Canon 6D In Hand - A Biased Report

You may have come to this blog expecting truth and justice. Impartiality and considered criticism. Well, you ain't 'a goin' to get it. You're going to get a one-eyed set of slanted opinions - the closest it will come to fairness is that the slope will go to both sides of the frame.

For why? Because I am a Nikon shooter and this is a Canon camera. I look at this new camera, sitting here on the editorial kitchen table, and I see it in entirely a different light than the potential customers.

Size? Good - medium hand size and plenty of room for the last three fingers of the right hand. Body thickness enough to give a good grip.

Body? Slick contours. No protrubances on LHS so palm of hand does not get crushed with long jobs. Semi-rough finish to provide grip wherever you touch the body. Standard Canon covering - harder than Nikon but less likely to peel off after a few years. Tripod socket dead center in lens line.

Control positions? Canon single finger wheel on the firing plate and twirly wheel around the thumb control position at the back. The ISO, Drive, AF, and metering buttons are where you would expect them to be, but thankfully Canon have made it possible to change them with both the finger wheel and the twirly wheel so you don't necessarily have to be double-jointed to do it.

Sound? Quiet.

Menu? Canon. Not surprising, that, but what I mean is if you have seen previous Canon screens you will not be intimidated by this one. The screen is the latest bright job. A pleasure to see.

Megapixels? Yes, it has them. They are attached to the CMOS sensor inside and you get 20.2 of them. This is a full-frame sensor so make sure you have full-frame lenses to go with it. And big models to shoot.

Motion pictures? Yes, full HD at up to 12800 ISO. You could record  very high quality video for ages and ages and your family knows it. That is why they avoid you at parties.

File Juggling? Yes - you can process RAW and jpeg in camera and you can do HDR. I remember doing HDR. Once. I felt so ashamed of myself...

WiFi? Yes. Quite what this does is a mystery, but then so were cardboard milk cartons at one stage of the game. The modern generations should be able to cope with this - they will be able to send information wirelessly to everybody everywhere all the time. Be warned.

GPS? Yes.

Now, all the above silliness aside, this would appear to be a magnificent camera from Canon - I can easily see how the current Canon shooters will lust after it - good for business - and move heaven and earth and their old small-frame lenses to afford it. Good for their photography. It reminds me of my own choice in the Nikon line as far as ergonomics and did I not own an extensive stable of lenses for that system I might well be tempted by this one. Play fair in your own interests - come in and give it a test in the shop.

If you are in any doubt, be safe and purchase a camera body and a suite of lenses from each of the major manufacturers - then you cannot be caught out by any innovations that may come in the future - you'll be able to cope with it all. We can arrange for a semi-trailer to haul your camera bags for you when you wish to go on holiday.