Canon EOS M6 Mk II Tips and Tricks

Fast_Larry wrote:

ezriel wrote:

I don’t get what that gives you that regular or raw burst do not?

I don't shoot in burst mode, but my understanding is that burst mode buffers, which limits how many shots you can take before the buffer is full. When the buffer is full there is a long pause while it writes the images to the card. Also in burst mode you don't have the ability to specify how many images you want, and you have to hold the shutter release down.

When stacking for astrophotography I want the ability to specify exactly 100 images to be taken at the shutter speed I've set, as quickly as the camera can manage it is OK. A fraction of second delay between photos to write the image to the card is fine as long as it can keep shooting continuously, and each frame has roughly the same delay, any number of frames I want.

Don't forget the lower resolution of RAW Burst!

ezriel wrote:

I don’t get what that gives you that regular or raw burst do not?

As Praefos mentioned, RAW burst only outputs a cropped 18 MP file.  It’s an interesting mode with the pre-shooting and all, but I don’t really use it that much.

Instead, I use Focus Bracketing more.  I have some really nice LED lights for illuminating macros, and Focus Bracketing mode (with AF or without) is great for that application.

When I want to use flash (for macros), I connect the MT-26 and use the 14 FPS m-shutter with either AF or manual focus.  This works extraordinarily well too.

Lots of options, especially for a macro addict!  

R2

I just got off the phone with CPS and learned an M6II quirk:  The viewfinder electronic level does not display if eye focus is enabled.  Very weird!  The CPS guy said it was a new one on him.  Why he thought to suggest testing that is beyond me.  Anyway thought you folks aught to know.  I fussed with the menus quite a while.

Flying Fijian wrote:

Been playing with Fv mode...the trash button resets everything to auto but I reassigned the exposure compensation button (+-) to reset just the one that's currently selected (if that makes sense lol)...anyone else using this mode?

Using the Fv mode a lot, I change the trash button to reset only the curent seting, I will never have it all on auto,

I would like to find how to not select the setting that is on my back weel, the IL setting, into the mode loop,

AshleyMC wrote:

nolten wrote:

I just got off the phone with CPS and learned an M6II quirk: The viewfinder electronic level does not display if eye focus is enabled. Very weird! The CPS guy said it was a new one on him. Why he thought to suggest testing that is beyond me. Anyway thought you folks aught to know. I fussed with the menus quite a while.

The M50 behaves the same in this regard.

I know this about M50 and M6 Mark II for as long as I have used them.

The M50 Mark II, equipped with the DIGIC 8 latest firmware (newer than that on M50 and on M6 Mark II), provides the electronic level while Eye Focus is active.

Yeah, there’s a bunch of stuff that could be addressed in a firmware update for the M6ii.  Wish Canon would do that for us!  

R2

R2D2 wrote:

AshleyMC wrote:

nolten wrote:

I just got off the phone with CPS and learned an M6II quirk: The viewfinder electronic level does not display if eye focus is enabled. Very weird! The CPS guy said it was a new one on him. Why he thought to suggest testing that is beyond me. Anyway thought you folks aught to know. I fussed with the menus quite a while.

The M50 behaves the same in this regard.

I know this about M50 and M6 Mark II for as long as I have used them.

The M50 Mark II, equipped with the DIGIC 8 latest firmware (newer than that on M50 and on M6 Mark II), provides the electronic level while Eye Focus is active.

Yeah, there’s a bunch of stuff that could be addressed in a firmware update for the M6ii. Wish Canon would do that for us!

R2

WAD

My best guess for this one and a few more quirks will be an answer from Canon in the like of Microsoft's famous "Work As Design" or "this is not a bug but a feature"

They probably don't have enought space on the screens for both eye detect info and level and rather than risking a bug they disable one...

I would like to customize the AF/MF switch to Eye detect/spot AF, no chance...

AshleyMC wrote:

R2D2 wrote:

AshleyMC wrote:

nolten wrote:

I just got off the phone with CPS and learned an M6II quirk: The viewfinder electronic level does not display if eye focus is enabled. Very weird! The CPS guy said it was a new one on him. Why he thought to suggest testing that is beyond me. Anyway thought you folks aught to know. I fussed with the menus quite a while.

