Travel with M5/6...what has served you well?

slclick

EOS 3
Dec 17, 2013
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Hello! I'm off to a tropical holiday and will be leaving the FF at home and trying out the M5/EF-M system for island paradise fun. I might have a drink perma glued to one hand so I need a light system for the other, right? I used the Pen F for travel last year and came away unimpressed. I'm curious who has used these bodies for tropical shoots (think Caribbean, Hawaii, Polynesia) and what worked well and what was dead weight in your bag? I'm taking a small pod and an ND filter for the 11-22 to get the obligatory moving water shots. Also the 22 will come along as it's my favorite. The 18-150, not so much.

Too late to rent so it's limited to these choices: EF-M 11-22, EF-M 22, EF-M 18-150. Whole buncha FF adapted glass as well.

Thanks!
 

AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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neuroanatomist said:
My 'small' travel kit is now the M6, M11-22, M18-150, and M22/2, packed in a Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 20. It's very versatile, and easy to pack/carry.
I got the M5 before the M6 came out and do not regret it as I can use it with telephotos braced against my cheek. It goes beautifully with the new Tamron 100-400mm. How many shots are you getting per battery charge? I love it with the 22mm. My copy is sharp from edge to edge.
 
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Jan 1, 2013
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Really nice camera, the M5.
Just returned from an Australian 3weeks trip, still at the airport waiting to fly the last leg home.
The M5 was the wife’s camera with 11-22 and 55-200 lenses. And a single battery!
Worked very well, both indoors and out. Indoors photos came out pretty well at ISO 1000. Pics were sharp. Colors were faithful. The single battery gave enough power for about 600 shots, she was not a heavy shooter. In between shots, we turn off the camera immediately to conserve power. Recharge at night.

You’ll be better served with 2 batteries. Less worry about running out of juice. A couple of extra memory cards would be advisable.
Like the eye level view finder. But a slight lag with movements. Focus I’d slow. Focus point select is not easy with eye level view finder. Not suitable for BIF shots, though one might get lucky.
All told, the camera is new, juts got it a week before the trip, so trial with it was nil.
-r
 
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slclick said:
Too late to rent so it's limited to these choices: EF-M 11-22, EF-M 22, EF-M 18-150. Whole buncha FF adapted glass as well.

I use my M5 + 22mm and 18-150 for short trips, and include my Rokinon 12mm f/2 if I'll have time for astro or landscape.

AlanF said:
How many shots are you getting per battery charge?

I routinely get 500+ shots per battery charge, with the range between 300-800 depending on temperature and usage. I always take 2 or 3 batteries with me to be safe, but I've only had to use a 2nd battery a few times, 1 per day is usually plenty.

lion rock said:
Like the eye level view finder. But a slight lag with movements. Focus I’d slow. Focus point select is not easy with eye level view finder. Not suitable for BIF shots, though one might get lucky.
All told, the camera is new, juts got it a week before the trip, so trial with it was nil.

The M5 works well for perched birds, but I've had very little success with birds in flight. I was observing and photographing migrating Sand Hill Cranes a few weeks ago with thousands of cranes flying around, so no shortage of targets. I tried the M5 + 100-400 II and 300 f/2.8 II + 1.4 and had just a few keepers after almost 30 minutes of trying. Generally the camera could not pick up the birds against the sky and lock focus.

The M5 is a great general purpose, travel camera however. And the AF does a good enough job tracking kids running around.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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bholliman said:
AlanF said:
How many shots are you getting per battery charge?

I routinely get 500+ shots per battery charge, with the range between 300-800 depending on temperature and usage. I always take 2 or 3 batteries with me to be safe, but I've only had to use a 2nd battery a few times, 1 per day is usually plenty.

Do you have any tips to get this high number. I am lucky to get 200. I turn off continuous AF and have eco mode on.
 
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AlanF said:
bholliman said:
AlanF said:
How many shots are you getting per battery charge?

I routinely get 500+ shots per battery charge, with the range between 300-800 depending on temperature and usage. I always take 2 or 3 batteries with me to be safe, but I've only had to use a 2nd battery a few times, 1 per day is usually plenty.

Do you have any tips to get this high number. I am lucky to get 200. I turn off continuous AF and have eco mode on.

I keep continuous AF off and usually turn the camera off when not in use (something I don't worry about with a DSLR). I use the EVF most of the time unless I'm shooting down low, above my head or on a tripod and don't use the LCD much for reviewing images in the field. I've noticed much poorer battery life on occasions when I'm using the M5 on a tripod and using LCD extensively. I only use Canon OEM batteries, I haven't had good luck with 3rd party batteries with my various DSLR's over the years.
 
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Aug 28, 2012
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I opted for the M5 as a second body because of the ability to use my EF lenses but I must say as competent as the camera is with its native lenses, I have really struggled to get consistently sharp shots with the adapter, both with the 70-200 f/2.8ii and the 100-400ii. Would love to hear how others are faring in that regard and what focus settings you use that might help improve my keeper rate. Thanks.
 
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Jun 30, 2013
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On my last trip (is Vietnam tropical enough for you?) I took an M6 with EF-S 10-22mm, EF-M 22mm, EF 40mm pancake, EF-M 18-55mm, and adapter for EF and EF-S lenses.

My original plan was to take the EF-M 11-22mm, but the EF-S 10-22mm isn't huge, it's faster, and I prefer its image quality to the EF-M 11-22mm - even though the EF-M 11-22mm is a very good lens. I used the EF-S 10-22mm lens for most shots at its widest focal length.

For nighttime shots I used the EF-M 22mm and I also found that I really enjoyed using the EF 40mm pancake during the daytime. Lovely image quality from this lens and it handles well with an adapter on the M6.

