Canon EOS 6D review

The EOS 6D is Canon’s most affordable full-frame SLR to date. Its sensor is similar to the one in the luxurious 5D Mark III, but its controls have more in common with the cheaper 60D. It’s also the first Canon SLR to incorporate Wi-Fi and GPS, and with a price right between the 60D and 5D Mark III, it’s a tempting proposition for keen amateurs who want the low noise and big viewfinder that come with a full-frame camera. The question is: is it good enough to dislodge the similar Nikon D600 from our A-List?

Wi-Fi and GPS are optional extras for the D600, so having them built into the 6D gets it off to a good start. The GPS function keeps working when the camera is powered down – as denoted by an icon on the passive LCD screen – so it needn’t spend ages recalculating its position.

The Wi-Fi allows the camera to connect to an app for Android and iPhone, which has a remote shooting mode complete with live view, autofocus point and exposure control. An elegant image browser offers swift full-screen views and the ability to embed star ratings back onto the camera’s SD card. The other wireless functions are rather fiddly to set up but the list is impressive, with tethered PC and Mac shooting, uploads to social media, wireless printing and DLNA streaming.

The 6D’s controls are generally well laid out, but a dedicated white balance button is notably absent. The Q button and its associated menu is the quickest means of access, but manual white balance calibration is available only via the main menu. However, the 6D regains ground over the D600 with its AF-On button. This triggers autofocus, giving the option to use the shutter release button to take photos without having to refocus before each shot – a useful trick for rapid-fire photography. Performance is generally excellent, but continuous mode is, according to our tests only 4.2fps; the D600 managed 5.5fps.

There’s no integrated flash, which some will see as a drawback, but others will consider a testament to the camera’s incredible low-light performance. It also lacks an autofocus assist lamp. It’s something that Canon omits from all its SLRs, but autofocus in extremely low light can suffer as a result.

The 6D’s weakest area is its autofocus sensor. As with the D600, the 6D’s AF points are bunched towards the centre of the frame more than we’d ideally like, but while the D600 has 39 points with nine cross-type for increased sensitivity, the 6D has only 11 points, with a single cross-type point in the centre. So few points means automatic subject tracking isn’t available. It also meant we often found ourselves having to focus and then recompose the shot. There was a palpable difference in the responsiveness of the centre cross-type point compared to the others, so we tended to leave this point permanently selected.

How much of a drawback this is depends on the kind of subjects you tend to shoot. It makes little difference for landscape photography, it’s a bit of a nuisance for portraits, but a disaster for sports and other action photography. It bugged us for the first couple of days of testing, but we soon became used to it.

There are no such issues to report regarding image quality. The 20-megapixel sensor is a little lower than the D600’s 24 megapixels and the 5D Mark III’s 22 megapixels, but there isn’t much in it. All three excel for low noise at fast ISO speeds, but the 6D’s JPEGs edged into the lead, making it the best low-light camera we’ve ever reviewed.

Photos were fit for publication up to ISO 12800, and even ISO 51200 produced passable snaps. Details at lower ISO speeds were crisp and precise, accurately picking out fine textures such as hair and fabric. Automatic exposures were expertly judged and, as always, there’s ample scope to customise the JPEG processing settings. Comparisons with the D600 fall somewhere between subjective and negligible – both take sublime photos.

Their video modes are easier to tell apart. Compared to the D600, the 6D’s output looks like a lower-resolution picture with aggressive digital sharpening applied, and its punchy contrast comes at the expense of clipped highlights. Both cameras include a microphone input but the 6D lacks a headphone output. However, it does provide full access to exposure controls, where the D600’s aperture is fixed while recording.

The EOS 6D is an excellent choice for Canon users who are considering moving to full-frame for the first time. The lower noise, shallower depth of field and larger viewfinder that come with a full-frame sensor, along with the Wi-Fi and GPS functions, add up to a significant upgrade. However, the 60D and even the 650D have nine cross-type autofocus sensors, and the 6D’s autofocus system compares unfavourably to that of the Nikon D600. It’s a close call, but the D600 remains our top recommendation.

Canon EOS 6D sample pictures:

Click this link for the full resolution version

Click this link for the full resolution version

Click this link for the full resolution version

Click this link for the full resolution version

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