Canon EOS R6 Mark II First Impressions: Updated Design And AF!

So Canon just announced a few new additions to their EOS R family today and we've had the chance to try them out, starting with the full-frame EOS R6 Mark II, which brings about a slew of improvements in both hardware and software.

Design

Design-wise, it largely maintains the same look and feel as the previous Mark I with slight changes such as a dedicated switch for photo and video mode and an extra new mode for their Auto Hybrid shooting which we will get to later.

Speaking of shooting, on the photography end we have an upgraded electronic shutter now being able to output 40 fps continuously with AF, that's slightly above the standard 30 fps you get with other EOS cameras.

Photography

Touching on the AF, if you like shooting horses, zebras, trains or planes, the R6 Mark II covers you in that aspect as well, including them within the camera's deep learning algorithm. "Auto subject detection" also detects different subjects within the same frame so that's convenient.

We also had the chance to test out the upgraded tracking with a non-production version and for the most part, it works splendidly, human subjects track accurately with little to no lag in the focus racking. It also managed to detect a plane that was passing by relatively quickly.

When it comes to detection and tracking for cars though, we did have a little trouble getting it to work right most of the time but that's mostly due to the shooting conditions we were in, if you are shooting closer to the car with more depth it should work just fine, according to Canon that is.

The R6 Mark II houses a 24.2-megapixel full-frame sensor and can shoot at an ISO of up to 102,400. It also introduces a new hybrid shooting mode which captures a photo along with a few seconds of pre-video recording, pretty neat!

Videography

For you videographers out there, the R6 Mark II now supports 6K 60p RAW recording with external devices like the Atomos Ninja, CLog 3 and 180p recording at FHD. But amongst the various updates and improvements, arguably the most useful one has got to be unlimited recording at 4K 30fps!

Focus breathing compensation or correction is also now available for the first time in EOS cameras, basically what it does is that it adjusts the focus of the subject when there is a shift in movements or angles. Probably useful when used in tandem with the AF tracking for shooting videos.

Last but not least, the R6 can also be tethered to your PC as a webcam without the need to install the EOS Webcam Utility software. It's truly a plug-and-play solution now.

Accessories

Aside from the camera, Canon also announced their new RF 135mm f/1.8 L lens, along with the Speedlite EL-5 which brings about its own set of improvements within the Canon ecosystem as well! Our impressions, based on the small display on the R6 are that...it looks good, with deep bokeh and all.

Conclusion

Generally, all-around improvements from the R6 Mark I, nothing groundbreaking per se, but still improvements nonetheless. If you have any questions in particular you'd like answered about the R6 do let us know and stay tuned for our full review!