The Sweet Spot

RLight wrote:

R2D2 wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

Excellent review. My only major disagreement is with the portrait score. I give it 5/5 for that. I much prefer primes over zooms for portraits, and the Sigma 56 is simply a stellar portrait prime for APS-C. The 32 and 22 are also good for portraits (depending on the style). The combination of the excellent eye AF of the M6II and the available fast primes (for longer working distance, the adapted 85 F1.8 works really well) makes the M6II an excellent portrait camera.

Yes, I’d have to give it at least 4.5/5 for portraits. The Eye AF is simply beyond marvelous, and the Siggy 56 is a stellar lens for M. So much so that I sold my 50 STM and 60 Macro, and hardly ever use my 40 or even my 85 any more!

The only reason I don’t give it a 5/5 is that you can still get slightly more background blur with FF.

R2

Now, is the M6 Mark II just "average" because I gave it 3/5? No, it's excellent.

Maybe the problem only lies with your (take on) the rating system.

Convention has it that a 3/5 rating (60th percentile) is only average. A 4/5 is Above Average. And a 5/5 is Excellent.

If one were to give the M6ii a rating of 3/5, that would mean you'd have to give the original M6 a 2/5. And I don't think there are many (any!) owners who would give that camera a Below Average score for portraits. (HeHe I think Marco would have something to say about that! ).

But then again so is your smartphone at that now (ouch).

I would consider a smartphone to be Average. IMHO it rates that in large part because you always have it with you.

Canon at this junction, needs to step up their game if they want 4/5 or 5/5 for portraits in this category with the M. I fear they won't truth told and that's okay. A camera that does pretty darn good in portraits, and stellar in everything else, is nothing to poke an eye with a sharp stick with.

Perhaps part of the reason you rate the M6ii so low in the portrait dept (3/5 - Average) is that you take most of your portraits using Manual Focus. Now if you would also take into account the Excellent Face Detect Autofocus capabilities (particularly for capturing the decisive moment), then this camera would certainly rate the 4.5/5 (for portraits) that I give it.

I can't say the same about other cameras, especially for the bulk and price which is once again, why I own an M6 Mark II. But, I also own an R and RF 28-70 f/2L for "party duty" and special events, bokeh, and extreme low light still as a result.

Agree that the R would rate a 5/5 (in today's environment).

The fabulous, but, manual focus Rokinon 50mm f/1.2 on the EOS M6 Mark II. A lens I don't recommend to most people as they simply can't or won't do manual focus, let alone at f/1.2 at a longer focal

I gotta have autofocus. I shot without it for decades (weddings, fashion, portraits, events, etc), and since Digital hit, having great AF has always been high on my priority list! And the M6ii's AF for portraits does rate a 5/5 in my book!

R2