My small take on R6 and some RF lenses after 6 months.

Little about me.

I’ve been shooting with Nikons D70, D90 and D700 and 5DMIII. All of them were fantastic at the given time. I’ve had a great time shooting with them. A few months ago I’ve decided to return to photography, which I had to quit due to some events in my life. I’ve was choosing between Nikon Z6II and Canon R6. I’ve decided to go with the latter. On the way, I’ve picked up 3 lenses for it. RF 50mm 1.8 STM, RF 70-200 2.8 and RF 15-35 2.8.

Body, quality & handling

When I first got R6 in my hand it felt great. Well shaped and ideal size for my hands. Weight also feels ideal. Menus and all setup felt like home since my last camera was also Canon. The screen and viewfinder are pure joy to use although I took some time to find the best brightness. Another small inconvenience is when the sun being on the left side creeps into the viewfinder, I’ts is not the camera fault but the necessity to wear glasses.

In the beginning, my disappointment was the plastic shell, I’ve expected magnesium for the price. It feels rigid and solid but not as good as my 5DMIII. Despite my reserves to the plastic build, I’m not disappointed with the quality after 6 months of use. I cannot say the same about the build quality of the L lenses.

The Colar of the RF 70-200 2.8 starts losing paint after 3 months of use and I am fairly careful with my gear. The plastic body on both RF 70-200 and 15-35 is in my opinion a poor quality one. Very prone to marks. Especially RF 15-35 got a small scratch from god knows what 😊 while being carried in the backpack (had the lens for just 2 weeks, bloody annoying). The 70-200 on the other hand has some creeping issue and I wish the zoom was slightly tighter to prevent that. Also white plastic easily takes colour stains from a shirt if you carry it at your side. It’s easy to clean but annoying. None above ever happened to any of my old lenses neither from Nikon or Canon.

Few words on autofocus.

Simply put it’s fantastic and very reliable. At least I saw it that way until I got RF 15-35. On that lens Eye, AF is not as reliable and sometimes focuses in front of my subject. I’ve learned to mitigate it and when I shoot portraits with that lens I go for just face detect and so far it does a better job. On the other two lenses, the AF is a killer and very very rarely misses. Easy to swap between types with the extra control ring on the lens. I’ve read some people don’t like it but I found it very useful for that purpose.

Picture quality and lens sharpness.

I was a bit worried a little about the 20Mpix sensor in the R6 and I was wrong. It’s more than enough for my use which is mostly digital and prints up to A2 size. I can crop to around half the size and still have a perfectly usable image for my needs. I do really like the colours camera renders but I am not too happy with what Lightroom does with them out of the box. Tried the Capture One trial and it looked way better in there.

The dynamic range and noise levels are miles ahead of what I’ve been used to with 5DMIII. There is nothing to complain about in that regard.

The camera speed is also excellent, a really fast burst helps me to capture more unique moments when the action is going.

Image stabilization is great and it coops with shaky hands person like me 😊 Sometimes it is not able to do a perfect job but it’s mostly my too shaky hands 😊 Nothing to complain about in that regard. It allowed me to take some shots of some city buildings at very slow shutter speeds without the need for a tripod. That’s more than I could ask for.

On the downside note. When I was on a trip to the Tatra Mountains I photographed mountains at sunrise. I’ve had my camera set up on a tripod with 70-200 zoomed all way in and the shutter speed was around 1/50. After the first few shots, I’ve noticed images were not perfectly sharp. Looked like a few pixel motion blur. Quickly realized I’ve read on the forums that best for landscapes is to use Electronic 1st curtain, after that change my images were much sharper. Although in some combination of focal length and shutter speed and even with Electronic 1st curtain I notice sometimes that few pixel motion blur. For now, I blame it on my shaky hands 😊

Summary

All in all, I am very happy with my choice. I was sometimes wondering would I be better off choosing Nikon. Mainly for reason that 2.8 lenses are a little bit cheaper and 70-200 has internal zoom and no creeping issue. My questioning is more towards the build quality of the RF lenses more than it’s actually about the R6. In summary, using R6 has been a pure joy and I have no regrets, I would buy it again even with my current 6 months experience with it.

