Since April 2017, you can buy just the body of the Canon EOS M6 for less than $780, and it comes in two kits: The first kit costs just under $900 and comes with an EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM lens. The second kit costs about $1,100 and comes with an EF-M 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM lens. You can get the Canon EOS M6 in either black or silver.
1. Smaller than the M5 but no built-in electronic viewfinder
One of the biggest differences between the M5 and the M6 is that the latter does not have a built-in electronic viewfinder. The M5 was the first Canon mirrorless camera to offer a built-in EVF, but the M6 returns to the series’ roots and opts to go without one. Even so, you can attach an optional electronic viewfinder to the camera’s hot shoe, just like you could with some older M cameras. The M6 works with both the Canon EVF-DC1 electronic viewfinder and the new EVF-DC2, which has the same number of dots (2.36 million) but an OLED display instead of an LCD. The EVF-DC2 does not tilt, though.
The bodies of the M6 and M5 cameras are also different in a few other ways. The Canon M6 has a 3-inch LCD screen instead of the 3.2-inch LCD screen on the M5, but both have touchscreens that can be tilted. The M6’s tilting screen can go up 180° and down 45°. However, when facing forward, the top deck partially blocks the bottom of the screen. The EOS M6 display has a lower resolution as well, offering 1,040,000 dots versus the 1,620,000 dots found on the M5’s slightly larger display. Further, when looking at the top of the camera, the M5 has a dedicated mode dial on the left whereas the M6 moves it to the right side of the camera next to the exposure compensation dial. The Canon M6 still has a dedicated dial like the M5 does, although on the M6 it is located underneath the exposure compensation dial. On the back of the camera, the button layout is identical for the two cameras.
Besides these few differences, the cameras look very similar; both cameras share similar styling and an enthusiast-oriented control layout. The M6 is 4.4 inches by 2.7 inches by 1.8 inches (112.0 millimeters by 68.0 millimeters by 44.5 millimeters) and weighs 13.8 ounces (390 grams) with the battery and memory card. The M6 then is smaller than the M5 in each dimension, especially in terms of height thanks to the lack of built-in EVF.
2. Features
The M6 has the same 24.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and DIGIC 7 processor as the M5. All APS-C sensors in Canon cameras have a 1.6x focal length multiplier, which the M6 also has. The native ISO range of the EOS M6 is 100–25,600, and it has an Auto ISO feature (the ISO range in Auto ISO is 100-6400).
On the autofocus side, the M6 uses Canon’s hybrid Dual Pixel CMOS AF system, which we liked when we tested it on the 80D and the M5. The autofocus system has 49 autofocus points that can be controlled by the user and many autofocus area modes, like Face + Tracking AF, Smooth Zone AF, and 1-point AF. The range of the autofocus system is from -1 to 18 EV.
3. How to shoot
Shooting modes include the standard program auto, aperture priority, shutter speed priority, and full manual, as well as more creative modes like Creative Filter modes and Scene modes, which each have their own spot on the mode dial. Close-up, Sports, Food, Panning, Handheld Night Scene, HDR Backlight, Self-Portrait, Portrait, and Landscape are some of the Scene modes. The available Creative Filters are: Grainy Black and White, Soft Focus, Fish Eye, Art Bold, Water Painting, Toy Camera, Miniature effect and HDR High Dynamic Range The Canon M6 also has a mode for shooting movies and a mode for shooting automatically. For users who enjoy custom shooting modes, the M6 has a pair of those as well. Concerning functions that can be changed, the camera’s body has five dials that do different things.
4. Performance
The speed of the shutter can be anywhere from 30 seconds to 1/4,000s. When shooting at slower speeds, the camera’s hybrid 5-axis image stabilization system helps you get sharp photos. This system combines digital image stabilization with optical image stabilization in the lens when an EF-M lens that works with the camera is attached. As a side note, the M6 is fully compatible with the Canon EF-M lens adapter kit for Canon EF/EF-S lenses, which costs just under US$200.
The Canon M6 is a fast camera because it has a DIGIC 7 processor. With the autofocus locked on the first shot, the M6 mirrorless camera can shoot up to just over 9 frames per second. At these speeds, the camera can record 27 frames in JPEG format or 17 frames in RAW format. If you want servo autofocus, the speed drops to 7 fps, but that means the buffer is bigger. The Canon M6 is rated for 31 JPEG frames at 7 fps, but we don’t know how many RAW frames it can hold in its buffer. Even though the Canon EOS M6 only shoots at 4 fps, it has a RAW buffer depth of 30 images. Since the M6 has the same image sensor and processor as the M5, it’s not surprising that its continuous shooting speeds are almost the same. See our Performance page for details.
5. Connectivity
The Canon M6 has a lot of built-in wireless features. It has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC. It can communicate with the Canon Camera Connect application on compatible smart devices, offering image transferring and remote control capabilities. Like the M5, the M6 can send photos to another Canon camera with Wi-Fi and connect to your phone through an always-on Bluetooth connection. Also, the M6 works with Canon’s CS100 Connect Station, a hub for storing, managing, and sharing photos and videos. The RC-6 infrared remote from Canon can also be used with the M6.
All View
Canon’s current mirrorless line-up includes the EOS M5 and the EOS M6. The EOS M6 is a cheaper and smaller alternative to the EOS M5. The M6 and M5 are essentially the same in terms of functionality and performance, which is to say that they are both noticeably improved over the Canon EOS M3 and M10 cameras.
During our time with the camera in the field and in the lab, the Canon M6 was impressive in many ways, including how well it took pictures and how well it worked. We’re almost done with our review of the Canon EOS M6, so let’s take a closer look at how it compares to other cameras.
