Reading mode: Light Dark

Upgrading the 6D line? A few thoughts on the matter

Go to last post
F

fyngyrz

Senior Member
Messages
1,606
Solutions
1
Reaction score
160
Location
Glasgow, AK, US
I'm pretty fond of the 6D. It's been out a while now, though, and I'm looking to buy a new camera as the USB jack on mine has given up. (Don't want to send it in for repair without a camera, so it's time for a backup.) Definitely after a Canon DSLR, quite a bit invested in lenses

Anyone hear anything about a "next" in the 6D's lineage?

Features not currently present in the 6D that would be of interest to me include:

Camera hardware:
  • lower noise (ISO is ok, just too noisy up high - This is a tough one)
  • wider dynamic range (time for digital counter pixels... :)
  • wireless charging -- put the camera on a mat, walk away.
  • a mechanism allowing one to choose to disable the IR filter
  • even more sensitive center point (-3EV is nice, now lets have moah! :)
  • built-in lightning sensor/trigger (IR and/or RF... this would be awesome)
  • built-in white LED for setup of dark scenes. Basically a tiny floodlight
Camera firmware:
  • in-camera stacking for noise reduction of astro/dark-fixed imaging
  • intervalometer with programmable start, finish, repeat and interval
  • live remote zoomed microfocus
  • programmable duration for sub-LCD illumination, including on until turned off
  • direct WiFi retrieval of RAW images (no "WFT", etc, just appear as a web server)
 
I only want a Canon camera with a Sony sensor. I would have to think there comes a time where it is actually cost effective for them to do so. And in the end I would get a camera body that IMO is a bit more reliable with better QC, service (I actually get *two* full blown Canon service centers wear I live). The wait is longer than expected but I find the long cycle times of the models make buying and selling the gear extremely predictable compared to Nikon's +10 or +50 to each model line, etc.

Every time Nikon has a new model they seem to put a button in a different place, align the battery compartment in a different orientation, or have a new design flaw to contend with. Canon's biggest flaw is mostly just their sensor.

Oh and I *do* want an aliasing filter...if anything most studio comparisons show that Canon's AA filters are quite well behaved in retaining detail while doing a decent job of minimizing moire.

If the next FF Canon release is just more MPs but pretty poor DR in line with Canon fabs, I'll sell my last Canon lens (I only have one EF lens right now anyhow in the 200mm f2.8 II prime). If it meets my expectations of at least being as good as current Sony or better, I start buying EF lenses again.
 
Last edited:
You sound like a Sony shooter. Maybe you should get rid of all your Canon gear and buy Sony gear instead - why not?

I for one like Canon sensors, as outdated as they might be. Seeing a Sony sensor in a new Canon camera is not an idea I'm particularly fond of, unless Canon could make it look like a Canon sensor. That would be funny wouldn't it?
 
Timbukto said:
Canon's biggest flaw is mostly just their sensor.
Click to expand...
Well, that's an interesting point of view, but I can't say I share it in any meaningful way. My 6D's sensor has been... I guess I'd say "satisfactory" to me in terms of resolution and image quality; most often what I run into is coma and chromatic aberration in the details -- and that's a lens problem.

As near as I can tell, no one makes a wide-field, fast EF-style lens that produces low enough coma and CA when open (fast) to meet my needs.

I figure that since the details in my astro shots are so severely limited by lens issues already, there's little point in going to higher resolution in my application.

I shoot 6D + EF 24mm f/1.4L II prime, BTW. It's my third copy of the lens. They've all been just terrible. Might as well have a 5 MP sensor -- and even that wouldn't hide the horrific coma and CA.

--

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fyngyrz/sets/72157632948248155/
Blog: http://fyngyrz.com/
 
fyngyrz said:
Timbukto said:
Canon's biggest flaw is mostly just their sensor.
Click to expand...
Well, that's an interesting point of view, but I can't say I share it in any meaningful way. My 6D's sensor has been... I guess I'd say "satisfactory" to me in terms of resolution and image quality; most often what I run into is coma and chromatic aberration in the details -- and that's a lens problem.

As near as I can tell, no one makes a wide-field, fast EF-style lens that produces low enough coma and CA when open (fast) to meet my needs.

