# R6 for stills - 10 weeks of experience



## drmikeinpdx (Nov 23, 2020)

I got my R6 10 weeks ago and I'm pretty happy with it. I feel it is a worthwhile, but not massive, step up from my 5D4.
*
Among the things I like are:*

The very accurate and fast autofocus system. Higher keeper ratio (compared to 5D4) when doing photoshoots with moving models. 

The eye/face tracking is fun, but not useful enough to use all the time. I put the focus mode selection on a programmable button so I can switch easily.

The amazing stabilization system - I got nice waterfall pix hand held at 1/8 second.

The excellent detail in the 20 MP RAW files - Every bit as good as the 5D4 which created 30 MP files.

The RF 24-105 F/4 kit lens - noticeably sharper than the EF version - perhaps partly due to better autofocus?

The RF 35mm macro lens - very sharp, but does have some focus noise that might be a problem for video.

The EF-RF adapter works great. My old EF lenses focus better than ever before.

The RAW files have a different look than those from the 5D4. It's hard to describe, but I like it better. Smoother, perhaps, and they edit more easily in Lightroom. 

Three control wheels and a joystick make it easy to control your shooting parameters without fumbling.

Battery life for still photography is about the same as my 5D4, roughly 1,200 to 1,400 shots on a battery (estimated).

*Things I don't like:*

The crazy high cost of most RF lenses. I only have two of the entry level ones and may not buy any more.

Sometimes the autofocus won't lock on in typical indoor room illumination where I think my 5D4 would have locked on. This could be due to the lens I'm using, but haven't tracked down the cause for sure.

When I was doing some long waterfall exposures on a tripod, the horizontal shots were very sharp, but the verticals had a very strange uniform blur, like Gaussian blur. A friend told me I should have turned off the stabilization, something I never had to bother with before. I plan to explore that in the future.

When working with a model for an hour or so, the viewfinder will sort of go crazy for about 5-8 seconds. It flickers to black and displays random confused stuff then goes back to normal. It only does this once in a two hour shoot. It was a little disorienting at first, but now I know it's normal and just wait for the camera to settle down.

When I bring the camera up to my eye, the viewfinder often shows me the last shot I took. This was disorienting for quite a while, now I just half press to make it go away. I think I changed a menu setting so it doesn't happen as often as it did at first.

So that is what comes to mind right now. Anyone else care to share their R6 experience so far?

Take Care,

Dr. Mike


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## Del Paso (Nov 23, 2020)

drmikeinpdx said:


> I got my R6 10 weeks ago and I'm pretty happy with it. I feel it is a worthwhile, but not massive, step up from my 5D4.
> 
> *Among the things I like are:*
> 
> ...


Thanks for your review.
Did you compare 5 D IV and R 6 results SIDE BY SIDE ? (I'm a bit surprised you found the sensor quality about identical...)


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## Aussie shooter (Nov 23, 2020)

Thanks for the feedback. Get mine at xmas so i will give a wildlife review sometime after that


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## drmikeinpdx (Nov 24, 2020)

Del Paso said:


> Thanks for your review.
> Did you compare 5 D IV and R 6 results SIDE BY SIDE ? (I'm a bit surprised you found the sensor quality about identical...)



I thought about ways to do a direct sensor comparison, but it would be difficult and probably not all that meaningful for me. You would have to eliminate the differences in autofocus and image stabilization, which are both important contributors to image quality. There is also the issue of RAW file processing being different in Lightroom or other software. I will leave the scientific comparisons to DXO and other professionals who have a track record of doing dynamic range measurements. 

I just know I like the finished images a little better from the R6. Obviously, that's very subjective. 

As a funny side note, I found that I liked the images from my 77D (same sensor as 80D) better than the images from the 90D that I owned briefly. Had to sell the 90D to make room for the R6 in my cabinet. Still have the 77D as a travel camera.

Take Care,

Dr. Mike


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## justaCanonuser (Dec 2, 2020)

drmikeinpdx said:


> I thought about ways to do a direct sensor comparison, but it would be difficult and probably not all that meaningful for me.


Bryan Carnathan from the-digital-picture.com provides a comparison tool for resolution between both cameras, so far with the EF 200mm f/2:








Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM Lens Image Quality


View the image quality delivered by the Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM Lens using ISO 12233 Resolution Chart lab test results. Compare the image quality of this lens with other lenses.




www.the-digital-picture.com


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## zim (Dec 2, 2020)

justaCanonuser said:


> Bryan Carnathan from the-digital-picture.com provides a comparison tool for resolution between both cameras, so far with the EF 200mm f/2:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nearly cut myself opening that link, damn that lens is sharp!


