Canon R6 Mark II Review

Canon R6 Mark II Hands-on Preview -- Now Shooting!

by  Jeremy Gray and William Brawley
Preview posted: 11/02/2022

Updates:
12/16/2022: First Shots sample images added
03/10/2023: Gallery Images updated

Only a couple of years later, Canon has now announced a follow-up to their popular EOS R6 enthusiast-class full-frame mirrorless camera. The appropriately-named Canon EOS R6 Mark II brings a host of pleasing upgrades and improvements to what was already a very impressive and versatile full-frame mirrorless camera aimed at enthusiasts. With this second-gen model, Canon answers one of the notable "criticisms" of the first model, its 20MP sensor. The R6 II brings in a more competitive 24MP full-frame image sensor, providing a bit more resolution performance and putting the R6 II more in-line with its competitors, primarily the Nikon Z6 II. The camera also includes updated AF features, faster continuous burst rates, better rolling shutter suppression, 6K RAW video recording and much more!

We considered the original Canon R6 one of Canon's best all-around mirrorless cameras, if not the best at the time. It offered an excellent combination of image quality, performance and versatility, all packaged into a rugged, comfortable camera and priced just right for the enthusiast creator. The Canon R6 II improved on this already excellent camera, at least on paper -- a few more megapixels, better AF, better performance, more video features, same price point. As Canon put it, the R6 Mark II is designed for versatility -- a "Swiss Army Camera," if you will. It offers a lot of features to fit a variety of different use cases and content creators.

We recently had a chance to go hands-on with a preproduction sample of the new Canon R6 II at a Canon-organized press event, and despite not being able to do a full review yet, we put the camera through its paces, testing it out with all sorts of high-speed and challenging sports and action subjects.

Let's dive in and check out Canon's latest enthusiast full-frame mirrorless camera!

Key Features & Specs

• Newly developed 24.2-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor
• DIGIC X Image Processor
• Updated Dual Pixel CMOS AF with R3's subject-detection features & more
• More AI subject-detection varieties, including horses and trains
• 12fps burst with mechanical shutter
• 40fps burst with electronic shutter
• HDR mode now supported for moving subjects
• RAW Burst pre-capture shooting mode
• 6K 60p RAW external recording, 4K 60p internal, Full HD 180p
• Improved battery life
• Dust- and weather-sealed construction like the original R6
• $2500 body-only

Design & Product Tour

Overall, the Canon R6 II shares the same general design and shape as the original but with a few tweaks and changes to a few control. The physical dimensions are identical, but the weight is ever-so-slightly lighter than the predecessor. The R6 II has a comfortable, deep handgrip, dual command dials, a large rear control dial, a large and bright EVF and a sturdy vari-angle touchscreen display. As with the predecessor, the Mark II does not have a top-deck info panel as we see on higher-priced models, like the R5 or R3 models.

Perhaps one of the most notable design changes to the R6 Mark II is the repositioned power switch. Canon moved the power switch over to the right side, making it into a little three-way lever above the thumb command dial and combining the on/off switch with the control lock functionality. On the left side of the EVF now, the R6 II has a Photo/Movie Mode toggle switch right in the same spot as the On/Off switch was on the R6/R5 -- and a switch that's almost the same design, too. This has the potential to be a little confusing to users accustomed to the controls of the predecessor or the R5. When we first picked up the camera, our muscle memory immediately kicked in, and several times, we flicked the Photo/Movie mode switch trying to turn on the camera.

Aside from that new mode switch, the R6 II also does away with a small, dedicated Lock button on the top deck. This functionality, as mentioned, is now combined into the camera's On/Off switch. The functionality is the same, allowing you to lock into your camera settings and disabling the controls to prevent unwanted button presses or accidentally moving the dials. The rest of the controls on both the top and rear of the camera are essentially identical. The R6 II keeps the same layout, including a separate multi-directional joystick control and large rear control dial, as opposed to the unique combined joystick/control wheel design we saw on the recent EOS R7 model.

