Canon 6d Full Frame DSLR

 

I'm going to keep these reviews short and sweet. If you have any questions regarding my experience with any of these products, feel free to contact me via the contact page and ask me anything you'd like.

 

So here it is, the canon 6d. I've owned three of these bodies and for a good reason- they're great! Having also owned a 5d mark iii, it was a great companion camera to have with that. I'm not going to cover ALL of the features, just the ones that matter most to me. Here are the pros and cons:

 

Pros:

 

PRICE - these are cheap, and on the used market or ebay deals they are a steal. For around $1300 you can snag one of these cameras and they are fully capable of producing incredible images.

 

Image quality- in canon's current lineup, the 6d has the cleanest sensor, aside from the 1dx which is roughly equal. Yes, it's got better image quality than the 5d mark iii even! I found it to be almost a stop better at high ISO, there is no shadow banding noise like the current 5d series bodies suffer, and it has 0.4 stops more dynamic range which IS noticeable over the 5d mark iii. This allows you to cleanly pull a little more information out of the shadows or bright skies. The image quality of the 6d is absolutely amazing, and I have had no problem taking clean, vivid photos at ISO 6400. The image quality of this camera is so good that I would intentionally use it instead of my 5d for important photos or portraits. 

 

Build quality- No, it's not a 5d or 1d body but it still feels solid and great in the hands. The body is weather sealed and in my opinion totally fit for professional use. 

 

Cons:

 

First and foremost, 1/4000 shutter speed sucks. While it may not be a problem to everyone, some times it's really hard or impossible to shoot at super shallow apertures during the day (yeah, you can stop down, but some of us love our primes wide open). Usually at f2 or f2.8 you can get your photos exposed right with this shutter speed limit, though. 

 

Button layout somewhat stripped- some buttons that are on the professional layouts are not there, such as flash exposure compensation. It's annoying to have to pull the camera away from your face to change this setting, because it's one you need to be able to adjust quickly. 

 

Autofocus- this is the worst part about the 6d. You essentially get canon's archaeic AF diamond, which cripples the otherwise amazing camera. Yes, they made the center point able to focus in -3ev, which is great when you need that ability, but keep in mind it's ONLY the center poin that can do this. If you want to focus with any of the outer points in the dark, good luck. Only the center point is cross type as well, and while I have had some success with the outer points in bright situations, they aren't that great or quick to lock focus. This camera is great for still subjects, though it can obviously be used for weddings and slow moving subjects too, it's just not ideal.

 

1/180 x-sync - wtf canon? why would you intentionally lower the x-sync to this? does 1/20 of a second matter that much to you? Sadly though, if you're using flash indoors and letting ambient expose in your photos as well, that 1/20 of a second difference (most canon bodies sync at 1/200) CAN sometimes mean motion blur from ambient light.