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## Chris.Chapterten (Dec 2, 2020)

drmikeinpdx said:


> I got my R6 10 weeks ago and I'm pretty happy with it. I feel it is a worthwhile, but not massive, step up from my 5D4.
> 
> *Among the things I like are:*
> 
> ...



thanks for the insights.I don’t think the viewfinder going crazy like that should be considered normal though. Personally I would be sending the camera back for warranty repair


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## Maximilian (Dec 3, 2020)

justaCanonuser said:


> Bryan Carnathan from the-digital-picture.com provides a comparison tool for resolution between both cameras, so far with the EF 200mm f/2:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for adding this here. 
But: 
You did choose a link/Comparison where - when opening the page - the R6 gets f/5.6 while the 5D4 gets f/2.0. 
This leads to more sharpness on the R6 side. Of course one can change, if he/she recognizes this. 
Just oversight? Or did I miss an idea/calculation behind that?

Here is the f/2 to f/2 link.


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## justaCanonuser (Dec 3, 2020)

zim said:


> Nearly cut myself opening that link, damn that lens is sharp!


I often read that this is the sharpest lens Canon makes. Not sure about that, since Canon makes several quite sharp primes. I do not own it, since 200mm are not that important for me personally, I shoot either on the much shorter or much longer side of photographic life


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## justaCanonuser (Dec 3, 2020)

Maximilian said:


> Thanks for adding this here.
> But:
> You did choose a link/Comparison where - when opening the page - the R6 gets f/5.6 while the 5D4 gets f/2.0.
> This leads to more sharpness on the R6 side. Of course one can change, if he/she recognizes this.
> ...


Well I always count on the smartness of users, so I assumed that they find out that settings can be changed there - as you did


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## justaCanonuser (Dec 3, 2020)

Chris.Chapterten said:


> thanks for the insights.I don’t think the viewfinder going crazy like that should be considered normal though. Personally I would be sending the camera back for warranty repair


Would be interesting to find out whether this is an individual flaw of this particular camera or a general problem of the R6. If the latter is the case, Canon should be able to fix it with a firmware update. Sounds like a software problem.


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## YuengLinger (Dec 3, 2020)

drmikeinpdx said:


> I got my R6 10 weeks ago and I'm pretty happy with it. I feel it is a worthwhile, but not massive, step up from my 5D4.
> 
> *Among the things I like are:*
> 
> ...



I've kept just the parts of your insightful post to respond to here. Thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts!

Battery life? I can't believe how fast mine sucks up battery, but I've improved matters a bit by making sure the EVF doesn't come on while carrying the camera with a shoulder strap.

AF seems to be great at locking on in even silly low light.

"...Gaussian blur." You might have seen I'm working on some IBIS related blur tests this week. It is baffling how sometimes the camera is amazing with the AF and longer exposure handhelds (for me that is anything under 1/125th), but other times in the 1/400th to 1/800th range I'm getting odd softness. Will report soon!

I've used this for indoor and outdoor events, plus yesterday over 1100 test shots of a target, plus carrying around for lots of use in parks (practice!)...I've stared through that EVF everyday for over a month now--no flickering. It's great.*

As for the EVF showing the last shot, my R did that too! Then I realized it was only doing it when I had reviewed shots before bringing the camera up to my eye again. In other words, it retains the last image viewed, not the last image taken. Not sure how you have yours set up, but my R6 still works exactly like that.

Again, thanks! I'm personally having mixed feelings about it, as my expectations were so high after a year with the R. I think the tests I'm doing this week will clear things up a bit.

*Edit: I just remembered that one time I put an older LP-E6N battery in the R6 and the EVF went haywire. This was probably the second week I had it. Replaced the battery and haven't had any other issue since.


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## drmikeinpdx (Dec 3, 2020)

Love the Carnathan link! With the same aperture selected, there isn't much difference in resolution. I believe I can see a colorful moire pattern on the fine lines of the R6 image. Is that because there is no anti-aliasing filter?


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## zim (Dec 3, 2020)

justaCanonuser said:


> I often read that this is the sharpest lens Canon makes. Not sure about that, since Canon makes several quite sharp primes. I do not own it, since 200mm are not that important for me personally, I shoot either on the much shorter or much longer side of photographic life


Indeed but it is perhaps the *sexiest* sharp lens in their EF lineup  
Ps I love the 200m focal length still have my 200 fd just waiting for an R


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## Aussie shooter (Dec 3, 2020)

YuengLinger said:


> I've kept just the parts of your insightful post to respond to here. Thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts!
> 
> Battery life? I can't believe how fast mine sucks up battery, but I've improved matters a bit by making sure the EVF doesn't come on while carrying the camera with a shoulder strap.
> 
> ...