The EVF remains unchanged, too, offering a pleasingly-large 0.5-inch OLED monitor with 3.69-million dots of resolution and a smooth, sharp 120fps refresh rate -- making it great for fast-moving subjects. The viewfinder provides a 0.76x magnification ratio and a smooth, sharp 120fps refresh rate. The LCD is the same as in the original R6, with a 3.0-inch vary-angle touchscreen design. The LCD panel has 1.62M dots of resolution and includes Clear View LCD II anti-smudge and anti-reflection coatings.

In terms of ports and connectivity, the Canon R6 II is, as one might expect, extremely similar to the original. The camera features the same array of physical ports along the left side, including 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks, a Type-D Micro-HDMI port, a remote jack and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port.

The R6 II features dual UHS-II SD card slots and uses the same Canon LP-E6NH battery pack as the original model -- and with that, the same backward compatibility with earlier LP-E6N and LP-E6 battery packs. As before, the R6 II, when using the LP-E6NH batteries, can be charged via USB. However, you must purchase the USB Power Adapter PD-E1 accessory.

Canon R6 Hands-on First Impressions

by  Jeremy Gray

During our hands-on time with the R6 II, we tested many of the camera’s best features. In this section, we will break down each photo opportunity in turn, highlighting how the camera performed and how its new features impacted our shooting experience.

Sports at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center

Day one was all about sports in bright, outdoor light. It’s the perfect situation to test the R6 II’s improved autofocus system. There’s plenty of light for the camera to strut its stuff while subjects are still moving fast enough to put an AF system, no matter how good, through its paces.

One of the stops was an obstacle course tackled by extremely talented, fast, strong athletes. What made it an interesting challenge for the R6 II is that the athletes’ faces were often darting in and out of shadows or being partially or fully obscured by parts of the obstacle course. With subject detection enabled and searching for people, the camera did a good job focusing on people’s faces and locking in on eyes when possible. That isn’t to say the camera was perfect, but it was very good. Some problems came down to occasional instances of face detection detecting something that wasn’t a face. This theme will come up again later, so it’s worth noting that the R6 II cameras we used are pre-production, meaning that the firmware isn’t final. How that lack of production-level firmware affects autofocus is impossible to say at this point. Still, any criticisms levied at performance should be consumed with a grain of salt.

Back to shooting. The R6 II’s next challenge was racing at a BMX track. Now, unlike the obstacle course, where subjects moved impressively fast but not at a sprint, BMX riders zipped around the track with extreme speed. Another key difference is that, unlike the obstacle course participants, the BMX riders had helmets that obscured part of their faces. The camera then relied on head and body tracking rather than face tracking. There were a handful of times when the R6 II could get a bit of the riders’ faces at the right angle and in the right light, but it was rare.

The R6 II maintained continuous, accurate focus on the riders. Even when it was tough for us to keep the riders in the frame, the camera handled just about everything thrown at it. Acceptable hit rates vary by photographer and situation, but the R6 II exceeded my expectations. The BMX track was my favorite part of the entire event, largely due to how well the camera handled it. What could’ve easily been a somewhat frustrating experience was a very rewarding one.

In a similar spirit, the BMX stunt area nearby offered fast-paced action photography. It also provided a great chance for the new RF 135mm F1.8 lens to showcase its fantastic image quality. While a full review is required, at this point, it’s one of my favorite RF lenses to date. The lens is extremely sharp, even when shooting wide open, and its mid-telephoto focal length and fast max aperture are awesome for separating the subject from the background.

Like the BMX track, the stunt area also provided a good chance to see how the R6 II performed at high shooting speeds. The camera can shoot at up to 40 frames per second using its electronic shutter, which is very fast. The rolling shutter isn’t bad and seems better than the original R6. That’s something we’ll need to dig into further when we do our full hands-on review, but if rolling shutter is a concern, then the mechanical shutter still delivers 12fps shooting, which is not slow. It may seem slow in the modern mirrorless camera landscape, where cameras hit 20, 30, 40 fps and faster using electronic shutters. Still, we aren’t far removed from 12fps being among the fastest shooting speeds for flagship professional cameras. I don’t mind 12 fps in many cases, although admittedly, the bikers were moving fast enough that I often found myself using the electronic shutter.

