Whatever your talent, your passion or your hobbies you need to record your favorite moments to leave good memories, and well that requires at least a good camera! Your site GagnerConcours.fr gives you the opportunity to win the camera of your dreams: it is the new Canon EOS 6D which has as price 2499.99 Dollars.
This contest is intended for all lovers of photography who want to win a camera Canon EOS 6D that allows you to see and photograph in a completely different way from other cameras and add an advanced dimension to the visual.
Released less than a year after the 5D Mark III, the Canon EOS 6D is the least expensive Full Frame camera of the brand, but also the most compact. Despite a price largely lower than the 5D Mark III, it does not lack arguments to convince. Should we jump on this camera or is it better to pay more for its big brother? The answer in the following post!
Handling
a) Finish
The body looks very solid and the finishing is excellent, even if it is a little bit lower than the 5D Mark III. The bottom of the beast is made of metal and the top is made of plastic (probably to make the Wifi and the GPS work), but it is not something you notice at first sight. The tropicalization is a plus and even if I don’t advise you to play with fire (or rather water…), it should resist to small showers without problems. In short, it is a very well built camera.
b) Ergonomics
In terms of ergonomics Canon shows its know-how with the 6D. The handle has an excellent grip, it is larger than the one of more compact cameras while being less imposing than the one of the 5D Mark III (it is moreover one of the smallest Full Frame SLR on the market). The buttons are easy to use, a second dial is present on the back of the camera (so you don’t need the famous Av (+/-) button) and I also appreciate the integration of a dedicated back button focus. The directional pad can be set to move the active autofocus collimator and some of the camera keys can be configured.
The top LCD screen allows to quickly view these settings and avoids unnecessary activation of the rear screen and draining its battery. It’s also backlit and comes in handy in many situations, especially when shooting low to the ground.
In addition to the creative modes (P, Av, TV, M), there are also the C1 and C2 custom shooting modes. Once set up, these come in handy in certain situations, although I must admit that I use them far less frequently than the Av, Tv and M modes.
Overall, using the 6D is a very pleasant experience. Even if I would have liked to have even more customization possibilities, the handling of the camera is excellent and using it every day is a pleasure.
c) LCD screen
The LCD screen is well made: it is quite bright, the resolution is sufficient, the colors are accurate and its contrast is high. The 3 inches diagonal seems to me sufficient, even if the 5D Mark III does slightly better with its 3.2 inches display. Canon seems to bring a particular care to the quality of the screens used on their cameras, it is really pleasant!
d) Viewfinder
A good viewfinder makes the use of an SLR more pleasant and the one of the 6D does not disappoint! The coverage is 97%, it is large (0.71% magnification) and bright. Switching from an APS-C viewfinder to a Full Frame viewfinder is very pleasant, it’s a bit like watching a movie on a TV instead of your smartphone. The eye relief is 21 mm, good news for eyeglass wearers, but also a comfort for all. All in all, this is an excellent viewfinder despite the coverage of “only” 97%.
Image quality and autofocus
a) Image quality
As a reminder, the 6D has a Full Frame sensor (24 x 36 mm) which gives it a better ISO rise than a camera equipped with an APS-C sensor (like the Canon 550D or the 7D Mark II for example). The depth of field of your images will also be lower. Overall, I was very satisfied with the images produced by the beast, the ISO rise is very good and the definition of the sensor seems sufficient in my majority of cases (20 megapixels is 5472 x 3648 with low pass filter). The dynamic range is correct, but is not extraordinary (12.1 EV according to DxO), Canon is behind the competition in this area. It is possible to compensate by using braketing for example, but a higher dynamic range would have been appreciated, especially for landscape photography (note that this difference exists only at very low ISO sensitivities).
c) Autofocus
The 6D has 11 collimators, one of which is a cross-type sensitive to -3 EV, the latter is quite efficient and will allow you to focus automatically in situations where you can hardly see. This autofocus system is simple and even if it will be sufficient in most situations, you will quickly notice its limits in action photography (animals, sportsmen, etc.). The focus in liveview (rear LCD screen) is accurate, but slow. You can make a digital zoom of 5 X or 10 X, very practical in photography of night landscapes in particular (Astrophotography, etc.). The presence of a dedicated back button focus allows you to separate the exposure measurement and focus which is extremely convenient. Overall, even if the autofocus system of the 6D pales in comparison to that of the 5D Mark III, it should be sufficient for most users.
Video
a) Image quality
It records in Full HD (1920/1080) at 24, 25 or 30 frames per second (IPS). You can also shoot at 50 or 60 IPS in 720p (1280/720), enough to make some small slow motion or simply to get sharper images in motion. The 6D also has a microphone input, but no audio output, too bad!
The quality of the videos is good with a nice sharpness in 1080p (better than the 5D Mark III), we note however the presence of moiré in many situations, a problem that is not present on the 5D Mark III.
You can, of course, manually adjust the ISO, aperture and shutter speed, this is very important and it is by doing so that you will get the most out of this camera. By the way, the ISO increase is very good in video as well as in photo.
In order to record videos with a wide dynamic range perfectly suited for post-production, many high-end digital cameras include a profile log. This can be seen as a kind of video RAW (although in reality it is a bit different). Unfortunately, the 6D does not have such a feature.
b) The 29 minutes and 59 seconds limit
Recordings can’t exceed 29 minutes and 59 seconds uncut (as on all DSLRs), you are also limited to files of 4 GB maximum (this is a limit of the FAT32 file system used by camera SD cards). If you record in Full HD, you will reach this limit between 10 and 15 minutes (it will depend on what you are shooting).
c) Magic Lantern
For those who want to go further, you should know that the 6D is compatible with Magic Lantern, an alternative firmware that adds a lot of features to your camera. Among other things, you can record for more than 30 minutes and your SLR will automatically create multiple 4GB files without you having to manually restart the recording each time, so it’s super convenient! Keep in mind, however, that this is an alternative firmware, so it was not designed by Canon. If you have any problems with your camera while using it, neither Canon, Magic Lantern nor I can be held responsible.
Overall, the 6D produces quality video, but the lack of a steerable touchscreen, audio output, and profile log may put serious videographers off.
The autonomy
The 6D uses LP-E6 batteries of 1800 mAh, it is always particularly difficult to judge the autonomy of a camera, since this one varies strongly according to the use which you make of the box. When using the optical viewfinder and without making long exposures, the battery lasts a long time, you can easily fill a 32 GB memory card or even 64 GB on a single charge. If, on the other hand, you shoot in liveview (rear view) and you use very slow shutter speeds (10 or 20 seconds for example), it will drain very quickly (which is quite normal!). As for video, when filming in Full HD at 24 IPS, the battery lasts between 1h30 and 2h.
If you turn on GPS and Wifi, the battery will drain much faster, so my advice would be to keep them off most of the time. Overall, the battery life of the 6D is excellent, it is one of the strong points of the camera!