Eight Reasons Why I Like the Canon EOS 6D

A street shooter's dream: the Canon EOS 6D full-frame SLR with 40mm f/2.8 STM lens.

I recently had occasion to rent a Canon EOS 6D and 40mm f/2.8 EF lens for an event I was hired to photograph. I could have used my Nikon D7000, but based on past experience I didn't trust it to focus reliably. It turns out that having 39 autofocus points doesn't help much if they can't agree on the correct plane of focus. I had never had any AF problems with any of the Canons I had owned, including those with "only" five points. Since I was curious about the EOS 6D anyway, I figured I'd give it a try.

The event went smoothly. Although I found the 6D's metering to be a bit less predictable than the D7000's, the focusing was more consistently accurate. The few "soft" shots I got were either due to misplaced focus on my part or subject motion.

Since I had the 6D for the weekend, I decided to also take it out for some street shooting. This is where I thought it might fall short. It is, after all, a full-frame camera with a supposedly low-tech 9-point AF system and only one high-precision cross-point in the center. Oh, and aren't full-frame DSLRs supposed to be larger and heavier than their APS and DX-sized brethren? Conventional wisdom predicts that the EOS 6D would be large, heavy, and slow.

Well, it turns out that for all practical purposes the EOS 6D is the same size and weight as the Nikon D7000. Look up the specs for yourself. What's even more surprizing is that in practice the 6D can actually be a lighter and more compact rig for street shooting. That's because Canon and Nikon offer more small, lightweight, wide-angle primes available for full-frame DSLRs than for their APS/DX models. Canon's inch-long, 4.5 oz, $150, 40mm f/2.8 STM is an extreme example of this, but it still supports my basic point: It's hard to find wide-angle primes that offer the same angle of view at the same size and weight for APS/DX cameras as for full-frame.

Because Typepad's image resizingly algorithm is so funky, I suggest double-clicking on this and the rest of these image samples to see them at optimum sharpness.

The wider you want to go, the harder it gets to find wide primes. For another example, consider that Canon and Nikon both offer several 28mm full-frame lenses, but no 28mm-equivalent for APS/DX. There are plenty of zooms available, but these come at significantly greater size, weight, and cost. This is a big deal for street and travel photographers; for studio and home photographers, not so much.

Having a small lens on a relatively large camera offered another surprising benefit: The whole combo looked less intimidating. It's hard for observers to think you're a stealthy pro or a terrorist on a recon mission when your camera has a lens that's not much larger than a lens cap. Oh, and what a lens. It's sharp from center to edge, even at maximum aperture. It has excellent image contrast without appearing harsh. Flare, linear distortion, and chromatic aberations are all low. Its focusing speed can be a tad leisurely if you're moving from minimum focusing distance to maximum or vice-versa, but who does that on a regular basis? In short, I would much rather use this lens on a $2000 camera than use a $700 zoom on a $700 camera.

As for the camera itself, here's a quick list of what won me over:

1. Modest size and weight. I already mentioned this in the paragraphs above. This is for the benefit of those of you who skipped them. 
2. Uncluttered control layout. It was easy for me to locate key controls, either visually or by feel. There were also fewer buttons to accidentally push.
3. Neatly organized menus. Every list of menu options took up no more than a single screen. Some options expanded into a second screen, but the expansions were all logical and there was no need to scroll to find otherwise hidden options.
4. No pop-up flash. This eliminates the flash overhang that otherwise increases the overall depth of the camera. It also eliminates the tiny button on the prism for popping up the flash. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally pushed this button by holding the camera in the vertical position with the short side of the camera resting in my left palm.
5. Locks on the mode and rear dials. If you've ever owned a camera where important controls move if so much as a feather brushes up against them, then you know the value of  dials with locks.
6. Quiet, low vibration shutter. Shutter noise isn't as big a deal in street photography as some people make it out to be. Regardless, I'll take a quiet shutter over a loud one any day.
7. Elegant tonality and microcontrast. I find this more valuable in black and white printing than color, but since I like to convert most of my work to black and white...
8. Excellent low light performance. With rare exceptions (Bruce Gilden), street photographers almost never use electronic flash. A camera that can focus quickly and accurately in low light and produce high-quality images even at ISO 1600 and 3200 is a camera I can't help but like.