I figure that since the details in my astro shots are so severely limited by lens issues already, there's little point in going to higher resolution in my application.

I shoot 6D + EF 24mm f/1.4L II prime, BTW. It's my third copy of the lens. They've all been just terrible. Might as well have a 5 MP sensor -- and even that wouldn't hide the horrific coma and CA.

--

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fyngyrz/sets/72157632948248155/
Blog: http://fyngyrz.com/
Click to expand...
The canon 24 1.4 is terrible. Get a Rokinon instead. 1/5th the price, almost 0 coma and very little ca. Or get a Nikon 14-24. Not as fast at 24 but it has almost no coma and zooms. Canon lenses have the worst coma around, the only exception being the new 16-35 f4, which is sharp and coma free, but rather slow. However the 6d is spectacular up to 6400iso if you pp well so you may be able to get away with the slower lens. Only advantage is that it takes filters so it's a good overall night and day lens.

6d is pretty much best in class for high ISO performance. The only camera that beats it is the Sony a7s, but at only 12mp you won't get very large prints out of it.
--
-Adam
www.flickr.com

Adam Argondizzo

Explore Adam Argondizzo’s 804 photos on Flickr!
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
 
Landscapeforfun said:
The canon 24 1.4 is terrible. Get a Rokinon instead. 1/5th the price, almost 0 coma and very little ca.
Click to expand...
I have tried that lens. It's so soft wide open, it might as well have the CA and coma. Plus it is manual focus, which shuts down another of the 6D's advantages, being able to AF and obtain critical focus in one step on a single star. I can't see very well -- a bit of a problem for a photographer -- and this ability means the difference between the shots I had in mind and useless shots for me. 24mm is about right too.

"do not shine laser into remaining good eye"
Landscapeforfun said:
Or get a Nikon 14-24.
Click to expand...
Too slow, not in the running. Has to be f/1.4 -- or faster -- and that's where it'll get used.
Landscapeforfun said:
Not as fast at 24 but it has almost no coma and zooms. Canon lenses have the worst coma around, the only exception being the new 16-35 f4, which is sharp and coma free, but rather slow. However the 6d is spectacular up to 6400iso if you pp well so you may be able to get away with the slower lens. Only advantage is that it takes filters so it's a good overall night and day lens.
Click to expand...
I use both high ISO and f/1.4 already, and that's right in-zone with what I shoot. If I stop down the 24mm, the coma and CA drop off, but then the higher magnitude stars go away as well. I work pretty much at the edge of the camera's available sensitivity even at f/1.4. I require the fastest shutter speeds I can get while gathering as much light as the system will allow.

Used to use an 85m f/1.2, but the FOV was just too narrow, and it also had CA and coma problems, though not nearly as bad as the 24mm and other wide Canon lenses.
Landscapeforfun said:
6d is pretty much best in class for high ISO performance.
Click to expand...
Agreed. That's one of the key reasons I chose it.
Landscapeforfun said:
The only camera that beats it is the Sony a7s, but at only 12mp you won't get very large prints out of it.
Click to expand...
Just not interested at all in going outside Canon. I have a huge investment (from my wallet's POV) in lenses to consider. These are for daytime work, and in that regime, I have zero complaints.
 
The Canon 24mm f/1.4 is well known for big coma. Designers can't get rid of all aberrations, so they pick which types of aberrations they are most interested in minimizing, and let other aberrations stay less corrected. Try the Samyang (Rokinon, Bower, Pro-Optic) 24mm f/1.4 manual focus lens. The Samyang lenses have low coma, and the 14mm f/2.8 and 24mm f/1.4 have become "standard" astro-landscape lenses. I use my Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 lens at f/2.8, Samyang 14mm f/2.8 at f/2.8 or 3.5, and Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4 at f/1.4 to f/2 on full frame (6D). Very bright stars in the extreme corners are squares due to coma on the Sigma at f/1.4 and Samyang 14mm at f/2.8. Zeiss essentially has no coma at f/2.8. Having the Zeiss already, the Samyang 24 f/1.4 is not a high priority.
 