The M50 behaves the same in this regard.

I know this about M50 and M6 Mark II for as long as I have used them.

The M50 Mark II, equipped with the DIGIC 8 latest firmware (newer than that on M50 and on M6 Mark II), provides the electronic level while Eye Focus is active.

Yeah, there’s a bunch of stuff that could be addressed in a firmware update for the M6ii. Wish Canon would do that for us!

Firmware update for the M6 Mark II?

Maybe sometime later this year: M6 Mark III - new firmware, same everything else.

LOL I almost forgot that Canon’s idea of a firmware update... is coupled to a new body.

R2

I've had the M6ii for 6 months now, just love this camera and still experimenting with and discovering additional features.

Many of you may use the custom modes C1 and C2, but they are one of my favorite features. You can customize most menu settings, then 'save' them into one of the 2 custom modes. After that, moving the main dial to C1 or C2 'restores' the camera to the exact state you had saved.

I found this especially useful for shooting fast-moving subjects, using 14 fps bursts with mechanical shutter, literally at a moment's notice.

For example, I might be shooting a sunset or a perched bird with a telephoto zoom, using my usual settings for a still subject: perhaps ISO 400-800, aperture priority, single-point AF, electronic shutter, single shot mode, shutter speed ending up in the 1/200 - 1/800 range.

But near me a bird takes off... or I see a kite-surfer... I can flick the main dial over to C2 and without fiddling through many menus, I am now on Fv mode, 1/1600s shutter speed, max aperture for the lens I'm using, 'floating' auto-ISO, mechanical shutter, 14 fps, subject tracking AF, and so on.

After firing off a sequence of the bird or surfer, a flick of the dial and I'm back to the settings I was using before and can resume my prior shooting! I would have missed many a shot with a camera that didn't have custom modes. It can be a huge time-saver and increases the 'fun factor' of this camera a lot!

I only wish Canon gave us more custom settings on the dial! I could use about 5...

Well, Canon did just issue a firmware update for the 5D4 and 1DX2 to handle USB-3 cable connections.  So not all hope is lost, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

R2D2 wrote:

ezriel wrote:

I don’t get what that gives you that regular or raw burst do not?

As Praefos mentioned, RAW burst only outputs a cropped 18 MP file. It’s an interesting mode with the pre-shooting and all, but I don’t really use it that much.

RAW bursts are good with pre-shooting for stationary objects. But without shooting, you might as well just use ordinary bursts. (Is there some advantage to raw burst under those conditions? There certainly are disadvantages.

For objects (such as birds) that might move suddenly, it's not certain that focus tracking will work. The other problem is that you need to leave room for the subject to move, so you probably don't want the subject to fill the frame. The net result is that the subject will typically fill a pretty small part of the sensor. Still it easily beats the alternative, which is no picture at all.

Instead, I use Focus Bracketing more. I have some really nice LED lights for illuminating macros, and Focus Bracketing mode (with AF or without) is great for that application.

This looks like a VERY promising feature.  I've used it with very good success, even hand-held.

There is one essential tracking feature that doesn't seem to be documented in the manual. (Just for clarification, Tracking is automatically moving the focus point(s) around the field, while Servo is continuous auto focusing by the lens.) The problem with the tracking setting is that the focus region is huge, which may not be what you want. Fortunately, there is a way around that problem.

With the camera set on tracking, a touch on the screen gets you a moveable small focus spot that can be positioned anywhere. Then that spot is activated by a shutter half press (or BBF). The spot may expand to fit the subject -- you have no control over that.

You may have to keep your thumb on the spot to keep it from moving until you are ready to activate it.  Furthermore, the spot will continue to track even if the shutter isn't pressed. One way to turn off the tracking and start with a clean slate is just to turn Review on and off.

R2D2 wrote:

Instead, I use Focus Bracketing more. I have some really nice LED lights for illuminating macros, and Focus Bracketing mode (with AF or without) is great for that application.

