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Canon EOS 6D sample images added to hands-on preview

Nov 19, 2012 at 23:22:39 GMT

SAMPLE GALLERY 6D CANON PREVIEW SAMPLES

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We've added a gallery of real-world and studio images to our Canon EOS 6D preview. The EOS 6D won't be available until at least December but we've been able to borrow a pre-production model for which we've been allowed to post samples. We've shot with the camera in a series of lighting conditions, using a variety of lenses, including the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM and the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM. We've also shot an ISO sequence under challenging low-color-temperature artificial light. Click the links below to see how Canon's latest full-frame challenger performs.

The camera used for this gallery was pre-production, and image quality should be considered 'Beta' standard.

Canon EOS 6D preview samples - published 19 November 2012

There are 47 images in the preview samples gallery. Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter / magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review), we do so in good faith, please don't abuse it.

Unless otherwise noted images taken with no particular settings at full resolution. Because our review images are now hosted on the 'galleries' section of dpreview.com, you can enjoy all of the new galleries functionality when browsing these samples.

Canon EOS 6D

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Comments

Total comments: 263

All in-camera jpegs...

Next....

1 upvote

This is shot with 24-70 II..I guess we have to wait for RAWs then.

1 upvote

I don't know if Canon is in trouble or not, but at least there's proof that 6D exists... can't wait to try one

0 upvotes

Please DPreview, provide more portrait under high contrast light situations without fill flash. It's great to see how the sensor handles those situations. And while you're at it, can you provide RAW files for us to see how much Dynamic Range we can extract from each sample file you upload? Thanks, I hope you consider it.

1 upvote

Yes, RAW is essential.

2 upvotes

May be that there is no software available that can open 6D RAW.

2 upvotes

The camera looks very promising but the jpeg compression/noise reduction in the samples is a bit wonky. Not unusual for on-line, small-file samples I guess but it would be more helpful if the compression was lower!

0 upvotes

As always, you download the original, out-of-camera JPEGs by clicking on the helpfully-labelled 'Original' link.

1 upvote

I've done that - the images may be full size but the files are small, i.e. not many megabytes, thus there is much jpeg compression going on.

0 upvotes

I think that guys taking the pictures should be more careful.
I think that without exception all of them have showed to us some of their bad bad moments.
Or perhaps they need a photo editor in DPR...
I mean that is not appropriate, no matter if you want to make the shooting as everyday or average user produced, to post, sometimes at least, no good pics at all....

0 upvotes

As usual, the 10 years old CMOS is kicking ass and taking names again! The OOC jpegs are sharper with tons of detail than the competitions raw to jpeg files and that WOW Canon colors.......Sad day for SoNikon fanbase today, no wonder D600 is giving away stuffs like a free bag, battery, sd card, 100$ rebate, 20$ Adobe discount, 300$ Epson discount, wit swab and a lifetime oil filter change for free! I heard the 6D has a warewolf eyesight able to see and nail focus in total darkness.

5 upvotes

Heard not tried..

What kind of picture u want to take in total darkness?

4 upvotes

The usual battle of the Worlds...
The tribes continue to misbehave...

1 upvote

Seriously? That's what you thought from the smudgy low-light samples like IMG_0381. Canon taking names? I don't know about that, perhaps they are smoking something.

But seriously dude, for someone so confident in your favorite brand, you seem to spend a lot of time thinking (and talking) about Nikon gear and the D600.

7 upvotes

@Viva, funny you are so clueless on Nikon's pricing policy, where retailers and dealers cannot deviate much from the recommended retail price. They can, however, offer freebies and such to differentiate them from the other retailers. As an owner of both brands (and a Lumix) they each have strengths and weaknesses. All you do is b!tch about everything Nikon and really don't add any value to any discussion here. If your flamebaiting and attention seeking is what rocks your boat, then troll away...

3 upvotes

One would imagine your beloved D600 looks fantasic in every sample image... There's oodles of NR at work... only problem is its not as good as 6D's high ISO capabilities...

I just wonder whether you actually formunlate your opinions about how "great" Nikon's IQ is, based upon your eyes... or the farcical scores DXO provides...

And as for your dynamic range arguements... do we actually buy these camera's to primarily shoot shadowy / dark / dingy / crepuscular environments... If your answer is yes - then feel free to continue ranting about the D600's astronomical DR...

1 upvote

Opinions are very divided on the sharpness vs smearing of detail.
We need to look at specific features to see where the noise reduction software or the lens reduces precision.
IMG_0111 the second dark pink thorn to the left of the highest one is very sharply rendered and others below it too. beautiful colours with dark green background.
IMG_0287 the white building is very sharp and detailed in the center, the red tractor's wheel and the surrounding dark trimmed hedge are blurred like everything towards the edge of the wide angle lens.

0 upvotes

What about skine tones and white balance? Is the 6D as good as the 5D III with skin tones and WB? It would be nice to add the portrait of someone...

