Reviews: Canon EOS M3

[Canon Rumors]

The big reviews for the Canon EOS M3 have started to arrive.</p>
<p>First up from Gordon at CameraLabs</p>
<blockquote><p>If you do have an existing EF lens catalogue and fancy a smaller body to try them with, then the EOS M3 is a good choice, and I commend Canon for making so many improvements over the original body. The EOS M3 is a confident step-forward, and with a greater selection of EF-M lenses (or even a promising roadmap) it could certainly become a contender as a standalone camera. But if you’re looking to build a new system that gives you all the benefits of mirrorless, then you should invest in Olympus, Panasonic, Fujifilm or Sony, all of whom have dumped their legacy DSLR baggage and are concentrating on delivering a more compelling native experience.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_EOS_M3/" target="_blank">Read the full review at CameraLabs</a></p>
<p>Paul from WhatDigitalCamera</p>
<blockquote><p>There are areas in which the new camera is still lacking, however. Notably, the relatively slow burst mode and small buffer make the M3 feel a bit dated, while the kit lens also feels in need of an update already.</p>
<p>So, although the M3 is a huge improvement on its predecessor it’s up against some serious competition and it’s difficult to claim that it outperforms its closest challengers.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/reviews/compact-system-cameras/canon-eos-m3-review#amy7YYw0xZp81PHf.99" target="_blank">Read the full review at WhatDigitalCamera</a></p>
<p>Both reviews, and the others I have seen think the EOS M3 is a step in the right direction, but hasn’t done anything to even suggest Canon wants to be a market leader in this segment.</p>
<p>As you know, the EOS M3 isn’t available in North America, but you shouldn’t have a problem getting your hands on one via ebay or other global retailers such as DigitalRev.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/3958327/type/dlg/http://www.digitalrev.com/product/canon-eos-m3-with-ef/MTEwNDA2MA_A_A" target="_blank">Canon EOS M3 w/18-55 IS STM $699 at DigitalRev</a></p>

 

[expatinasia]

Shouldn't this be under reviews rather than the lenses section?!

First up from Gordon at CameraLabs, "If you do have an existing EF lens catalogue and fancy a smaller body to try them with"

Anyway, location of the review update aside, I must say that is quite a bizarre sentence! Who buys a camera to try lenses with!!

 

[riker]

First up from Gordon at CameraLabs, "If you do have an existing EF lens catalogue and fancy a smaller body to try them with"

Anyway, location of the review update aside, I must say that is quite a bizarre sentence! Who buys a camera to try lenses with!!

ME!
I have 11 EF lenses, being a Canon user for many years. I can buy an M3 just to TRY and see if it fits my needs or not. If I'm not satisfied, I sell it. It's not a big loss of money, worth the try. I can't do that with other brands, because I would need to buy lenses for the body too. I would love to try and see how M3 works with EF lenses (AF speed, weight balance, etc.) in real life. Going in a shop and playing for 20 mins is just not enough.

 

[noncho]

This improvement is still behind the competitors.

Fire sale for Christmas?

 

[Tyroop]

Looking at the DigitalRev site, I could only find kits for the M3. Maybe I missed it, but I only need the body because I already have lenses. Presumably the M3 body alone will be available for existing M users?

 

[ninjapeps]

Must depend on the region. Japan sells nearly every combination from just the body to body with the 18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses plus EVF. Only the 11-22mm isn't available as part of a kit.

 

[cnardo]

Looking at the DigitalRev site, I could only find kits for the M3. Maybe I missed it, but I only need the body because I already have lenses. Presumably the M3 body alone will be available for existing M users?

Bought mine on eBay. Body only plus the EVF. So far, I have been pleasantly surprised . Currently owned both the SL1 and M1. Defaulted to the SL1 as my carry everywhere camera. Will now switch to the M3 for awhile to see how that goes. EVF is nice and required for bright outdoor shooting, but not being integrated makes it less useful.

 

[sunnyVan]

Looking at the DigitalRev site, I could only find kits for the M3. Maybe I missed it, but I only need the body because I already have lenses. Presumably the M3 body alone will be available for existing M users?

Bought mine on eBay. Body only plus the EVF. So far, I have been pleasantly surprised . Currently owned both the SL1 and M1. Defaulted to the SL1 as my carry everywhere camera. Will now switch to the M3 for awhile to see how that goes. EVF is nice and required for bright outdoor shooting, but not being integrated makes it less useful.

Integrated evf will make the camera bigger. To me the tilt screen is far more useful than evf in 90% of situations.I put on evf very rarely. I'm glad they made evf optional rather than built-in.

