Canon M6 II with kits lens or Body only + buy a lens? Locked

thunder storm wrote:

nnowak wrote:

thunder storm wrote:

nnowak wrote:

R2D2 wrote:

borris14 wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade from a Canon G7X II which was my first camera that got me into photography.

I want something to step up to and the M6 II seems to tick a lot of the boxes - I know it is three years old but still looks a good camera and something newer like the R7 is a little too big of a leap for me price wise.

My main question is whether people think the M6II kit with the 15-45 lens and EVF for around £1050 is a good deal and an acceptable lens for that package? Or whether the 15-45mm lens should be skipped, and I should go for body only and buy a lens separately? That would mean not having the EVF too though. My main uses are family and travel photography.

What do people think?

I'll go against the grain a bit. (If you get a good copy of the 15-45) it'll give you a 24-70mm equiv lens, which with the M6ii's higher MP and much better image quality (over the G7X ii), with some cropping you'll easily get out to the G7X ii's 100mm equiv zoom. So no loss there. The 15-45 is so nice and light too.

Cropping to get a 100mm equivalent view drops the M6 II all of the way down to 16.7 megapixels on a sensor area smaller than micro 4/3.

The G7X II has a much brighter f/1.8-2.8 lens than the EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3. In full frame equivalence, the G7X II is a 24-100mm f/5.0-8.0. The EF-M 15-45mm has a full frame equivalence of 24-70mm f/5.6-10. Cropping to a 100mm equivalent puts you at f/14 equivalent.

Yes, the M6 II sensor is much better than the G7X II sensor, but the slow apertures of the 15-45mm neuters much of that advantage.

DR of the M6ii will still crush the G7Xii...

Actually, no, it won't. Equivalence impacts dynamic range too. At base ISO, the M6 II has one extra stop of dynamic range compared to the G7X II. However, the G7X II lens is at least two stop brighter at all focal lengths than the EF-M 15-45mm. If you are limited in you shutter speeds, and need to be at ISO 6400 with the M6 II, the G7X II will only be at ISO 1600 and will have half a stop more dynamic range.

M6 II vs. G7X II

If you are primarily capturing landscapes at base ISO, the M6 II clearly wins for dynamic range and resolution. If you are capturing general family snapshots in variable light

This includes harsh day light. Dynamic range isn't usefull only in low light situations, it's rather the opposite. In my experience good dynamic range helps a lot for family snap shots.

Let me rephrase, since you seem to have missed the point.  If you have enough light to be shooting at base ISO, the M6 II will have a clear dynamic range advantage.  If the light levels drop to the point where you need to raise the ISO to maintain shutter speeds, the brighter lens of the G7X II will allow for lower ISO's with better dynamic range.

Dynamic range decreases as ISO increases.  The G7X II lens is 2, or more, stops brighter than the EF-M 15-45mm.  For the same shutter speed, the G7X II can still be at base ISO when the M6 II is at ISO 400.  If you look at the dynamic range chart linked above, at any ISO setting, the M6 II has worse dynamic range than the G7X II set at an ISO 2 stops lower (assuming the G7X II has a setting that is 2 stops lower).

All of these comments are specifically around the 15-45mm due to R2D2's initial suggestion to get the M6 II kitted with the 15-45mm and then just crop to get to the 100mm equivalent of the G7X II.

(the OP's use case), the 15-45mm kit lens kills many of the advantages of the M6 II.

Cropping only exasperates the situation.

The 15-45mm shouldn't be your the only lens ror an M6ii.

Unless you're offering to buy the OP an extra lens, their plan is to just start with a kit lens.

That's a bad plan. In that case the OP shouldn't get the M6ii at all.

Starting with only the 15-45mm certainly would not be my choice.  I think I would rather just buy the bare body and drill a hole in the body cap to make a pinhole lens.