So will there be a Canon EOS 6D in my future? It depends on whether I can afford one. I make a good living, but it's not like I've got $2000 just sitting in the bank waiting to be spent on a new camera. Still, where there's a will, there's a way. The Nikon D7000 is up for sale. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these sample shots as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

This is the sort of portrait that merits a lingering look. There is more going on here than first meets the eye.

Here's one last reason: I can crop a square out of a full-frame image and still have resolution and tone to spare.

Comments

[Donncha O Caoimh]

That's a nice write up. I'm looking to upgrade my now ancient Canon 40D and hadn't really thought about going full frame but I like the idea of a quiet shutter and it's certainly more reasonably priced than other full frame bodies.

I know I'll have to replace my old lenses too but my Sigma 18-200 zoom is practically falling apart now as I've had it since the days of my Canon 20D!

[Adam Maas]

It's actually quite easy to find those APS-C wide angle primes you speak of. They simply are all in Pentax mount (the lovely DA Limiteds) or in mirrorless mounts from Sony, Fujifilm or Samsung (and of course Olympus & Panasonic if you are willing to look at micro4/3rds)

Note also that in terms of single-shot AF, an Olympus OM-D or Panasonic GH3 will outperform the 6D and the D7000 in both accuracy and speed. It's only AF-C/Ai Servo modes where the Micro-4/3rds bodies fall down and my the sounds of things that's not a feature you regularly use.

If you like compact, street-friendly cameras with great glass and IQ comparable to the D7000 I'd strongly recommend taking the OM-D for a spin, paired with one of the great m43 primes (probably the 17/1.8 or the 25/1.4)

[HT]

Nice shots, Gordon. When street-shooting, are you letting the camera choose the AF points or are you choosing them manually?

[Gordon Lewis]

>>are you letting the camera choose the AF points or are you choosing them manually?

I generally let the camera choose the AF points. When you're shooting outdoors with a wide angle lens set to f/8 or f/11, depth-of-field covers a multitude of focusing errors. Exceptions are when the main subject is not in the foreground or is well outside the AF area, or when I have limited depth-of-field.

- Gordon

[Antonis]

I like your style of camera review Gordon. But now that you've opened that small can of worms... how about you rent a D600 with, say, a 35/2 or so and give us the lowdown? It's only a couple of bucks less than the Canon at B&H. And sometimes comparing apples to apples reveals those subtle but significant differences in taste.

[Gordon Lewis]

>>how about you rent a D600...?

No problem. Just send me a check for the cost of the rental and I'd be happy to oblige. I already own a 35mm f/2 Nikkor, so when you think about it I'd be saving you money. : - )

[Antonis]

Thanks Gordon... I would've sent you my own Nikkor to save money, but now I can save on that postage too!

Seriously, though, you made me think that a week rental (as opposed to weekend) is a sensible way to evaluate the various wunder-cams that come and go faster than money in the bank these days.

[Bryce Lee]

Looks like the camera that maybe Nikon should produce.
Less complicated for starters and not as possibly troublle plagued D600 & D800 full frames, noth much heavier and
far more complicated.

[megatron]

Finally! An honest review that isn't too extreme! I've owned the 6D for over a month and have taken just over 1000 shots so far. I moved to FF because I had some old manual glass lying around, and it adapted well on the canon. The DOF was really the biggest motivator for me. I had an APS-C with a great zoom range, but the bokeh wasn't as pretty as I liked, and my pictures didn't have that "professional" look that I wanted. The 6D gives great DOF because of the FF sensor, and the low light performance is perfect. I can't even manually focus in the dark by eye, and it can still take shots. Also, you highlight an important aspect - the camera is quite large. There's no need for a FF like the 5D III or D800 to be bigger. And the 6D weighs just a little more than the new Leica M, which is considered to be a small discreet camera for street photography. The control layout on one side is convenient and the shutter is so snappy and quiet. Time for me to go take more pics and stop reading/posting to forums!

[Duncan]

So, Gordon, have you bought one yet?