 

[archiea]

additional review, quite thorough

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/reviews/compactsystemcameras/canon-eos-m3-review

 

[ChristopherMarkPerez]

Hmmm... to me this is disappointing. Canon may think they sell well in Japan, but I can tell you from looking at the cameras that hang around the necks of most Japanese and Chinese tourists in the city I live (Paris, France) that Sony, Olympus, and Fuji have the hearts and souls of travelers firmly in hand.

Just two years ago I used to see a LOT of Canon DSLRs. A surprising number sported L-glass of one kind or another (really? a 50mm f/1.2L on a Rebel body??? - but mostly 24-70L/24-105L). The past two years this has changed dramatically. Unless you're an American, that is, in which case you'll have a 5D MkIII or 1Dx weighing you down while eyeing the light/sharp/v.capable mirrorless on travelers of other nationalities.

EOS M? I've not seen a single one of any variety. Not one.

If Canon is serious about mirrorless, I think they need to step up their game. Though I'm sure their marketing folks will try to convince us otherwise.

 

[Denisb]

"If you do have an existing EF lens catalogue and fancy a smaller body to try them with, then the EOS M3 is a good choice,"

I have dozen of EF lenses, being a Canon user since '90, but since I "fancy a smaller body to tryuse them" I find the Sony A7 series a better choices, because :

1) the manual focus on theses camera are faster than the AF on any Canon camera;
2) the dynamic range are also better;
3) same thing with the High ISO / low ISO IQ
4) without talking of the outstanding night vision real color of the A7S

Man, I will love to see Canon with a camera that will have even a tenth of the quality that the A7 series have even in a bigger body. But then, I think Canon is going the Minolta route, it will continue selling printer and copier and stop its irrelevant camera business.

 

[Mr_Canuck]

"If you do have an existing EF lens catalogue and fancy a smaller body to try them with, then the EOS M3 is a good choice,"

I have dozen of EF lenses, being a Canon user since '90, but since I "fancy a smaller body to tryuse them" I find the Sony A7 series a better choices, because :

1) the manual focus on theses camera are faster than the AF on any Canon camera;
2) the dynamic range are also better;
3) same thing with the High ISO / low ISO IQ
4) without talking of the outstanding night vision real color of the A7S

Man, I will love to see Canon with a camera that will have even a tenth of the quality that the A7 series have even in a bigger body. But then, I think Canon is going the Minolta route, it will continue selling printer and copier and stop its irrelevant camera business.

Yeah, the Canon camera business is so very irrelevant to 70% of professional photographers.

 

[Denisb]

1) I don't know where you're getting 70%, but anyway, a camera is just a tool, 5 years ago 110% of all photographers were using Nikon...

2) But not the pro photographer I know, 45% of them use Medium Format Digital and an other 45% use scanner back large format.

3) the only pro I know that use Canon are sport photographer, and only ±50% of them, and this category are fading with the use of 4k/8k high-speed videography that produce enough good picture quality to be use in newspaper/web side and since newspaper disappear don't even know if sport picture will be a thing in 5 years.

4) And when a pro, what ever kind of pro job/category/business, want to keep been a pro, he will use the best tool available to produce the best result he can do if he want to stay in business and today, Canon, unfortunately, is not the best tool over there for any categories.

5) A camera is a tool, like a wrench is a tool for the mechanic, and every mechanic I know use a Pneumatic torque wrench, but they also use normal wrench made by Sanp-On, and maybe Canon, will go the route of Snap-On, nobody use them except pro, but in the electronic business field I doubt a company will stay in business with only pro in this rapidly changing environment. Did you know NEC and Fusitsu are making LCD screen? yes they do, but they are use only in medical facilities, nobody want to buy a 50k$ 24inches b&w monitor.

For more details you should read :http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/06/07/33-myths-of-the-professional-photographer/

And the best part, I was maybe I am even today, a Canon Fan Boy.

Yeah, the Canon camera business is so very irrelevant to 70% of professional photographers.

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

1) I don't know where you're getting 70%, but anyway, a camera is just a tool, 5 years ago 110% of all photographers were using Nikon...

And the best part, I was maybe I am even today, a Canon Fan Boy.

Yeah, the Canon camera business is so very irrelevant to 70% of professional photographers.

Everyone knows that the true PRO photographers use only Sony cameras with Zeiss lenses, right?

 

[Denisb]

Who talking about Pro Sony Camera, we are talking about Canon EOS M3

Everyone knows that the true PRO photographers use only Sony cameras with Zeiss lenses, right?

If you read my post. I never write about :

 ;D Sony camera been used by pro

.

I write that pro didn't buy enough cameras to maintain a camera manufacturer business.

If Canon want to maintain its amateur buying base, they need to move faster, because first time buyers won't buy a 20mp front illuminated APS camera when they can get a 28mp back illuminated camera for the same price, and they wont buy a 20mpx 35mm camera for 1.5 time the price of a 36mpix 35mm camera and using third party sensors like they will do in their next camera, it's just a way to reduce their profit and show the world they can't compete with real electronic manufacturers.

