The Canon EOS R6 (body only, $24,99) is the most affordable full-frame camera from the company. The EOS R6 is built with the same strict standards as the EOS 45MP ($3,899) but has a lower 20MP pixel count. It's the best Canon mirrorless camera if you do not need a lot of resolution. The autofocus, capture speed and IBIS system work as well as the R5.
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The Pro-Grade Full-Frame Builder
Canon managed to squeeze quite a lot of camera inside the R6's aluminum frame. The body measures 3.8 by 5.4 by 3.5 inches (HWD) and weighs in at 1.5 pounds—it's a little bit smaller and lighter than the 7D Mark II, but the R6 sensor is twice the size and mounted to a 5-axis stabilizer.
The R6 gets there with a mirrorless design, one that drops the optics and flapping mirror used by SLRs in favor of an EVF with a direct view from the sensor. It doesn't feel undersized, either—a textured handgrip and angled shutter release make the R6 feels as comfortable in the hands as a 6D or 5D series SLR.
Canon offers the R6 in body and lens only. You can also buy a set of lenses or a complete kit. The camera comes with the compact F4-7.1 ISSM STM RF 24-105mm F4 lens. Premium Kit, available at $3,599 includes the RF 24-105mmF4-7.1 IS STM. It can also use native RF lenses via adapter.
The camera is protected from dust and splashes, as are many of Canon's RF lenses, adding appeal to outdoor photographers.
The RF lens range is expanding and includes some unique designs, such as F1.2 primes and a 28-70mm F2 zoom. There are also two super-telephoto lenses that can be purchased at a fraction of the cost, the RF 600mm F11 or 800mm F11. Still, there's some room to grow—Canon has only been building it out for a of couple years, while rival Sony has been making FE lenses for its cameras since 2013.
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Strong Ergonomics
Although the R6 may be almost identical to the 45MP R5, it is not nearly the same. Both share many components but top plates controls and EVFs of the R6 are different.
The buttons you expect on a pro camera are all here, including a depth-of-field preview button next to the lens mount (its function is reassignable, as are many others), and three control dials in total—two on top and one on the rear.
This camera is cheaper and has a dial to adjust the exposure. It's not a standard for mirrorless—the Nikon Z 6 has it, but the Sony a7 III (still our favorite in the category) doesn't.
The rear includes a dedicated joystick, used to set the autofocus area and navigate menus, a big upgrade over the mostly useless touchbar that occupied the same real estate on the first-generation EOS R. There's an AF ON button, for photographers who split focus drive away from the shutter button, along with the expected menu, playback, and delete buttons.
The buttons can be supplemented with an onscreen settings menu. This can be accessed by tapping or pressing the Q icon. You can adjust autofocus, image quality and continuous drive.
Articulating Screen and ElectronicVF
The R6 has two displays—a swing-out screen at its rear, and an integrated electronic viewfinder. It is identical to the R5, and has a sharp, 3.2 inch panel with 1.5 million dots. The brightness can be adjusted. Touch support is available.
The EVF is excellent, with a 0.76x magnification rating similar to others at this price. Its 3.7-million-dot resolution matches what you get with the Nikon Z 6 (and betters the EVF in the aging Sony a7 III), and delivers crisp, lifelike images to your eye.
Although you may feel like you are missing out on the R5 with its more detailed EVF (5.7 million dots), the difference between them isn't as large as the figures suggest. Sure, the R5's finder is a bit crisper—certainly a plus if you're punching in for manual focus—but even when working with the two cameras side by side, it's hard to say that one's better than the other for the basics.
Connection and power
There are many connectivity options available to the R6. The R6 can be connected to any smartphone, tablet or computer via Bluetooth and WiFi. This allows for remote control and wireless transfer. The R6 also features USB-C and can be used as a webcam with the Canon EOS Webcam Utility App.
For video, you get a micro HDMI output port, along with 3.5mm microphone and headphone jacks. There's also a 2.5mm port for a wired remote control. Image and video are saved on SD cards—each of the two memory card slots supports the fastest UHS-II transfer rates.