I apologize for poor English, it’s not my native language.
Some pictures I’ve taken using gear I’ve written my small review about.

I'm loving my R6 too! Thank you for sharing your experiences, especially with the RF lenses build quality. I had the pleasure of having been invited by Canon in my country in the early months of just having released the R, RP and its slew of RF lenses. I must say they're optically superb in general but not built like a tank which is how most L lenses for the EF mount are.

Lastly, beautiful photos btw!

I agree about the build of the RF lens w plastic. I seen a review where a reviewer scratched an RF lens barrel w his finger nail by accident. I think that's absolutely ridiculous on Canons part. I just seen a 15-35 for sale on FM w an ND filter and the threads on the lens looked abused already lol.

Last photo of girl and jet is really cool

Great photographs.

Shaun_Nyc wrote:

I agree about the build of the RF lens w plastic. I seen a review where a reviewer scratched an RF lens barrel w his finger nail by accident. I think that's absolutely ridiculous on Canons part. I just seen a 15-35 for sale on FM w an ND filter and the threads on the lens looked abused already lol.

Sadly RF lenses price suggests an excellent build quality.

Larawanista wrote:

I'm loving my R6 too! Thank you for sharing your experiences, especially with the RF lenses build quality. I had the pleasure of having been invited by Canon in my country in the early months of just having released the R, RP and its slew of RF lenses. I must say they're optically superb in general but not built like a tank which is how most L lenses for the EF mount are.

It's obvious they went the plastic route with STM lenses, those supposed to be affordable. But L lenses should be built as a long-lasting tool.

Sebastian Beres wrote:

Little about me.

I’ve been shooting with Nikons D70, D90 and D700 and 5DMIII. All of them were fantastic at the given time. I’ve had a great time shooting with them. A few months ago I’ve decided to return to photography, which I had to quit due to some events in my life. I’ve was choosing between Nikon Z6II and Canon R6. I’ve decided to go with the latter. On the way, I’ve picked up 3 lenses for it. RF 50mm 1.8 STM, RF 70-200 2.8 and RF 15-35 2.8.

Body, quality & handling

When I first got R6 in my hand it felt great. Well shaped and ideal size for my hands. Weight also feels ideal. Menus and all setup felt like home since my last camera was also Canon. The screen and viewfinder are pure joy to use although I took some time to find the best brightness. Another small inconvenience is when the sun being on the left side creeps into the viewfinder, I’ts is not the camera fault but the necessity to wear glasses.

In the beginning, my disappointment was the plastic shell, I’ve expected magnesium for the price. It feels rigid and solid but not as good as my 5DMIII. Despite my reserves to the plastic build, I’m not disappointed with the quality after 6 months of use. I cannot say the same about the build quality of the L lenses.

The Colar of the RF 70-200 2.8 starts losing paint after 3 months of use and I am fairly careful with my gear. The plastic body on both RF 70-200 and 15-35 is in my opinion a poor quality one. Very prone to marks. Especially RF 15-35 got a small scratch from god knows what 😊 while being carried in the backpack (had the lens for just 2 weeks, bloody annoying). The 70-200 on the other hand has some creeping issue and I wish the zoom was slightly tighter to prevent that. Also white plastic easily takes colour stains from a shirt if you carry it at your side. It’s easy to clean but annoying. None above ever happened to any of my old lenses neither from Nikon or Canon.

Few words on autofocus.

Simply put it’s fantastic and very reliable. At least I saw it that way until I got RF 15-35. On that lens Eye, AF is not as reliable and sometimes focuses in front of my subject. I’ve learned to mitigate it and when I shoot portraits with that lens I go for just face detect and so far it does a better job. On the other two lenses, the AF is a killer and very very rarely misses. Easy to swap between types with the extra control ring on the lens. I’ve read some people don’t like it but I found it very useful for that purpose.

Picture quality and lens sharpness.

I was a bit worried a little about the 20Mpix sensor in the R6 and I was wrong. It’s more than enough for my use which is mostly digital and prints up to A2 size. I can crop to around half the size and still have a perfectly usable image for my needs. I do really like the colours camera renders but I am not too happy with what Lightroom does with them out of the box. Tried the Capture One trial and it looked way better in there.