Comment edited 15 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

A low ISO natural light portrait would always be nice to see.
While Nikon has a problem with cold green tint,
Canon, often more accurate with warm colour reproduction and white balance, typically produces green patches in faces.

0 upvotes

Portraits are on their way.

5 upvotes

Why are none of the real-world photos ISO 100? There clearly is 50 available...

1 upvote

Because on a bright, contrasty day I was shooting with Highlight Tone Priority turned on, for extra highlight range. It's limited to ISO 200. Meanwhile ISO50 is a 'pulled' setting with limited highlight range (it's clipping even in the controlled light studio ISO series), so not ideal for general use.

2 upvotes

I see. I was checking the exif for whether HTP was on or not, but evidently Opera doesn't show that field (which I recall seeing in my photo editors).

0 upvotes

Given how badly underexposed most shots are, the noise is very impressive. Someone should learn to not be a slave to having absolutely zero blinkies on the right.

1 upvote

Exposure is subjective

8 upvotes

I agree, exposure is subjective. However, these photos were made to show off the camera's image qualities, which could be massively improved upon by more exposure. That said, you really need to be shooting RAW to get the best out of it.

0 upvotes

Remember guys ,this is a beta camera .

0 upvotes

You can see the single cells of the decorative purple-green leaf in the water drop pearl in the center :-)
The macro detail reaches microscopic levels under the magnification of the droplet at iso3200 with very little and fine grained noise ...
IMG_0146

2 upvotes

Sorry , but I don't see it . Maybe it's me or my monitor but to my eyes it looks rather soft . Look at the image outlines . They are soft .

1 upvote

it's your monitor. When you zoom into the middle you see a lot of fine detail retained. Very impressive for ISO-3200.

The soft water droplets are due to the limited DoF

1 upvote

It's not monitor. Canon always preferred not to over sharp images. Maybe a bit more.
Never had to improve it. The opposite par (Nikon) was asleep for 3 years , so they didn't have a strong competitor...
And it is the sensor too...
Note that all mid range and above Canons the last 6 years are quite sufficient staff...

0 upvotes

As usual we are jumping the boat . We all gonna have to wait for the full review and see what is causing what we are seeing .

0 upvotes

Colors are nice , sharpness is subpar (noise reduction) What surprise me was the dynamic range which is rather low for a full framer . It's quite possible that the low dynamic range and lack of sharpness maybe be cause both by rather strong noise reduction . Colors are kept very nicely at high iso , better then the Nikon d600 . Saturation is rather higher at base iso , this might be giving the pics higher contrast at high iso , more then Nikon. We should remember that Nikon is more conservative then Canon in rather all parameters at default . This could be the differences which some are observing and mentioning .

3 upvotes

jpegs with noise reduction ON.....

0 upvotes

heavy NR as it´s seems... judging from the bad sharpness.

0 upvotes

no, canon atypically leaves sharpness "down" on jpgs making them look fairly soft OOC.

where have you been? that's been canon's jpg engine for years.

use something that isn't the standard picture style and the jpg's pop more.

0 upvotes

Unbelievable!, I cant see any noise at Iso 800! I've been working on some old Velvia 100 scans today and ISO 3200 on this camera has considerably less noise/grain! In the 35mm format we have never had it so good!

1 upvote

well the JPG engine is smearing the noise to death i guess.

looking at IMG_0164 @ iso 200 im not impressed by the detail rendering.

that is why i find JPG samples mosty useless.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 5 minutes after posting

3 upvotes

@Gothmoth. The detail is still much better than the slides I have been looking at, and personally I shoot raw, so no problem. If I really need more detail I default to 5x4 film.

1 upvote

Gothmoth, there are the characteristic Canon purplered-green moire patches on the sunny tarmac visible in that picture. The glass structure seems sharp and detailed. Are you speaking about the pine trees ?

0 upvotes

Is that so? Canon with 1Ds had that some 7-8 years ago...
As well as softness and a slightly washed images mainly because the CMOS sensor...

0 upvotes

That shots are absolutely great, the high ISO shots are amazingly clean. If I had the chose between D600 and this Canon 6D, the Canon was for me the way to go. I think that these pictures are a lot better than all I have seen from D600 yet.

2 upvotes

Canon high ISO shots are always out of this world when you look at jpegs because of the awesome high ISO NR algorithm that Canon uses. When you look at RAWs things change and that too quite dramatically.

4 upvotes

Not bad at all but to me, these are some of the darkest images I've seen. Strong contrast and saturation.

I wonder what can cause that.

0 upvotes

um, exposure.

2 upvotes

low dynamic range and exposing for the highlights....

0 upvotes

I figured it would look like 5dm3 images, im glad to see that it really is. Could be a good lowlight sidekick if you can get past the sd card among other things.