Canon's newest lithium-polymer battery (LP-E6NH), is included with the camera. It has the exact same size and shape as the LP-6. While you can still use the old R6 batteries, it won't work with your newer battery. You'll also get less shots from each charge and will not be able top up via USB-C.
As it stands, the R6's battery life still leaves something to be desired. It's good for about 380 shots with the EVF, and can go longer (510 exposures) with the LCD, which doesn't use as much energy. Of course, how you use the camera matters—you'll get thousands of exposures if you always fire at 10fps, and fewer if you spend a lot of time reviewing or transferring images.
However, it's less than the SLR owners get. To date, only Sony has delivered a really fantastic mirrorless battery—the a7 III is rated for more than 600 shots through its viewfinder.
The Top-Flight Focus
Canon's sensor-based autofocus system Dual Pixel AF has been in development for several years. It is used as the live viewing system for many SLR cameras. These efforts, as well as learning from the mistakes made by the EOS R's first generation, has produced fruit. The R6's autofocus performance, which is among the most impressive in any camera, is simply amazing.
Autofocus is available nearly to the edge of the sensor, and can operate in a number of ways. You'll be able to let the R6 take charge—it offers face and eye detection, and recognizes objects as well—or you can choose a focus area manually.
The tracking focus function combined with AI Servo Focus was my favorite. I used a manually chosen starting point. The R6 delivers visual feedback to let you know what it's focusing on—small boxes dance around the frame as it first locks on, and expand to draw a virtual box around the detected subject.
It is also very fast. The camera's electronic shutter allows silent shots to be taken at up 20 fps. It has a mechanical shutter that can take 12 frames per second. You'll want to stick to the mechanical one for most fast-moving subjects, as the electronic shutter's readout isn't quite up to freezing motion—it's totally fine for many shots, though, and absolutely silent, a boon for wedding photogs.
There is also plenty of buffer. You can snap many hundreds of photos at once if you use a speedy memory card like the Sony Tough Card 300MBps I tested. The camera will not slow down if you have a fast card. Although the R6 is not built up to the same standards as the 1DX Mark III, it's still capable of taking hundreds of shots in succession.
Stabilized Full-Frame Sensor
There is more to the R6 than meets the eye with high-end 1D X III. Both models share the 20MP full frame sensor. The R6 has the larger of the two, but it mounts it on a 5-axis stabilizer.
The concept itself isn't new—Minolta (later Sony) and Pentax SLRs have included sensor-based stabilization for ages. And Canon's competitors in the mirrorless space—Fujfilm, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, and Sony—all sell cameras with in-body image stabilization (IBIS).
There are obvious benefits: You can snap handheld images while keeping the shutter open longer, adding blur to moving subjects, but using the stabilizer to keep still objects sharp—and it removes jittery shake from video. You can also use the IBIS system with built-in stabilization lenses.
As for image quality, the 20MP design doesn't have as many pixels as a number of its competitors—the Sony a7 III, Nikon Z 6, and Panasonic S1 all use 24MP chips. Pixel count is something to fret over if you're frequently making large prints or tend to crop your photos, but not for delivery to phone and tablet screens.
There are many options if you need or want more resolution. The Canon R5, Nikon Z 7 and Panasonic S1R have 45MP sensors. While the Sony a7R IV's imager has a 60MP sensor,
The R6 may not deliver quite as much resolution, apparent when you zoom in and examine images closely, but is otherwise an outstanding performer. It has a wide sensitivity range, starting at ISO 100 and going all the way up to 102400 in its standard range, with ISO 204800 available as an extended option.
There are many formats that images can be saved to. Canon offers two kinds of Raw files: one larger and uncompressed, the other smaller CR3 file (which I used to test, since Canon's lossless compression does not affect image quality). Raw files need to be processed using software—Canon includes its own processor with the R6, but most photographers will use Adobe Lightroom or Capture One to tone and edit images.
If you don't want to edit, you can use the standard JPG format, one that's been around for decades. The 8-bit, compressed photos look fine, as long as you don't try to make heavy edits to color or exposure. Raw files, conversely, offer ample room to fine-tune color, open shadows, and recover highlights.
