Canon EOS M6 Mark II Review

The Canon EOS M6 Mark II was first announced in September 2019. At the launch event in Singapore, I had the opportunity to have a touch, feel and test of the Canon EOS M6 Mark II camera. Having previously reviewed the Canon EOS M6 in March 2018, I had prior hands on experience with the quality and capabilities of the predecessor to the EOS M6 Mark II camera. The EOS M6 is my favourite EOS M series camera and I had the opportunity to continue with its successor with the Canon EOS M6 Mark II review in March 2020.

The Canon EOS M6 Mark II review unit was received before circuit breaker started in Singapore, creating quite a lot of disruptions to daily life, work and leisure activities. Prior to the start of circuit breaker, I was able to bring the EOS M6 Mark II out, photographing different genres from landscapes, people, cats, street etc. During circuit breaker period, I didn’t roam out taking photographs, I shot mainly from my home windows, cooking/food photography, product and toy photography while I am at home during circuit breaker.

Aesthetics and Layout

Personally, the EOS M6 Mark II is a retro style camera design, with a comfortable hand grip, making it easy to carry and use. The layout of the buttons and dials, giving photographers the control of their camera at the tips of their fingers. The Mode dial, Main dial, Quick control dial, Dial function button, Multi-function button allows photographers to change their settings quickly.

The back panel of buttons and layout beside the LCD screen are placed in positions that help the photographer to control the camera at the touch of their finger tips. It has a flip screen that can tilt upward almost 180 degrees, this would make it easy for your selfie or group selfies shot, it can be tilted 45 degrees downward, giving you flexibility for low level photography.

Camera Technology

The Canon EOS M6 Mark II is equipped with a 32.5MP APS-C CMOS Sensor with Digic 8 processor, Dual Pixel CMOS AF, maximum 5,481 selectable AF point positions, making focusing and photography faster and easier. Users can shoot at 30fps RAW burst mode (One-Shot & Servo AF) should the need arises. There is Eye Detection AF (One-Shot and Servo AF) that is really handy and useful to use in your photography. The in-body 5-axis electronic image stabilisation is a great feature that this camera has inside.

In the world of social media and internet connectivity, you can transfer your photos shot with the EOS M6 Mark II to your smart devices using the Camera Connect App, allowing you to share on your social media platforms or delivering the photographs that you shot to another party pretty quickly.

Photography/Stills review

I tested the Canon EOS M6 Mark II in various photography genres such as street, landscape, food, cats, flowers, animals/wildlife, toys. Overall, the EOS M6 Mark II showcased its capabilities and what it can do, through the photographs shared on my review article.

The EOS M6 Mark II maximum ISO is 25,600, at which ISO would it be your tolerant and acceptance level is subjective and varies across photographers. Personally, when I am testing this camera, I would try to keep it at maximum ISO 12,800 and below. Beyond that, it’s too grainy for my liking and usage.

Special photography projects with Canon EOS M6 Mark II

Jabra Elite 75t x Star Wars Lego

During the recent circuit breaker period in Singapore, I had the opportunity to review the Jabra Elite 75t. Due to the unique and tricky situation and circumstances, I wasn’t able to do the usual earphones review with my usual photography workflow. Since I was playing with my Lego Star Wars toys and mini figures for Star Wars Day 2020, an inspiration came into me, why not do a Jabra Elite 75t x Star Wars Lego toy photography story?

Sudio Ett x Star Wars Lego

Upon finishing the Jabra Elite 75t review, I received the Sudio Ett earphones for review. Continuing on from my earlier toy photography story approach, I tweaked the story telling while I am using my Star Wars Lego toys and mini figures, publishing Sudio Ett x Star Wars Lego toy photography story.

Couple fun time photography and prints with Canon – Guest post for Easy Travel Recipes

I wrote a guest post article for Easy Travel Recipes titled “Couple fun time photography and prints with Canon”, introducing Canon EOS M6 Mark II along with Canon printers for couples to have a fun photography and prints time.

