Canon Eos M6

Testing out canon’s compact, full-featured mirrorless camera in cologne, Germany.

- George Schaub

WHILE SOME MIRRORLESS CAMERAS MIGHT BE MISTAKEN for a small APS-C DSLR, albeit minus the pentaprism bulge, Canon’s EOS M6 is more akin to a compact camera that can take interchangeable lenses, either the growing list of dedicated EF-M lenses, or EF and EF-S lenses with an optional adapter. (My tests were with the EF-M 18-55mm IS STM lens, f/3.5-22 at wide and f/5.6-32 at tele, with an equivalent focal length of about 28-88mm.) While this lens certainly extends the size of the kit, the pairing is still lightweight and fits easily into hand and bag, with the camera measuring about 4.5x2x2 inches, including the right-hand extended grip.

DESIGN & FEATURES 

Speaking of righties, the Canon EOS M6 is a decidedly right-handed camera, with four top buttons and dials and numerous settings and displays, a cursor wheel, a video button, exposure lock, etc. on the back. The bright three-inch LCD screen (1.04M RGB dots) takes up the main real estate on the back. It is hinged at the base but not side to side, making it semi articulated (with a top swing that allows for selfies) but still very useful for a wide variety of points of view.

While you can search all the specs easily enough on the Canon website, highlights of the M6 include: a 24.2MP CMOS APS-C-sized sensor; DIGIC 7 processor; speedy Dual Pixel AF; 7 frames per second continuous rate (full AF); Full HD 60p video; all exposure modes plus various effects and presets; a max ISO of 25,600; Raw and JPEG (or Raw+JPEG) file format selection; and connectivity via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC, plus various setups and controls with the Canon Camera Connect app. In other words, a thoroughly modern mirrorless camera, if you give it a pass on 4K capability. There are all the expected exposure modes and patterns, along with a large number of presets and even special effects, thus the Canon M6 fulfills its stated appeal to amateurs and enthusiasts alike.