Big test
PERFORMANCE: ISO
The Canon EOS R6’s native ISO range runs from ISO 100 to 102,400 with expansion at the top end to ISO 204,800, and that is 1EV better than that available with the EOS R5. With its lower resolution and larger pixels covering the same area, you would expect the EOS R6 to outperform its more expensive sibling in the digital noise department. This set of pictures was shot with a tripod-mounted EOS R6 and the 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM. The exposure for the ISO 100 frame was 2secs at f/8 with in-camera noise reduction turned off and the Raws
were processed in Lightroom with no noise reduction applied. Noise performance is very good. Results are very clean at speeds up to ISO 1600 with barely any noise, and fine detail remained unsullied. The situation was still very good at ISO 3200 and while you can see a faint grain pattern in smooth areas of mid-tone, there’s no problem getting big prints out at this setting even without any work in editing. Continue up the ISO scale and the EOS R6 continues to impress with critically good shots possible at ISO 5000 and 6400. At ISO 6400 you can see fine grain in the
sky, but this is at 200% on screen. Moving on higher ISO speeds, performance continues to impress and while noise is more evident at ISO 12,800 and at ISO 25,600, if you need such high sensitivity, you get remarkably good results and detail, and saturation remains unaffected. Of course, all good things come to an end, and by the time you venture beyond ISO 25,600, image quality falls away. If you need a camera for its high ISO performance, the EOS R6 could be it. You get very decent results at speeds where most cameras have long given up the ghost.
ABOVE The EOS R5 has a tidy, uncluttered top-plate, but it’s a pity there’s no LCD panel. Handling is excellent and the multifunction button next to the shutter button makes changing key settings fast
MOST CANONOWNERSWILL BE ABLE TOPICKUP THE EOS R6ANDKNOW INSTINCTIVELYWHERE KEY CONTROLS SIT
and overall size. It feels respectably robust and, although weather sealed, it’s less extensive compared with the EOS R5 and there’s no top-plate LCD. The design and control layout of the EOS R6 is very Canon. By this I mean that most Canon owners will be able to pick up the EOS R6 and know instinctively where key controls sit, how they work and can whizz around the menu structure with alacrity. There are no design surprises, such as the touch-sensitive multifunction (M.Fn) bar, which was seen on the EOS R, but has not surfaced on any Canon camera since. So the EOS R6 has a large rear- mounted control dial, which Canon calls the Quick Control 1, and there are two more dials on the top-plate – one for the right thumb, the Quick Control 2 dial, and the other for the right forefinger, the Main dial. Get used to how these controls work and have them set to suit the way you work and it makes taking pictures a slick, instinctive process. Should you need to make adjustments, you should be able to make them without having to look down to see what you’re doing. As you’d expect, there is flexibility in set-up, so you are not limited to default settings. For example, the rear control dial controls aperture as default in manual mode and
exposure compensation in aperture- priority mode, but has nine other custom options, including ISO and white-balance. The top-plate Quick Control 2 also has ten options, while the Main dial is limited to just three: aperture, shutter speed and off. There’s great potential for customisation through the physical controls, and there is even more through the menu system. Speedy access to commonly used functions is provided via the Q menu, either by touch, by using the rear dial, which scrolls through the 11 items, and the Main dial, which actually selects the setting within the feature. The EOS R6’s touchscreen is sensitive and works well with two sensitivity settings, plus options of touch shutter, and touch and drag AF working across the whole or just part of the screen. Something that would be good is if Canon consolidated its touch menus, because currently there’s touch and drag AF in one menu, touch shutter in another and touch control is in yet another. Touch shutter can be turned off/on using the touchscreen. Touch control has the usual frustrations for me. It’s great for menu set-up and image previewing, with swipe for moving from one image to the next or for navigating around the image, and pinch for
100
1600
3200
6400
12,800
25,600
51,200
102,400
204,800
Issue 83 | Photography News 45
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