R6 includes an HEIF capture mode. This doubles the information in an image compared to JPG and has similar file sizes. Unfortunately, it's not yet broadly supported by software—Adobe and Capture One don't support it, and until they do, it makes HEIF a little less useful. It's not used by only Canon, but we expect more software support as the format grows in popularity.
At lower sensitivity, the R6 delivers clean JPGs, free of grain and noise. Fine detail is strong, with no evidence of smudging or blurring of clean edges, through ISO 12800. There's certainly a drop in resolution at higher settings, but output is pleasing and usable all the way through ISO 102400. Image quality at ISO 204800 demonstrates why Canon makes it an extended setting—there's a heavy veil of grain, and colors suffer.
This is also true for Raw output ISO 204800. Though we do see more grain, it doesn't translate to more detail—just a rougher appearance. Ratcheting back to ISO 102400—still useful in extremely dim light—nets much better detail, albeit with some visible grain. For the best Raw output set your ISO maximum limit at 12800.
The Hottest Video Camera Literally
Although the Canon R6 has just gone on sale, its video features are already hotly debated on forums and elsewhere on the web. Extended recording using the R5 has been plagued by overheating, even with a firmware upgrade.
You can ignore initial reports on the R6, though, as it's a different experience with the updated firmware(Opens in new window—I tested version 1.1.1. With it loaded, I was able to continuously record 24fps 4K footage for well over an hour without overheating. The R6 chewed through two batteries in the process, and does limit individual clips to just under 30 minutes
However, heat management can still be a problem if 4K is being pushed at 60 fps. The R6 managed to record only 39 minutes before it overheated. The updated firmware checks the camera temperature more frequently, so you can go back to recording sooner if you're able to cool the camera down—after 30 minutes rest, I was able to eke another 28 minutes of 4K60 record time before overheating again.
The R6 isn't useless for video if it hits the overheating threshold; it can still record at 1080p. But that's not up to snuff for professional productions in 2020. Using an external recorder will sidestep recording limits—we recommend the Atomos Ninja V. Take care not to snag or yank on the cable—micro HDMI ports are notorious for breaking.
The footage is stunning at 4K. It has sharp detail and realistic colors. Smooth handheld output thanks to the stabilized sensor. For experienced videographers there are many features, such as flat profiles that can be compressed to 4:2:2 10bit for greater flexibility in color grading and an option to connect to an external microphone.
If you're shopping for a camera that's primarily for video, though, I'd recommend others more highly than the R6—the Panasonic S1 is the obvious alternative at a similar price, and the while the Sigma fp isn't an ideal hybrid stills-video shooter, it's one to think about if you're shopping for an affordable, full-frame video camera.
However, the R6 is a more efficient hybrid. The R6's still performance and 4K video look great. The R6 is a great choice for portrait and wedding professionals who want to include some video in their client packages. It can also be used by enthusiasts for personal travel work.
Canon's best mirrorless camera
Canon photographers have been patiently waiting for a mirrorless full-frame camera that would replace their 5D/6D series SLRs. The EOS R6 will do the trick. It avoids some of the ergonomic missteps made with the first-gen EOS R, and delivers a much more responsive autofocus system—one that's just as good as you get from Sony.
Photographers used to Canon's way of doing things will find the R6 welcoming. The dials and buttons are similar to older SLR models, and while the optical finder has been swapped for an EVF, the handling is similar enough to minimize any sort of learning curve.
Heat management for video recording is the only real sticking point, and it's only a real concern when pushing 60fps at 4K—something many other cameras, including the Sony a7 III and Nikon Z 6—don't support at all.
There are many options for photographers who want more pixels. Our favorite is the Sony a7R IV, and the Canon EOS R5 isn't that far behind—but, like the R6, it runs a bit hot, limiting appeal for video-first creators.
The EOS R6 is a better buy for most. It delivers the same level of autofocus acumen and speed, is built to high standards, and works with all of the same RF lenses. Sure, there are fewer pixels, but it's also priced a full $1,400 less.
Although the Sony a7 III may not be the most recent camera and does not match the R6 in feature for feature it is still a strong value and Editors' Choice. It offers excellent autofocus and a 24MP image sensor that is class-leading. The battery lasts nearly twice as long as the original.