The dynamic range and noise levels are miles ahead of what I’ve been used to with 5DMIII. There is nothing to complain about in that regard.

The camera speed is also excellent, a really fast burst helps me to capture more unique moments when the action is going.

Image stabilization is great and it coops with shaky hands person like me 😊 Sometimes it is not able to do a perfect job but it’s mostly my too shaky hands 😊 Nothing to complain about in that regard. It allowed me to take some shots of some city buildings at very slow shutter speeds without the need for a tripod. That’s more than I could ask for.

On the downside note. When I was on a trip to the Tatra Mountains I photographed mountains at sunrise. I’ve had my camera set up on a tripod with 70-200 zoomed all way in and the shutter speed was around 1/50. After the first few shots, I’ve noticed images were not perfectly sharp. Looked like a few pixel motion blur. Quickly realized I’ve read on the forums that best for landscapes is to use Electronic 1st curtain, after that change my images were much sharper. Although in some combination of focal length and shutter speed and even with Electronic 1st curtain I notice sometimes that few pixel motion blur. For now, I blame it on my shaky hands 😊

Summary

All in all, I am very happy with my choice. I was sometimes wondering would I be better off choosing Nikon. Mainly for reason that 2.8 lenses are a little bit cheaper and 70-200 has internal zoom and no creeping issue. My questioning is more towards the build quality of the RF lenses more than it’s actually about the R6. In summary, using R6 has been a pure joy and I have no regrets, I would buy it again even with my current 6 months experience with it.

I apologize for poor English, it’s not my native language.
Some pictures I’ve taken using gear I’ve written my small review about.

I have most of the rf L lenses and I have never had a problem with marking them at all, I use them professionally but look after them and they all have their own compartments in my camera bag etc.

all manufacturers are using engineering grade plastic now and it’s a good move away from metal for various reasons especially in certain climates.

looking at the internal build quality there is nothing to complain about either they are built as good as any lens on the market.

if you really want to see bad build quality have a look at the Sony G master lenses.

I dropped my 24-70 Sony G master onto grass and it came apart in 3 places. The rear mount is fixed on with 3 plastic tabs. Wouldn’t touch Sony again.

if you like metal lenses, buy an Ef-rf adapter and get some of the older L lenses they work superbly on the R6 and other R  series cameras.

Colin46 wrote:

Sebastian Beres wrote:

Little about me.

I’ve been shooting with Nikons D70, D90 and D700 and 5DMIII. All of them were fantastic at the given time. I’ve had a great time shooting with them. A few months ago I’ve decided to return to photography, which I had to quit due to some events in my life. I’ve was choosing between Nikon Z6II and Canon R6. I’ve decided to go with the latter. On the way, I’ve picked up 3 lenses for it. RF 50mm 1.8 STM, RF 70-200 2.8 and RF 15-35 2.8.

Body, quality & handling

When I first got R6 in my hand it felt great. Well shaped and ideal size for my hands. Weight also feels ideal. Menus and all setup felt like home since my last camera was also Canon. The screen and viewfinder are pure joy to use although I took some time to find the best brightness. Another small inconvenience is when the sun being on the left side creeps into the viewfinder, I’ts is not the camera fault but the necessity to wear glasses.

In the beginning, my disappointment was the plastic shell, I’ve expected magnesium for the price. It feels rigid and solid but not as good as my 5DMIII. Despite my reserves to the plastic build, I’m not disappointed with the quality after 6 months of use. I cannot say the same about the build quality of the L lenses.

The Colar of the RF 70-200 2.8 starts losing paint after 3 months of use and I am fairly careful with my gear. The plastic body on both RF 70-200 and 15-35 is in my opinion a poor quality one. Very prone to marks. Especially RF 15-35 got a small scratch from god knows what 😊 while being carried in the backpack (had the lens for just 2 weeks, bloody annoying). The 70-200 on the other hand has some creeping issue and I wish the zoom was slightly tighter to prevent that. Also white plastic easily takes colour stains from a shirt if you carry it at your side. It’s easy to clean but annoying. None above ever happened to any of my old lenses neither from Nikon or Canon.

Few words on autofocus.

