Played with M3/5/6 and EVF-DC1/2, thanks Canon.
Apr 24, 2017
7
I got lucky enough to attend a Canon event on Saturday and briefly (maybe an hour or two?) play with the M3, M5, M6, EVF-DC1, EVF-DC2 and various lenses in various combinations. I also annoyed the Canon reps by moving various attachments between cameras so I got to test pretty much all the available combinations. My M3 got used to death so it's currently in for repairs and I'm in the market for an upgrade. I was leaning towards the M6 and hoping to keep my EVF-DC1 if it behaved similarly to the the DC2, but the M5 was still in with a shot. I specifically wanted to find out how the EVF’s behaved, how their behaviour compared between cameras and a general impression of the ergonomics and handling for manual shooting and focus point selection on each camera. Everything I say from here has the caveat that this was my subjective impression from deliberate, but non-rigorous tests, anything I say may be proven to be wrong by better testing and objective measurement.
EVF’s. My first impression is that they’re all similar in terms of magnification, contrast, responsiveness and colour, when mounted on the same body. I choose exposure with information from the histogram to evaluate light/dark clipping and an impression of how the main subject is exposed with live view exposure simulation. Subjectively when used like this all EVF’s handled exposure fine. I shoot raw and fix white balance, saturation and contrast in LR so I don’t pay much attention to colour accuracy in EVF’s. My impression was that the colour saturation was a little high but not problematically so if you work with colour in LR. The only difference in performance I noticed was the refresh rate on the M5/6 compared to the M3. In bright light the M5/6 have higher screen refresh rates in both the EVF’s and on the main display compared to the M3. In low light the M5/6’s lose the refresh rate advantage and all the M’s perform similarly with reduced frame rate to compensate for the lack of light on the sensor. The takeaway is that the DC1 and DC2 look the same to me when mounted on the same camera, the only difference is that the M6 can push higher frame rates on both EVF’s, if you already have the DC1, the difference is ergonomics, not performance (caveat from opening paragraph applies).
Handling. The M5 and 6 feel similarly speedy for focus acquisition, accuracy and responsiveness, the M3 is slower. In good light the higher screen refresh rates for the M5/6 are quite welcome, particularly at longer focal lengths where you have reduced field of view. Build quality is good on all the cameras with the M5/6 holding an edge over the M3. The screen mechanism feels flimsier on the M3 and the rubber thumb grip feels worse in comparison to the textured grips for the M5/6. I prefer the button layout in the M5/6 with AE lock and focus point selection being moved to the thumb grip. The M5 has the best control wheel layout and is the best for manual shooting. The double thumb wheels (exposure comp and other) on the M6 feels a bit awkward, but I could get used to it. The M3 only has 2 control wheels so it’s slower changing TV, AV and ISO if you want to have manual control over all 3. The M5 can move the focus point with the main screen while you’re using the EVF, I really like this feature, unfortunately the M6 doesn’t appear to have this functionality.
Ergonomics. I’m a big person with big hands so your mileage may vary if you’re less than 6ft. The M3 and M6 feel surprisingly good in the hand, grip and handling is about equal, except that the right-side strap, mount point, on the M6 is a stupid design in a stupid place . It sticks out way too far and jabs me in the knuckle of my index finger and it’s really annoying. The M5 is, hands down, the handling winner. The grip is fractionally bigger and that makes all the difference for me. Despite having the same stupid strap mount, I’m not relying on my right index finger knuckle to grip the camera, there’s less pressure and annoyance from its design and location.
There you have it. My favourite is the M5. The M6 is quirky but good enough if you need it to be smaller than the M5, and you saw off the stupid strap mount point. I still like the M3, but if you're choosing between the 3 and 6, I'd save a bit more for the M6. The EVF-DC1 and DC2 appear to me to perform the same, the only difference is design/ergonomics. For the cost of a free tshirt and some play time with the gear Canon upsold me to the M5, focus point selection with the EVF, grip and the stupid strap mount were the deciding factors.