But, I said that only a small part of pro photographer use Canon camera, most of the pro photographer use MF and LF digital camera.

And since this thread is about M3, I sure that NO pro out there use any M camera at all.

And I can add, that if pro want a small camera they won't use M because a lot of better alternative exist to use their existing lens than the M, I talk about my choice of A7 series in another post, but then, this is not the only one.

Any camera with a speedbooster adapter like the Fuji line or any 4/3 camera or any APS NEX Camera is a lot better than the M if you want to keep using your old lens and retaining some of their characteristics and better than that you can also use a lot of specific lens for theses camera when the M have only 4 or 3 lenses available.

SO, my first post was about the article that write :

"If you do have an existing EF lens catalog(sic) and fancy a smaller body to try them with, then the EOS M3 is a good choice,"

So my comment was, it's not the best camera to use your existing lens if you want a small camera.

Canon have all the technologies to make a great small mirrorless fullframe camera with fast dualpixel AF, but they don't doing it because they're dumb with their marketing strategy.

The fact that they need to use a third party sensor in the next camera is a proof that when Canon have lost focus on the amateur market they also lost the revenue to maintain a R&D in the camera technologies. :'(

 

[melbournite]

First up from Gordon at CameraLabs, "If you do have an existing EF lens catalogue and fancy a smaller body to try them with"

Anyway, location of the review update aside, I must say that is quite a bizarre sentence! Who buys a camera to try lenses with!!

ME!
I have 11 EF lenses, being a Canon user for many years. I can buy an M3 just to TRY and see if it fits my needs or not. If I'm not satisfied, I sell it. It's not a big loss of money, worth the try. I can't do that with other brands, because I would need to buy lenses for the body too. I would love to try and see how M3 works with EF lenses (AF speed, weight balance, etc.) in real life. Going in a shop and playing for 20 mins is just not enough.

ME TOO!
I agree with everything you say. I have many EF lenses too and I want to try for myself.

I picked up an M3 with the kit lens two days ago but haven't had a great deal of use to comment confidently about it yet. I also don't have an adapter for the EF mount (canon Australia are offering one via redemption so I have to wait).

Professionally, I use 5D's but as a pocket camera I have a Sony RX100 II. The M3 is significantly larger but it has the ability to take other lenses (all my lenses). So far I find the two cameras very similar except under low light - I think the M3 wins hands down. I also like the touch screen especially for touch focus and the menu system, well... it's very familiar to me. 8)

 

[e17paul]

Integrated evf will make the camera bigger. To me the tilt screen is far more useful than evf in 90% of situations.I put on evf very rarely. I'm glad they made evf optional rather than built-in.

If only it had a pop up evf instead of pop up flash, I would buy one

 

[sunnyVan]

Integrated evf will make the camera bigger. To me the tilt screen is far more useful than evf in 90% of situations.I put on evf very rarely. I'm glad they made evf optional rather than built-in.

If only it had a pop up evf instead of pop up flash, I would buy one

I agree with you on this. A pop up flash is a waste of space.

 

[JonoRees]

Mine arrived last week and it's great, the photos seem pretty clean at full crop.

One thing I do love is the video & the tilt screen combination, makes those vlogs (financial services tips) a lot easier being able to see yourself and while the frame rate @1080 is only 25, the video is pretty clean and sharp with the kit 18-55 zoom.

Was surprised how well the m3 drives auto focus on the 24-70 f4, I almost forgot that there was an adaptor in between. For a laugh I tried the 100-400 v1 and it seems unusable which is no surprise.

The efv seems better than the a7 refresh rate from what I can remember/tell, but I could be imagining it....

 

[andrewflo]

Integrated evf will make the camera bigger. To me the tilt screen is far more useful than evf in 90% of situations.I put on evf very rarely. I'm glad they made evf optional rather than built-in.

If only it had a pop up evf instead of pop up flash, I would buy one

I agree with you on this. A pop up flash is a waste of space.

It would be great if they sold the M in two variants, one with a pop-up flash (with current accessory EVF), one with a built-in EVF.

I could definitely see how anyone trying to use the M as a main camera body for professional or even enthusiast-level work would prefer a built-in viewfinder.

I myself use a DSLR for the above uses and prefer the M as a little mini pocket camera to take to dinners and out with friends for point & shoot style convenience at APS-C level image quality. In this scenario, I DEFINITELY prefer a pop-up flash. Lugging around an external (even micro sized) hot shoe flash kind of defeats the purpose of something small and pocketable.

I see both sides, but for my preference, I'd take the pop-up flash over an EVF.