Simply put it’s fantastic and very reliable. At least I saw it that way until I got RF 15-35. On that lens Eye, AF is not as reliable and sometimes focuses in front of my subject. I’ve learned to mitigate it and when I shoot portraits with that lens I go for just face detect and so far it does a better job. On the other two lenses, the AF is a killer and very very rarely misses. Easy to swap between types with the extra control ring on the lens. I’ve read some people don’t like it but I found it very useful for that purpose.

Picture quality and lens sharpness.

I was a bit worried a little about the 20Mpix sensor in the R6 and I was wrong. It’s more than enough for my use which is mostly digital and prints up to A2 size. I can crop to around half the size and still have a perfectly usable image for my needs. I do really like the colours camera renders but I am not too happy with what Lightroom does with them out of the box. Tried the Capture One trial and it looked way better in there.

The dynamic range and noise levels are miles ahead of what I’ve been used to with 5DMIII. There is nothing to complain about in that regard.

The camera speed is also excellent, a really fast burst helps me to capture more unique moments when the action is going.

Image stabilization is great and it coops with shaky hands person like me 😊 Sometimes it is not able to do a perfect job but it’s mostly my too shaky hands 😊 Nothing to complain about in that regard. It allowed me to take some shots of some city buildings at very slow shutter speeds without the need for a tripod. That’s more than I could ask for.

On the downside note. When I was on a trip to the Tatra Mountains I photographed mountains at sunrise. I’ve had my camera set up on a tripod with 70-200 zoomed all way in and the shutter speed was around 1/50. After the first few shots, I’ve noticed images were not perfectly sharp. Looked like a few pixel motion blur. Quickly realized I’ve read on the forums that best for landscapes is to use Electronic 1st curtain, after that change my images were much sharper. Although in some combination of focal length and shutter speed and even with Electronic 1st curtain I notice sometimes that few pixel motion blur. For now, I blame it on my shaky hands 😊

Summary

All in all, I am very happy with my choice. I was sometimes wondering would I be better off choosing Nikon. Mainly for reason that 2.8 lenses are a little bit cheaper and 70-200 has internal zoom and no creeping issue. My questioning is more towards the build quality of the RF lenses more than it’s actually about the R6. In summary, using R6 has been a pure joy and I have no regrets, I would buy it again even with my current 6 months experience with it.

I apologize for poor English, it’s not my native language.
Some pictures I’ve taken using gear I’ve written my small review about.

I have most of the rf L lenses and I have never had a problem with marking them at all, I use them professionally but look after them and they all have their own compartments in my camera bag etc.

all manufacturers are using engineering grade plastic now and it’s a good move away from metal for various reasons especially in certain climates.

looking at the internal build quality there is nothing to complain about either they are built as good as any lens on the market.

if you really want to see bad build quality have a look at the Sony G master lenses.

I dropped my 24-70 Sony G master onto grass and it came apart in 3 places. The rear mount is fixed on with 3 plastic tabs. Wouldn’t touch Sony again.

if you like metal lenses, buy an Ef-rf adapter and get some of the older L lenses they work superbly on the R6 and other R series cameras.

Possibly I was very unlucky. Suggestion to buy EF lenses to get better build quality is kinda low blow answer. I wanted native glass for it's features and less hassle. Only pointing out my observation about new RF glass. Paying premium you have right to expect premium quality inside, outside and optically.

Below is photo of the mark. I think my Peakdesign strap could be the suspect for that one 😀 It's only thing that could slide down the bag when lens was attached to the camera and leave the mark.

Sebastian Beres wrote:

Larawanista wrote:

I'm loving my R6 too! Thank you for sharing your experiences, especially with the RF lenses build quality. I had the pleasure of having been invited by Canon in my country in the early months of just having released the R, RP and its slew of RF lenses. I must say they're optically superb in general but not built like a tank which is how most L lenses for the EF mount are.

It's obvious they went the plastic route with STM lenses, those supposed to be affordable. But L lenses should be built as a long-lasting tool.

Agree. Canon was rushing these RF-L lenses to market as they wanted to reclaim the FF market, as soon as they were optically ready - which they are for the most part, no doubt. Most people would assume the high price is because of R&D cost they are trying to recover. Most global brand handbook says never re-enter the market on the low-end product or price segment, thus their exorbitant pricing despite poorer build quality.