So yes, I'm late to the party. COVID has meant that I've not had much photographic work for the last two years, so what I've been shooting has mainly been for fun. And I've plenty of cameras for that, and even bought an RP to carry with me on lockdown walks for a bit of extra fun - which I've enjoyed. That brought my main camera arsenal up to R, RP, 5D IV, 5D SR, 7D II and M6 II - covers pretty much every type of shooting I do.
But gradually, business is picking up, and I've also considered if it's time to rationalise my kit. I've also a few weddings to shoot - did one in September as a second shooter, and got on fine with my R for that - haven't shot a wedding since film days, FWIW. I used the RP as a backup camera, and frankly was rather impressed by how well it did, but for conference work, I need really good low light performance and a proper silent shutter, so decided now was finally the time to splash the cash on the R6.
Now there are plenty of reviews of the camera that tell you how well the AF works - and it's splendid - how good the files are for 20MP - and they ARE good - and so on, but what most of them don't tell you much about is how the camera feels in operation, especially compared to the R (and RP) - so that's what I'm going to concentrate on.
So, what are the differences between the cameras?
Sensor - R6 20 MP, R 30 MP, RP 24 MP. But as most reviews show, there's not really that much difference in IQ at low ISO, and at the high end, the R6 shades it.
High ISO - R6 102,400 , R 40,000, RP 40,000 - I've shot with the R all the way to 40k quite often - sometimes there's no choice, even with fast glass. I've been very happy with it at 6,400, pretty happy at 12,800 and have been able to use results - with some NR - all the way up. The RP hasn't had to do that so much, but what I have shot at 6400 is ok. The R6 - well, 25,600 looks fine, not done anything beyond there yet.
Video - not tried the R6, so no comment. Up to now, all my video has been 1080P, so I've not really got anything to compare 4K to.
IBIS - I love the fact that this works with in-lens stabilisation. Worth waiting for.
Controls and handling - ah, the biggie. I've been using EOS cameras for over 30 years, since the EOS 100 (Elan), which was the first model to have a mode dial and front and rear control dials. That's the same basic set-up as on the R6, with the addition of an extra wheel on top, so it should be pretty familiar to me. And yet I've become so used to the R and the RP that it's felt slightly alien to have that rear wheel back. Especially as I rather liked being able to assign different functions to the 4-way controller - the wheel seems like a bit of a backwards step, given the control ring and all the other dials. It's not as though you have to press a button and rotate a wheel as on a Rebel, there are simply plenty of other input dials. I rather surprised myself with that finding, I have to say.
Mode dial or the R setup? I personally don't mind either way - I've used enough 1 series cameras (and the T90, too) to not get hung up on pressing buttons to change shooting modes, and anyway, Fv rather makes the whole thing redundant. However, I do prefer the RP's mode dial that you can much more readily alter with the camera at your eye, if you want to.
Touch bar or joystick? Well the touch bar worked well for me, and I've never been a huge joystick fan. I would prefer that they had kept the touch bar. For me, by far the best way of selecting focus point (excepting ECF) is touch and drag - which actually brings me to my biggest moan about the R6 - the smaller rear screen. Now I couldn't care less about the size for viewing purposes, it's no big deal. But being smaller means it's further away from my thumb, and so much harder to use touch and drag - even the RP is far better here. It's not unworkable, but it's a little less comfortable, and a touch (sorry!) slower.
Top screen? Don't miss it. If it doesn't tell me that my film is correctly loaded, I don't need it.
Q button - jury's out on a separate button, was always happy enough with using Set.
Depth of field button - now here's a very welcome step back to the past, a proper, dedicated DOF preview button.
Dioptric adjustment - it's moved from the left of the finder to the right. Why? Probably because of the Rate button. Talking of which... I think this might prove handy.
So - what do I think overall? Love the performance of the camera - AF is astonishing, IBIS is great, IQ is absolutely great, so long as 20MP is enough - for what I need this camera for, it is, but it's not a total all-rounder for me. Handling is a bit more of a mixed bag - many things excellent, and overall, it does that very Canon thing of feeling like a proper camera, a photographic tool designed by people who take pictures themselves - not all of the rivals manage that. But I do think that for me, they listened to too much criticism of some of the R control methods, and have perhaps taken a slight backwards step on certain aspects of handling. And the flip screen size reduction has certainly made touch and drag, that most logical and sensible of focus point selection modes, rather less useful.
All in all, it's a great camera. I expect to be selling my 7D II and 5D IV, and if only I could justify the cost of an R5, the 5D SR would be going the same way.
