who could buy it. Also for sure Rebel users would not have minded a more pro feature set, and for sure that would have won the sympathies of a wider audience.

I'm so angry also to the idea of "not wanting to hurt the 5dIII sales" because they just had to downscale that machine a little bit to make them not compete. Put 9 autofocus points instead of a gazzillion like in the 5dIII, limit the FPS to 3 or 4 and that's it!! the cameras won't compete and people who shoot fast will buy 5dIII and the others 6D.

Sigh. Money please continue to drop on me, 5dIII is still far away..

 

[Sporgon]

syncspeed is 1/180s not 1/160s.. i hope your review is not full of such errors.

And in practice there is Naf all difference between 1/180 and 1/200 anyway