Can you explain the use of focus bracketing mode without AF? If AF is turned off will the mode just take the specified number of shots without changing focus? What is a typical application or use? Thanks. I ask this as a fan and frequent user of M6II focus bracket mode (with AF :)).

Larry Rexley wrote:

New tip (this one is bound to be controversial): Since the M6 Mark II is essentially ISO invariant above a certain ISO, if you always shoot in RAW mode, use MANUAL exposure mode, and post-process your images (like we often do in astrophotography), there is actually no advantage *to the final image* in setting the ISO higher than ISO 400 (the point where the camera appears to be ISO invariant), such as 1600, 6400 etc.

You can 'achieve' the higher ISOs by pushing the image in post processing by 1 or more EVs and you should get results as good as, or better than, if you had shot at the higher ISO. In fact, by shooting at higher ISOs you are only reducing the dynamic range of the final image, and may be blowing out highlights that would otherwise have detail at ISO 400!

The downside is that when viewed on the camera before and after shooting, the image may appear dark. *Before* shooting this can be worked around by setting the menu option "Exposure Simulation" to Disabled --- the viewscreen will auto-adjust the brightness and show you a 'normal' image. If you point the camera to the Orion nebula on a dark night, with a 135mm f2.8 lens, for example, no matter what your shutter or aperture is set to, the camera will boost the gain to maximum and show you stars and the fuzzy patch of the Orion nebula on the viewscreen! it's up to you to know or choose the correct exposure.

This is the way I and some others do astrophotography. Note that the optimal point for ISO differs widely for each camera model, for other DSLRs which are not so ISO-invariant, the optimal ISO for the least amount of image noise may be in fact be higher such as ISO 1600, 6400 etc (in all cases still reducing available dynamic range and possibly clipping highlights). For some totally ISO-invariant cameras like the Nikon D750, the optimal ISO is ISO 100!

If you are in an automatic exposure mode, you can conveniently achieve this by setting the ISO to 400 and setting the exposure compensation to -1, -2, -3 to get ISO 800, 1600, and 3200. The image will still look dark on the viewscreen unless you disable "Exposure Simulation," and of course the images will also look dark until pushed in post-processing.

The dpreview image quality results for the M6 Mark II (and similar 90D) show that the camera is essentially ISO-invariant above a particular ISO. From my own testing and research on sites like http://photonstophotos.net, I consider this to be ISO invariant at ISO 400 and higher.

For modern digital cameras, changing the ISO DOES NOT make the sensor more sensitive to light --- it simply boosts the gain on whatever light the pixels get. The pixels behave in the same way regardless of ISO, changing the ISO just changes how the signal is read and translated into data on the card.

The reason that the image appears grainy when you are in an automatic mode and set the ISO higher is NOT because the higher ISO 'makes the sensor grainy' --- it is because you are asking the camera to use a shutter speed/aperture combination that puts less than the optimal amount of light onto each pixel for the most dynamic range exposure with the lowest noise, and turning up the 'gain' on all the pixels, raising the 'floor' of the image noise much higher into the usable dynamic range.

Very nice explanation Larry!  This is often my S.O.P.!

R2

ezriel wrote:

I don’t get what that gives you that regular or raw burst do not?

Faster FPS and a silent shutter (plus all the other eShutter goodies) that you don't get with regular bursts.  And a full 32 MP file that the Raw Bursts mode does not.

R2

nolten wrote:

R2D2 wrote:

Instead, I use Focus Bracketing more. I have some really nice LED lights for illuminating macros, and Focus Bracketing mode (with AF or without) is great for that application.

Can you explain the use of focus bracketing mode without AF? If AF is turned off will the mode just take the specified number of shots without changing focus? What is a typical application or use? Thanks. I ask this as a fan and frequent user of M6II focus bracket mode (with AF :)).

I love it for shooting full res. eShutter bursts for macros (without AF).  I can use the "lean technique" and shoot "slices" through the subject, all with a different focal plane.  Then I can either cherry pick the best one, or stack them in post.

Also, this works great on breezy days when the subject is moving.  Much higher likelihood of getting the subject in focus.  This really extends the conditions under which I can shoot.  Same goes for low light macros, where some of the frames exhibit much less motion blur.

R2