My initial experience with the M6II

My M6II arrived Friday evening, and I've been trying it out with a few different lenses for the last couple of days. Before I get to my experiences, I should say a couple of things about this camera. First, it doesn't have a built-in EVF. I need to say this, because pretty much no-one is talking about it, so you might not be aware of it. It does take the same removable EVF's as the M6. I have the EVF DC2, which works very well. But it isn't built-in. Did I mention that? Second, this camera is EF-M mount. It takes all EF-M lenses, and all EF and EF-S with an adapter. But, did you know that Canon has only made 8 EF-M lenses so far? I need to mention that too, because no-one seems to mention it. You'd think they would. I own 5 of the EF-M lenses (22, 32, 11-22, 18-55, 18-150). There are a few other EF-M mount lenses available from other manufacturers, and more coming soon (3 in a couple of weeks). Last, this camera isn't a Fuji or a Sony. Those are probably good too, but I have no interest in getting one, or in comparing this camera with them. So I will only talk about my experiences with this camera, and won't read any responses that talk about cameras from other manufacturers. Not because I don't think they are any good. I'm sure they are, but, as I said, I have zero interest in getting one.

So, onto the M6II. So far, so good. The AF is simply amazing. The M6 AF is already excellent, and this takes it to a new level. The speed and responsiveness is quite remarkable. The ergonomics are also excellent. It's slightly larger than the M6, which makes it a bit more comfortable to hold. The grip feels better, and there's room to use the new AF button. Also, touch and drag with the EVF is a great addition, and works really well. I love the joystick on my 7DII, but touch and drag is even better. The M6II is also even more customizable than the M6. I'm still setting it up. I also like the fact that you can have up to 5 "my Menu" tabs, with 6 items in each. It makes it easy to put your most used settings within quick and easy reach. Silent shutter is also a good addition. It's only available in single shot mode right now (maybe a firmware update will allow it in burst mode), but it's pretty cool, and gives you 1/16000 top shutter speed, which allows F1.4 in bright sunlight without a ND filter.

I am very pleased with the results so far. I've tried out the 32, 22, 18-150, 18-55, and 50STM. Interestingly, the expanded AF area is only available with certain lenses. The expanded area is 100% vertical and 88% horizontal. I'm getting that with the 32, 50STM, and 18-150. With the 22, 18-55, and 11-22 (I've checked the coverage with this lens, but not taken any pictures yet) I get 80% each way, which is still pretty good, and a lot better than any DSLR. It will be interesting to see what I get with the Sigma 56.

I've been shooting RAW + JPEG, just to compare what I can get out of the RAW's with what the camera produces. I'm liking the results from Lightroom enough that I'll probably switch to RAW only pretty soon, except for sports shooting, where I use JPEG only. Here are a few early shots. Nothing special, but you get some idea of the output. First, here are a couple with the 18-55, which I don't use, since getting the 18-150, but there was some question on this forum as to whether this lens was fully compatible with the M6II. It certainly is. Obligatory cat pictures:

Brick wall shot, to show that it doesn't have trouble with focus:

The 32 is obviously the lens best placed to showcase this camera. Everyone who gets the M6II should get the 32 (or maybe the Sigma 30). Here are some. First, pretty much the first shot I took, of my favorite and most long-suffering subject:

And the double, wife and cat!

Here's a low light high ISO shot, just grabbed to test eye AF:

A couple with the 50STM, also quick grab shots:

Here are some with the 18-150, a surprisingly good wide range zoom:

And here are some I took at a party this afternoon. These are resized to 2000 pixels on the longer side, which is what I usually do for web posting. First, with the 22:

And next with the 32:

Is this a big step-up from the M6? Not in terms of image quality. So far, I think it's a bit better, but the M6 is already very good. In terms of usability, it's a lot of little improvements, that add up to a fairly big overall improvement, depending on what you like in a camera. I certainly didn't need it. It's an indulgence. But a very nice one. And that's just on the evidence of under two days with it. I tend to grow into my cameras, as I discover more and more cool features, and get comfortable with the handling. I'm already really liking this camera, and I predict I will just get to like it more.

All the pictures here were RAW, converted in Lightroom. I'm still figuring out what processing parameters I like. Not everyone's taste is the same, so I'm sure some people won't like the processing choices I made here. I may not like them down the road either. But for now, I'm happy with them.