Photography News Issue 51

Camera test 34

Photography News | Issue 51 | photographynews.co.uk

CanonEOSM100 Canon’s entry-level mirrorless offering costs £499 with standard kit lens, so it is attractively priced – but does its low cost mean skimping on features and quality? It’s time to find out...

Specs

Price £399 body only, £499 with EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 Sensor 24.2-megapixel CMOS with optical low pass filter, DIGIC 7 processor Sensor format APS-C 22.3x14.9mm ISO range 100-25,600 stills, 100-12,800movie Shutter range 30secs to 1/4000sec, flash sync at 1/200sec, plus B Drivemodes Single, continuous 6.1fps up to 21 Raws Metering system 384 zone Evaluative, centre- weighted average, partial (10%) and spot (2%) Exposuremodes Face + Tracking (up to 49 points), Smooth Zone AF (up to nine points), 1-point AF Video Full HD 1920x1080, max duration 29min 59secs Connectivity WiFi, Bluetooth, USB (mini B) Other key features Built-in flash GN5 (ISO 100, m), Auto Lighting Optimizer, creative assist, diffraction correction, four custom functions, creative filters Storagemedia 1x SD Dimensions (wxhxd) 108.2x67.1x35.1mm Weight 302g body with battery and card Contact Canon.co.uk PASM, scene intelligent auto Exposure compensation +/-3EV in 0.3EV Monitor 3in touchscreen LCD, tiltable Focusing Dual Pixel CMOS AF Focus points

Words and images byWill Cheung

If you want to travel light yet enjoy the creative flexibility of interchangeable lenses, picking mirrorless is the way to go. But even then there are choices to make, such as opting for the weight-saving potential of giving up key features like, for example, the viewfinder. So the M100 is a monitor-only camera with no option to add an EVF. The monitor does have touch- screen functionality and it flips upwards, so it does suit waist- or low-level shooting. The screen’s swivel mount also means that it can be positioned facing forward, so it’s perfect for selfie-shooting. Not having an EVF means the M100 is very small. Fit it with something like the EF-M 22mm f/2 pancake lens and it becomes an APS-C sensor compact, but with the option of fitting other lenses including the vast range of EF glass via the EOS-EF M adaptor – that range of optics alone makes the M100 a tempting proposition. The mode control with the on/ off button at its centre has three settings: scene intelligent auto, movie autoexposure and normal shooting where you get the usual suspects of PASM. For this review I stuck with aperture-priority and Evaluative metering. Start up is fast and very quickly the camera is ready to shoot. Looking at the monitor, the features

Above The EOS M100 is a monitor-only camera and there is not even the option of an add-on EVF. The monitor is very good, though, providing a bright image and can even face forward for selfie shooting.

focus modes, drive settings, image quality andmore. It’s a very fast and intuitive way to adjust key camera settings and means you don’t have to dig into the camera’s menus. Should you delve into theM100’s main menu then its structure is just like any current Canon camera. Existing Canon users will immediately be at home, but the layout is so logical and clean that newbies will find their way around in no time. Navigating the menu can be done by touch or by the four-way controller pad on the camera rear. Many useful features found on the M100 have cascaded down from cameras higher up in the range. So, for example, you have multi-shot noise control in JPEG shooting, Auto Lighting Optimizer and AF methods like Smooth zone AF, and tracking. For a camera at this price point the M100 is blessed with a decent feature set. There is plenty for people stepping up from a compact orphonecameraandthereisenough for experienced photographers who prefer to take control. The M100 is a fine camera to use. My biggest issue was forgetting that the M100 is monitor only and more than once I lifted the camera up to my eye to shoot. This of course is me being an idiot, but muscle memory means when I want to take

a shot the camera to eye movement is instinctive. A few missed shots soon got me on the right track. The flip screen is good to use and I like its waist-level functionality, helped by the fact that there is no auto switch-over to the EVF to think about. I did miss not being able to angle the screen down, though, for convenient higher viewpoint shooting – you can still do it, but the image view isn’t so clear. The supplied 15-45mm kit lens retracts into its body to keep size down. Turn the camera on without extending the lens into its working position and you get a warning. Once you are good to shoot, the M100 offers swift autofocus with face-tracking and one shot AF. In single AF zone mode, you can have the screen in touch shutter mode, taking shots with a touch or have this feature switched off so you can still quickly select AF point and use the shutter release as normal. The AF system together with the supplied kit lens proved a reliable pairing during the test, although it is true that I didn’t get the chance to shoot any action subjects. In low light and poor contrast levels the system locked on perfectly well and quickly, too. Exposures were also delivered impressively by the camera’s metering system with hardly any

in an outline box can be brought into play by touch and that includes ISO, exposure compensation and aperture control. Hit the virtual Q button on the screen and that takes you into