Question. I have not recieved my R6 as of yet but I am assuming it will not have firmware 1.2.0 installed. I am wondering if you have 1.2.0 on yours and whether it has improved the viewfinder experienced as it is supposed to? If not I probably won't install it as there is not really anything else there that would affect me


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## YuengLinger (Dec 3, 2020)

Aussie shooter said:


> Question. I have not recieved my R6 as of yet but I am assuming it will not have firmware 1.2.0 installed. I am wondering if you have 1.2.0 on yours and whether it has improved the viewfinder experienced as it is supposed to? If not I probably won't install it as there is not really anything else there that would affect me


The first few weeks I had the R6 I just kept the EVF on "Smooth." Right around the time of the 1.2.0 update, I was thinking about how to extend battery life, and that's when I started using "Power Saving." So I don't have a good before and after to report.

The blackouts with a first shot are there at both EVF speeds, but I don't find them distracting at all. In fact, I had completely forgotten about them until checking to respond to your post!


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## Aussie shooter (Dec 4, 2020)

YuengLinger said:


> The first few weeks I had the R6 I just kept the EVF on "Smooth." Right around the time of the 1.2.0 update, I was thinking about how to extend battery life, and that's when I started using "Power Saving." So I don't have a good before and after to report.
> 
> The blackouts when a first shot are there at both EVF speeds, but I don't find them distracting at all. In fact, I had completely forgotten about them until checking to respond to your post!


Thanks mate. I thinkit i will just give it a go without 1.2.0 and maybe consider it further down the track if necessary.


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## justaCanonuser (Dec 4, 2020)

drmikeinpdx said:


> Love the Carnathan link! With the same aperture selected, there isn't much difference in resolution. I believe I can see a colorful moire pattern on the fine lines of the R6 image. Is that because there is no anti-aliasing filter?


I see what you mean, the more horizontal lines in the upper test image with the R6 show some colors on the left, but to me it looks more like a sort of chromatic aberration, not a pronounced Moiré. The 5D4 images look completely clean, so it can't be the lens (which would be a disaster for such a great L lens). The R6 does feature an AA filter, so those colors must be caused by another effect (okay, there are stronger and weaker AA filters in different cameras). Interestingly, those colors appear only on this spot with a particular distance between the slightly tilted quasi-horizontal lines. Hm, I have no idea about an easy explanation at the moment. This could be caused by a real effect on the sensor (micro lenses?), but maybe also by post-processing the raw data... not sure.


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## Del Paso (Dec 4, 2020)

Maximilian said:


> Thanks for adding this here.
> But:
> You did choose a link/Comparison where - when opening the page - the R6 gets f/5.6 while the 5D4 gets f/2.0.
> This leads to more sharpness on the R6 side. Of course one can change, if he/she recognizes this.
> ...


Thanks Maximilian, stupid me hadn't noticed...


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## AlanF (Dec 4, 2020)

justaCanonuser said:


> Bryan Carnathan from the-digital-picture.com provides a comparison tool for resolution between both cameras, so far with the EF 200mm f/2:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It's a little difficult getting comparisons from that link as the image sizes are different. dpr has a very useful tool for this and you can toggle between outputting to the same size and the magnified sizes for different types of images. For example:



Image comparison: Digital Photography Review


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## drmikeinpdx (Mar 26, 2021)

I wrote a blog post about my first six months with the R6. There is an NSFW image, so click with caution.

https://www.beyondboudoirphoto.com/blog/2021/3/canon-eos-r6---six-months-in-how-much-do-i-like-it


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## Evf (Apr 1, 2021)

For me the camera is incredible in the speed of focus and face detection.
But I have something that I do not like about the camera and that is that I usually shoot in liveview and the screen of the R6 is significantly smaller than the mark iv (previous camera) and also very very bright, especially in the sun. For me it is difficult to compose and see the image in this way compared to the mark iv.
Am I the only one who finds this unforgivable?
Finally another important thing. When you look through the viewfinder the exposure looks different than what you can see on the screen. It is very rare, the image is always seen through the darkest viewfinder, especially also in the sun, where it looks quite bad. I await your opinions


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