M6 mark II to R7 or R6

Hi,

I currently use a Canon M6 mark II with EF 70-200/2.8 and EF 100-400 II lenses to shoot outdoor sports.

If you’ve used something similar and migrated to an R6 or R7, I’d love to hear your experiences, specifically your keeper rates due to AF tracking. Was there a noticeable improvement when you switched?

thanks,

Vijay

vijaydpr wrote:

Hi,

I currently use a Canon M6 mark II with EF 70-200/2.8 and EF 100-400 II lenses to shoot outdoor sports.

If you’ve used something similar and migrated to an R6 or R7, I’d love to hear your experiences, specifically your keeper rates due to AF tracking. Was there a noticeable improvement when you switched?

thanks,

Vijay

AF-wise, the M6ii is hard to beat when doing your own tracking using Spot AF. I get close to 100% keepers shooting some of the toughest sports around (follow the included links)...

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4501836

The R6 and R7 both have very impressive subject tracking Eye AF. They're a pleasure to shoot sports with. The R7's AF is more customizable, and you might be more used to the crop factor (coming from the M6ii). The R6 will produce cleaner output though (if you're not focal length limited).

Here's one of my first shoots with the R7 (and RF 70-200/2.8)...

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66441241

R6 is similar.

R2

ps. If you're having troubles with the M6ii's AF, maybe start a thread over in the M Forum. 

I find this question a little bit strange as I don’t really have AF issues with the M6 II.

Would you post this question coming from a Ricoh GR, or a Fujifilm, uhm, OK, but the Canon AF is superior, so no issues here. And while the R5 (which is my most used camera according to the photo count) has in theory a superior AF, personally I don’t really see a difference in the keeper rate.

But maybe this is already your answer.

vijaydpr wrote:

Hi,

I currently use a Canon M6 mark II with EF 70-200/2.8 and EF 100-400 II lenses to shoot outdoor sports.

If you’ve used something similar and migrated to an R6 or R7, I’d love to hear your experiences, specifically your keeper rates due to AF tracking. Was there a noticeable improvement when you switched?

thanks,

Vijay

Hi

M6II owner - and R5 and R7.

The eye tracking AF is a game changer for me in both cameras in the R's.   I use it for flying birds and also animals.

Still kept one M6II though as great powerful small package and no RFS 11-22, 15-45 or 32 1.4.

For your purposes I would stay with the same sensor in the R7.

The only RF FF to truly upgrade from the M6 II, is the R5.

The M6 II seems extremely capable, although I would find the size too small.  You could put off RF until there are more options, reduced pricing as they age, or lower used prices.  It would also be nice to take the time while Canon introduces lenses as well.

vijaydpr wrote:

R2 - Thanks for sharing your experiences, and great photos BTW, especially love the water skiing ones.

Thanks.  It was this shoot that convinced me that the R7 had the same guts as its FF brethren.

Spot focus with Servo AF is exactly what I use for baseball on the M6 ii. My main problem is one of technique, and it's that I have a hard time keeping the spot on the face and following any action that's moving laterally across the frame. (I use the touchpad to control spot location.) I resort to zooming out to make the tracking easier, but that wastes pixels when I crop back in during post-processing to get the compositions I want.

Yup, sports are tough!  You’re using the best techniques that you can with that camera (M6ii).

When I can keep the spot on the face, the keeper rate is pretty good. I guess what I'm looking for is subject detection that works well enough that I am freed from having to move the AF point myself, and thereby keep the framing tighter.

Well, the R7 can free you from needing such tight control over AF point placement.  It’ll pick up the Eye/Face (anywhere in the allowable area) and then track it as you either recompose or move with your subject.

Having said that, I do always recommend following the subject as closely as possible, trying to keep it in exactly the same spot in the frame.  Otherwise you can get subject motion blur, even with fast shutter speeds.

If you have an opinion on the relative strengths of subject detection on the M6 II vs. R7/6, I'd love to hear them.

The R7 is definitely next generation, however if you can use perfect technique with the M6ii, it can keep up with the newer cameras.

Thanks again for the helpful response you've already provided.

Vijay

Best of luck with your hunt!

R2

vijaydpr wrote:

Hi,

I currently use a Canon M6 mark II with EF 70-200/2.8 and EF 100-400 II lenses to shoot outdoor sports.

If you’ve used something similar and migrated to an R6 or R7, I’d love to hear your experiences, specifically your keeper rates due to AF tracking. Was there a noticeable improvement when you switched?

thanks,

Vijay

Some good answers here, but as someone who owns a M6 II as well as a R7 and aR5 (not the R6 but close) I would say the biggest difference I have found when shooting sp[orts or animals is the Eye Detect AF, which I find superior in my two R series cameras.

I found the tracking on the M6 II to be highly effective, but it worked best for me with slime degree of manual intervention, especially in terms of which AF mode to use, narrowing the AF area, etc. The R7 will do as good a job as I can with a set and forget setting and auto eye detection.

The other big benefit is just simply access to the RF lens system. While not (yet) as extensive as the EF system, I find the individual lense to natch or exceed their EF cousins. So, going to the R7 allows me to use my RF 100-500 L, which is, in my opinion, quite a bit better (smaller, lighter, faster AF performance, greater reach - more than offsetting the slower lens) than the EF 100-400 L II.

So, bottom line: I have not really used my M6 II in the 7 months since I got my R7. Its better.