M6 review: perspective from an M3 to 80D to M6

Woodman411 wrote:

Background: years ago I made the mistake of jumping all-in to mirrorless from dslr, starting with the M3. With the M3 as my primary camera, I found the size advantage did not negate its overall sluggish performance (af, responsiveness, high-iso, etc), and over time the only thing holding me back from selling it was the excellent efm 11-22. That lasted for about 6 months, and eventually I parted with the M system and went back to dslr with the 80d. Shortly after the 80d, I was gifted a 5d4, and now had two high-performance bodies, so the 80d got little use. So sold that and got back into mirrorless with the M6 as a secondary camera. Ideally I should have the 80d and M3 directly next to the M6 for a more accurate review, but I don't, so I just have memories of the prior two bodies to compare with.

Pros:

• form factor and size, perfect (for me at least) companion to the 5d4. Carrying the 80d and 5d4 together was a hassle, but now with the M6, a 2-body outing is much easier
• combined with the adapter and ef35 f/2 is, size-to-IQ is very appealing
• shutter noise and shock noticeably improved from the M3
• similar live-view and high-iso performance to the 80d
• display still easy to see indoors and outdoors, I had no need for an electronic viewfinder with the m3, still don't with the m6, although most of my shooting is indoors
• still made in Japan, although this is no guarantee against component failure, so far I've had good experience with reliability, and appreciate the quality feel of Canons
• seems like a good value, at least for the price I got if for

Neutral:

• when the screen is flipped up for selfies, it must be completely pressed against the body for the screen to reverse. This is an issue for me since I have it in a silicone case which prevents this. Not Canon's fault, still if the screen is flipped up 98% of the way, would be nice for the reverse screen to trigger
• pop-up flash remains mostly useless, too weak for fill/bounce flash, and direct use results in undesirable output (this is true with any built-in flash and therefore in the Neutral section)

Cons:

• battery life remains atrocious, this was expected. Ideally, the M6 would have a larger grip/battery compartment that could house the more widely-used lp-e6's
• touchscreen pinch-to-zoom seems like a step down from the 80d, I could do it pretty effortlessly on the 80d, but on the M6, I have to concentrate, otherwise it will not register
• face-detect seems less accurate than the 80d, I used live-view and face-detect quite often with the 80d, and the keeper-rate seems higher than the M6 (the 5d4's live-view and face-detect is also more accurate than the M6's). I'm primarily basing this from using the ef35 f/2 is, I'll see if other lenses are better
• large focus box remains from the M3, wish there was an option for smaller focus point selection using the directional pad (similar to ovf selection)
• smooth body finish seems prone to scratches. I prefer the textured surface of the 80d which is more scratch resistant
• efm lens selection, with the exception of the 11-22, are mostly budget quality, the 15-45 lasted only a few hours before I had enough of it. Wish they would come out with higher quality efm lenses

I've had the M6 for just over a week, overall enjoying it so far.

M6 is good but I'd probably use the attached EVF most of the time