That's how I focus my stars. Turn up ISO. Hunt around for a bright star in 10X live view mode. Focus on that star. Barring that, you could try to get an astrophotography program's focusing module readout graph to look for narrowest peak in an Airy pattern. That would imply tethered shooting.
 
Deny said:
You sound like a Sony shooter. Maybe you should get rid of all your Canon gear and buy Sony gear instead - why not?

I for one like Canon sensors, as outdated as they might be. Seeing a Sony sensor in a new Canon camera is not an idea I'm particularly fond of, unless Canon could make it look like a Canon sensor. That would be funny wouldn't it?
Click to expand...
I shot Nikon up until this past June with my last Nikon body being the D600 and I'm with you. I'm not going to pretend I have a degree in sensor technology but I know what I see and have experienced. I've said it before and I'll say it again. There's obviously more to a sensor than DR and Canon has the whole package here. It's been my experience that Canon just produce gorgeous files and most certainly better raws to work(lot less work then Nikon raws) with. Yes, Nikon has more DR, yes I do miss it from time to time but that's just it, once in the while.

You Canon folks need to stop sweating it. If Canon is so 'far behind and lagging' in the sensor department, then they're in good shape.

6D mark II IMO would be fine with...

-Better AF system

-6.5 fps

-Yes a new Canon sensor with more DR and a bump to 24MP.
 
Last edited:
I'm not a "high-end" photographer, but the 6D is the best body I've had---- especially at high ISO. Keep in mind the 6D is a low-end FF body. Personally, I'd settle for a built-in flash. Since I shoot mostly landscapes, not having a high shooting rate isn't a big deal for me.

Kent
 
I love my 6D, but I would like to see an articulating screen. I like to get low for birds-on-water shots, and it's a pain without one.





***
***
 
tarjei99 said:
Can't you remote with a tablet or a mobile phone?
Click to expand...
Yes, but when at a pond with many birds, you will get very few shots that way, as opposed to being able to move the camera around in your hands, targeting & selecting the birds.
 
fyngyrz said:
I'm pretty fond of the 6D. It's been out a while now, though, and I'm looking to buy a new camera as the USB jack on mine has given up. (Don't want to send it in for repair without a camera, so it's time for a backup.) Definitely after a Canon DSLR, quite a bit invested in lenses

Anyone hear anything about a "next" in the 6D's lineage?

Features not currently present in the 6D that would be of interest to me include:

Camera hardware:
  • lower noise (ISO is ok, just too noisy up high - This is a tough one)
  • wider dynamic range (time for digital counter pixels... :)
  • wireless charging -- put the camera on a mat, walk away.
  • a mechanism allowing one to choose to disable the IR filter
  • even more sensitive center point (-3EV is nice, now lets have moah! :)
  • built-in lightning sensor/trigger (IR and/or RF... this would be awesome)
  • built-in white LED for setup of dark scenes. Basically a tiny floodlight
Camera firmware:
  • in-camera stacking for noise reduction of astro/dark-fixed imaging
  • intervalometer with programmable start, finish, repeat and interval
  • live remote zoomed microfocus
  • programmable duration for sub-LCD illumination, including on until turned off
  • direct WiFi retrieval of RAW images (no "WFT", etc, just appear as a web server)
Click to expand...
 
RedFox88 said:
The 6D is the king of high iso. None better by Canon and yet it's too noisy "up high"?
Click to expand...
Yes, it actually is.

Canon should update their old sensors ...
 
Colin Franks said:
tarjei99 said:
Can't you remote with a tablet or a mobile phone?
Click to expand...
Yes, but when at a pond with many birds, you will get very few shots that way, as opposed to being able to move the camera around in your hands, targeting & selecting the birds.
Click to expand...
I have yet to try using my iPad with the camera in the wild, but as I understand you can target anything through it using either the Canon or a third party app.

However, there is a 0,2 second delay (at least with my Weye Feye) when you want the shutter to do its bit. That can be a show stopper.

As far as I'm concerned I love the big image on the iPad, it is a pity that it is not suitable for my type of photography (most of the time).
 
Yes, I have the android app installed, and it works well if you set it up in front of a bird perch, but for down-low water shots, it wouldn't work too well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top