Shooting Modes: Creative filters

The Canon EOS M6 Mark II has creative filters function that users can utilise and explore. They can be fun, easy to use and widen your scope of fun photography with this camera. The creative filters inside the EOS M6 Mark II are Grainy B/W, Soft focus, Fish-eye effect, Water painting effect, Toy camera effect, Miniature effect, HDR art standard and HDR art vivid.

Check out the photographs that I shot with some of the creative filters!

Shooting Modes: Special scene modes

If you are moving up the photography learning curve and looking to learn more about other photography genres, the special scene function has the following modes namely, SportsPanning, Close-Up, Food, Night portrait , Handheld Night Scene and HDR Backlight Control.

EF-M 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM lens Review

The lens that came with the Canon EOS M6 Mark II review was the EF-M 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM lens. This lens is an all rounder lens, with focal length covering wide angle at 18mm to semi telephoto zoom at 150mm. This focal length would be alright for travel or daily usage, having a wide angle and semi telephoto zoom range. While fast moving objects may not be the easiest for this lens to focus, it still can get the action shots.

Bokeh at f/6.3 and at 150mm focal length may not be the most beautiful, silky, creamy style to some photographers, however the bokeh is pretty decent and you can get some nice shots out from this combination.

The sharpness of this lens is pretty alright, you would be able to view the details on your subjects although there is a bit of softness. This topic on sharpness of a lens is a topic for debate and discussions, it also depends on which other lens that a photographer might benchmark against versus looking at it on its own merits and characteristics. In this current era of digital photography, some photographers are over zealous on sharpness for the wrong reasons.

It’s a lightweight and compact lens, you can probably put the EOS M6 Mark II and EF-M 18-150mm lens inside your bag and carry it around.

Video Review

The EOS M6 Mark II has three modes, Movie auto exposure, Movie manual and HDR Movie. You can shoot in un-cropped UHD 4K videos, giving you the full wide angle view of the lens that you are using to capture the entire scene. The Dual Pixel CMOS AF provides high-speed and high-precision focusing when you are recording videos.

There is a High Frame Rate Movie that photographers can use for their videos/movies shoot. This needs to be enabled in Menu, Movie Servo AF, Movie digital IS and audio are not available.

EVF-DC2 Review

The Canon EOS M6 Mark II doesn’t have a built-in viewfinder, however, Canon has an optional accessory, the EVF-DC2 electronic viewfinder (EVF) is available for this camera. Being an old school/purist photographer, I still love/prefer looking through the viewfinder when I am photographing.

The EVF-DC2 is fast and responsive when you bring it up to the eye for viewing and photographing. You can drag and control your AF point on the LCD screen while looking through the EVF. Besides that, you can also view your photos/videos through the EVF too, although you might prefer the LCD screen to view instead.

For the purist/old school photographers who prefers looking and composing through the viewfinder, I strongly recommend you to add the EVF-DC2 to your Canon EOS M6 Mark II setup.

Thoughts and Views

The Canon EOS M6 Mark II is my favourite EOS M camera till date, partly due to its retro design, feel and layout. Besides the aesthetics, the functions, specifications and capabilities make the EOS M6 Mark II a capable, lightweight and easy to use mirrorless camera to have in my bag for daily usage from leisure, street photography, video-log and social media.

For those upgrading from smartphones and compact digital cameras, it would be a step up from their existing gears. They do not need to worry too much about their photography learning curve with the guides, creative filters and special scenes functions that they can learn and have fun with their photography at the same time.

For those experienced photographers looking for a small mirrorless camera to complement their existing cameras setup as a daily usage camera, the EOS M6 Mark II paired with the EVF-DC2 would be an ideal choice, not just for its retro looks, feel and aesthetics, the technical specifications and capabilities of the EOS M6 Mark II would give photographers a capable small mirrorless camera.