Canon EOS 6D Mark II

Canon EOS 6D Mark II: full review

Undoubtedly professional, but not impossible if you come from a DX format. At its launch, Canon EOS 6D Mark II didn’t replace its older sister 6D, made for those who wanted to move from DX to full-frame and still in production. An oddity partly explained when I had the chance to try the new Mark II for one day and after reading its technical features.

To be clear, Canon EOS 6D Mark II is not up to 5D Mark IV standards, also due to its price, but it’s far superior to the competitors’ entry level full frame cameras (e.g. Nikon D610).

Design and camera body

Here is the size of one of the most compact full frame cameras on the market:

144 x 110.5 x 74.8 mm (765 grams)

Canon EOS 6D Mark II weighs only 30gr more than APS-C Canon 80D, but it’s more compact, thanks to the completely jointed LCD display. It gives you good feelings to the touch because of its aluminium chassis covered by polycarbonate resin. Tropicalization can be felt and seen, as well.

The view from above highlights a good grip for large-handed users, typically “pro” left control ring, and on the opposite side direct drives and settings. The internal flash in the middle is absent, another typical detail of high-end cameras.

The frontal view of Canon EOS 6D Mark II shows its solidity, the delicate parts are well protected.

The back shows very functional placement of the buttons, jointed LCD display and large optical viewfinder. There’s no joystick for AF control, typical of professional cameras.

Technical features

• Sensor: 26 MegaPixel Full Frame CMOS, with low-pass filter and ultrasonic cleaning. At high ISO, with reduced color range, it keeps good performance with a sensitivity range between 100 and 40,000.
• Processor: Digic 7, current Canon top-of-the-line. Burst mode is good (6.5 fps) but buffering is not outstanding (150 shots in jpg, 21 in RAW). Of course, this performance also depends on the speed of the memory card.
• Autofocus: with 45 AF center cross-type points viewfinder, with lenses not slower than f/5.6. At f/8 only 27 out of 45 points work, and only 9 with central cross. Live view in LCD with max 63 points and Dual Pixel system based on contrast: more precise and faster than the competitors, even in low-light conditions and with moving subjects.
• Exposure control: very precise and versatile with 7,560 pixel RGB sensor + IR filter, with reading mode: evaluative (linked to any desired AF points), partial, spot and centered-weighted metering.
• Video and audio: not exactly the flagship of Canon EOS 6D Mark II. The level is high as always, but… there is no 4K format and no input for headset.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II: other technical features

• Shooting top speed: 1/4000
• Viewfinder: 98% coverage and 0.71X blow-up
• Touch Screen Display: 7.7 cm, 1,040,000 dots adjustable LCD
• E-TTL II external flash compatibility with Speedlite EX series
• Three types of RAW format: 6240 x 4160, 4680 x 3120, 3120 x 2080
• Supported cards: SD, SDHC o SDXC (UHS-I)
• Battery: LP-E6N model for approximately 1,100 shoots
• Grip for additional battery (to be bought separately), BG-E21 model (good)

Among Canon EOS 6D Mark II features, I’d also like to highlight the welcome presence of incorporated GPS, depth-of-field preview and timelapse mode with interval timer shooting. A negative aspect, though, is the presence of only one card slot. Unforgivable feature for a professional camera…

Taking pictures with Canon EOS 6D Mark II

With its adjustable display – compact, light and tropicalized – Canon EOS 6D Mark II is ideal for travel and street photos. If you also add its all-round technical performance, well, we are faced with a complete full frame camera.

With 6.5 fps burst mode and very precise AF, Canon EOS 6D Mark II is also alright for action photos, despite the buffering limit.

Besides its usual shooting mode (aperture, shutter, completely manual), 6D Mark II also offers:

For the professional: two completely customizable modes (C1 and C2)

For the amateur: Portrait (also at night), Group photos, Landscape, Sport, Children, Panning, Macro, Food, Candlelight, Manual night shots, HDR backlight control

Canon EOS 6D Mark II has also various effects: Automatic, Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Fine detail, Neutral, True picture, Monochrome, Defined by user (3 settings).

Canon EOS 6D Mark II and its rivals

Among the competitors, the nearest camera to Mark II is definitely Nikon D750, which has more points in the viewfinder (51 instead of 45), but a LCD display with contrast detection and thus less performing. Sony a7 II is a mirrorless camera priced around 500 euros less than the current 1,700 euros of Canon EOS 6D Mark II (for the camera body only). Sony a7 II is technically inferior but, since it’s mirrorless, is much easier to handle.

Staying in Canon, the contest with the previous 6D is flattering, especially in the neck-and-neck on the AF: 11 viewfinder, only one cross-shaped point instead of 45 (and all cross-shaped) of Canon EOS 6D Mark II. 6D is also inferior in burst mode (4.5 fps instead of 6.5 fps) and it doesn’t have an adjustable display (the screen is fixed with contrast detection in live view mode, thus inferior). Reasonably, 6D costs much less…

Also compared with 5D Mark IV, Canon EOS 6D Mark II comes out head-on. Ok, the number of megapixels in the sensor (26 instead of 30) and of fixed points in the viewfinder (45 cross-shaped instead of 61, of which 41 are cross-shaped, not a big deal) are inferior. But in the end, Mark II has a LCD adjustable display and it costs one thousand euros less… is such an amount of money justifiable for the “deficit” we’ve just seen and the 4K videos that 5D Mark IV offers?

Here are the prices of Canon EOS 6D Mark II

Canon EOS 6D Mark II “Body”: around 1700 

Kit with EF 24-105 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens: around 2,300

Currently, the EF 24-105 mm f/4 L IS II USM lens is on sale on Amazon separately, for around 900 but with an ultrasonic focus motor.

My opinion on Canon EOS 6D Mark II

With high level performance in all kinds of situation, excellent value for money and great portability… maybe it’s better for me to list the cases for which this camera is not the best choice.

If you’re keen on action photos, it doesn’t fit your needs: spending much less, you could buy a Nikon D7500, really excellent for this kind of photography, with more than double buffering performance and faster burst mode. Besides, not being a full frame camera… at crop, it will give you more telephoto lens! If you want something faster, then spare your money for Nikon D500: it’s not far more expensive than Mark II but it’s unbelievably fast.

If you shoot videos, I suggest you to spend a little more and buy 5D Mark IV, always a Canon camera.

Apart from these peculiarities, Canon EOS 6D Mark II is the first perfect full frame camera: you’ll immediately see the technical improvement compared to previous models. And all you’ve got to do is engage your art to complete such quality…