When using the adapter and EF or EF-S lenses on the original EOS M there was a lot of hunting as the focus would rack back and forth, but focusing with the adapter works flawlessly and quickly on the dual-pixel M6.

My EF-M 18-55mm didn't get used at all. I bought an EF-M 55-200mm specifically for this trip, but was disappointed with the image quality during testing so left it at home. Looking at sample images of the EF-M 18-150mm, it looks to be similar image quality to the EF-M 55-200mm and it isn't a lens that interests me. It's also quite expensive.

My longest focal length on the trip was 40mm and I really didn't miss having anything longer. Most of my shots were taken with the EF-S 10-22mm at 10mm.

I took a spare battery, but didn't need to change batteries while out shooting. I charged my main battery every night at the hotel and it was enough for the next day's shooting. Nonetheless, it was reassuring to have a spare in my bag, just in case.

I tried Eco Mode on the M6 for a while, but it really started to annoy me as the screen would fade when I was trying to compose a shot. If battery life becomes a real issue I will use it, but I prefer not to. I normally turn the camera off between shots.

My Gitzo GT2541 was too big for travel so I took the plastic tripod that came as a free gift with my EF-M 55-200mm. It did the job, but was really flimsy. I'm now looking at a Sirui T-024 for travel purposes.

dslrdummy, I've had no problems with sharpness using the adapter on my EF and EF-S lenses, but I don't own the two lenses that you mention.

Some sample images here - EXIF info has been retained if you have a suitable EXIF reader add-on in your browser.

http://phil.uk.net/vietnam/hoi-an.html
 
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dslrdummy said:
I opted for the M5 as a second body because of the ability to use my EF lenses but I must say as competent as the camera is with its native lenses, I have really struggled to get consistently sharp shots with the adapter, both with the 70-200 f/2.8ii and the 100-400ii. Would love to hear how others are faring in that regard and what focus settings you use that might help improve my keeper rate. Thanks.

I've had good luck using my M5 + adapter with the 35 f/2 IS, 50 f/1.8 STM, 24-70 f/2.8 II and 300 f/2.8 II. I really haven't tried it much with my 70-200 f/2.8 II or 100-400 II. The shots I did attempt with the 100-400 II were with birds in flight, so a challenging subject. Attached is a shot of a Downy Woodpecker using my M5 with 300 f/2.8 II + 1.4iii extender.

I really don't use any different settings when using the adapter than when using native EF-M glass.
 

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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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I am using the M5 with the Tamron 100-400mm. It is a very light combination for nature photography and very sharp. The lack of spot focus is a drawback for isolating a small bird surrounded by branches but as long as you can frame the subject in the smallest focussing frame the reproducibility and consistency of AF is simply outstanding and much more reliable than with my 5Ds. Here is a shot similar to one I posted in the Bird Portrait thread.
 

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slclick

EOS 3
Dec 17, 2013
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I fiddled with my 100-400 on the M5 but as I assumed, it was not a good fit due to ergonomics and AF accuracy/speed. The 16-35 is a ridiculous combo, the 24-70 pretty much the same. As for primes, the 40 is a good match except for a surprisingly slow AF sped which you would think from an STM lens it wouldn't be so slow. The 50 1.8 SDTM is a great match, pretty much the closest you can get to an 85mm lens on the M with fast AF. What I wish I had was a 135 equivalent. An STM 85 would be golden. As always, I'm hoping for an EF-M prime trinity.
 
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Maximilian

The dark side - I've been there
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Nov 7, 2013
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neuroanatomist said:
My 'small' travel kit is now the M6, M11-22, M18-150, and M22/2, packed in a Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 20. It's very versatile, and easy to pack/carry.
Hi Neuro!

Do you also use the EVF-DC2 with your M6?
If so, what is your personal opinion on that one?

Thanks for your reply.

M.
 
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Aug 28, 2012
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bholliman said:
dslrdummy said:
I opted for the M5 as a second body because of the ability to use my EF lenses but I must say as competent as the camera is with its native lenses, I have really struggled to get consistently sharp shots with the adapter, both with the 70-200 f/2.8ii and the 100-400ii. Would love to hear how others are faring in that regard and what focus settings you use that might help improve my keeper rate. Thanks.

I've had good luck using my M5 + adapter with the 35 f/2 IS, 50 f/1.8 STM, 24-70 f/2.8 II and 300 f/2.8 II. I really haven't tried it much with my 70-200 f/2.8 II or 100-400 II. The shots I did attempt with the 100-400 II were with birds in flight, so a challenging subject. Attached is a shot of a Downy Woodpecker using my M5 with 300 f/2.8 II + 1.4iii extender.

I really don't use any different settings when using the adapter than when using native EF-M glass.
Thanks.
 
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Aug 28, 2012
381
152
AlanF said:
I am using the M5 with the Tamron 100-400mm. It is a very light combination for nature photography and very sharp. The lack of spot focus is a drawback for isolating a small bird surrounded by branches but as long as you can frame the subject in the smallest focussing frame the reproducibility and consistency of AF is simply outstanding and much more reliable than with my 5Ds. Here is a shot similar to one I posted in the Bird Portrait thread.
Thanks for that. I use the small frame but struggle to get consistently sharp shots even of an isolated subject. Whether it is a focus issue or sharpness (or operator error) I haven't worked out yet. The lenses work fine on my 1DXii. My understanding is that the small focus frame doesn't work in continuous AF and so I only shoot in non-continuous or switch to the larger frame with only average results. Will just keep exploring the camera and trying different lenses and settings.
 
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