0 upvotes

We all better get used to SD as the new standard card. My guess is that the 1DX will be the last strictly CF body.

0 upvotes

Are these JPEGs straight out of the camera? Any kind of PP?

0 upvotes

Yes. Unless we specify otherwise, our sample galleries are always straight-out-of-camera JPEGs.

0 upvotes

Impressive hi ISO!
All the rest is in the photographer's hands and knowledge.

0 upvotes

The high iso performance looks impressive. The images do look a bit "flat" i.e. non-dimensional, but they are samples so who knows. Great time to be an FX shooter these days!

0 upvotes

Out of camera JPGs remember. Flatness comes from lack of fine tuned contrast.

0 upvotes

These samples look great! Really, very clean with great colors. In many ways this would be the perfect camera for me. Certainly some things held back from the 5D Mark III but most I can live with. Only one thing will keep me from buying it: The 1/4000th top shutter speed! Much like the Nikon D600, why in the heck would you cripple a $2,000+ camera by not having a top speed of 1/8000th?! Most people won't use such high speeds often. But many lesser cameras have it. No excuses for this!

3 upvotes

the d600 does not haev 1/8000 either. 1/8000 is going to be a very, very rare usage item. If anything it would be used by mistake with the photographer using ISO 3200 in bright sunlight or something. But with how good auto ISO is these days.... it should not be an issue.

0 upvotes

sorry but the low iso samples look not great at all.

they look exactly like what i would expect from a 4 year old 5D MK2.

that´s not great... that is FINE in my eyes.
remember they had 4 years to make a better camera/sensor.

but i don´t see a improvement in low iso.. not from these samples.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 4 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

RedFox: 1/8000 is a necessity when you are using anything under f/4 on a sunny day.
Go out when bright and sunny set ISO at 100 and apperture at f/2.8 and see yourself.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

1 upvote

maybe he don´t own something faster then f2.8 .....

1 upvote

@Gothmoth, I own a 5d mk2 and the low iso quality of it is excellent, there is very little need for improvement, If you know what you are doing and can manage to nail exposure. More dynamic range would be nice if you don't of course, but compared to what photographers have had in the past ie. slide film, we have it pretty good!

@Der Steppenwolf. I've shot wide open at f1.4 on a sunny day in the middle of an Australian summer with a camera that has a maximum shutter speed of 1000th of a second. With all due respect, this is a "non problem" easily fixed, with a polarising or neutral density filter.

2 upvotes

@ leichhardt
With a ND filter??? If not, then I call bullcrap on that. Plain and simple.

0 upvotes

@Combatmedic870. yes, ND stands for neutral density in case you didn't know. :)

0 upvotes

It's harder to make a fast shutter for a full frame sensor; simply because there is more area to cover. The d600 and 6D likely have shutters with velocities just as fast as "lesser" APS-C cameras, but since they have a larger sensor to cover, they can't reach 1/8000. Full frame camera with 1/8000 shutters need higher speeds, and thus cost more.

1 upvote

yeah well so you need a ND filter and 4 postings above it was said nobody needs 1/8000...

i rather have 1/8000 build in the camera then carriyng a ND filter all the time in case i need it. LOL

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

0 upvotes

@Gothmoth If you find carrying a 30 gram filter around with you so much of an effort, you are probably more in need of a gym membership than anything else.

1 upvote

Strong AA filter detected.

0 upvotes

The relative softness @ 100% is most likely a result of the JPEG engine than anything else. Canon RAWs tend to be quite a bit better than this when it comes to pixel level sharpness.

2 upvotes

The noise is very low indeed but so is the detail. I know that jpegs are a horrible interpretation of the cameras potential but to me these look like the NR is very heavy.. I am looking at these on a cheap monitor which may be the problem

1 upvote

no it´s not your monitor.. detail sucks on these images.

1 upvote

I would dare say the lack of detail is cause by the lack of sharpness . Outlines are all rather soft making the sense of detail to be low.

1 upvote

These are Jpegs - so they don't tell us much. But the lack of sharpness is incredible. Nikon's sensor is far far better - no contest.
Lets wait for raw though.......

1 upvote

I have seen some sample image. Nice and sharp images but only major let down to me is LACK of dynamic range. I am sorry to say that but it disappointed me a lot. Sony, Pentax and Nikon has been ahead of Canon for long time particular for dynamic range and colours. Come on hurry up Canon you gonna catch up before you spiral down to the dead end. Or buy Sony sensor instead. lol Nikon and Pentax bought Sony sensor. So...? Be wary of poor dynamic range, try increase shadow to reveal shadow and the noise start to appear. Thats the biggest problem. If you wanna reveal better pic from Canon 6D take some RAW image and post process with Adobe Engine or Capture one engine it will come out much better than in camera jpeg processing. Both Adobe and Capture One raw edit open up more dynamic range much better.

0 upvotes

Total comments: 263


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