Track and field was up next. Admittedly, I didn’t spend much time here because the athletes had already done quite a bit before I arrived. Unlike the R6 II’s battery, which seemingly could run marathon after marathon, the athletes had to be careful to maintain their energy. After all, they were doing us a service, and it wouldn’t be fair to expect them to run themselves ragged. Nonetheless, face and eye detection worked well here.

The final part of the first day was photographing rowers from a separate boat. It was a good experience, and the camera did great. It also allowed me to use the camera’s fully articulating screen. I had to hold the camera up high to be able to shoot fellow photographers and compose using the touchscreen. The resulting performance was pretty good, although while the conceivable shooting angles are great, the display came up short in the very bright light. Contending with the glare was very difficult.

Overall, the first day with the R6 II was very productive. The new autofocus system and the R6 II’s extreme speed were highlights. I wish the camera had at least one CFexpress card slot, which would help with the buffer. While I only came face-to-face with a full buffer a few times during the first day, it ultimately cost me shots the next day. I don’t want to harp on it, but SD card technology has hit a wall, and there’s no way to keep scaling it up. You can increase capacities, but speeds aren't getting much faster.

So, the next day started the same way the prior day ended, with sports. It was a sports-centric trip. No complaints here. I love all sports but have little opportunity to photograph them on my own time. We kicked things off with tennis (outdoors) and diving (indoors but with natural light pouring in through large windows and an atrium-style roof) at UCSD. I started at the tennis courts and tested my mettle, trying to capture the tennis ball striking the racket. Not easy to do at 12fps, but much easier at 40fps.

It was also a good chance to see how the R6 II’s new pre-burst mode works. You can enable RAW Burst Shooting and then RAW Pre-Burst in the camera’s menus, and the camera cycles a constant 20-shot buffer (0.5 seconds) as soon as you half-press the shutter. If you keep the shutter half-pressed, the buffer keeps cycling through. You can’t store an infinite number of images, but half a second’s worth is plenty of catch the action that often evades the camera when you just can’t get the shutter fully pressed in time. We’ve all been there. One Canon team members said he’d used it to photograph lightning, which sounds amazing. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on whom you ask, the skies in San Diego remained clear. While I don’t anticipate using something like pre-burst often, it’s a fantastic option for sports photographers and anyone trying to shoot easy-to-miss, fast action.

Diving was tough, but not for lack of skill by the divers. Most of the time, the camera did a good job. I didn’t get as many good shots as I’d hoped for, especially when I tried to get a tight framing on the divers entering the water, but I can chalk some of that up to user error. When I didn't maintain good framing or when divers were spinning, the camera was sometimes sluggish to pick back up on the subject's face when it became visible again. It was a demanding shooting situation, and the R6 II did well most of the time.

After a beautiful picnic lunch on the beach, it was time to photograph surfers and mountain bikers. (Seriously, the lunch was fantastic). While William worked more on photographing surfers, I borrowed an EF 600mm F4 lens with an RF adapter and tried photographing birds in flight. The camera’s animal detection did a great job here. By the way, there’s now an automatic subject detection option, so I switched between photographing surfers from a safe perch up high on the cliffs and photographing the gulls and pelicans without needing to mess with settings. This is an exciting new feature, and it worked well.

This is also when I missed a few shots because the camera’s buffer filled up too fast. I suppose “too fast” is relative, but in this case, I was photographing a bird landing, and I was excited by how it looked on the viewfinder, but the shutter stopped going because the camera had to deal with its bloated buffer. This issue isn’t unique to the R6 II, but I can’t help feeling like I could’ve gotten back to shooting faster and maybe even gotten the shot I wanted if I were shooting to a CFexpress card.

The mountain biking portion was fun as well. The camera performed as expected after having had such a good experience with the BMX riders the day before. The skill of the riders – and all the athletes we photographed during our time in San Diego – was superb. It was another good chance to test the autofocus and overall shooting speed. The camera passed the test with flying colors.

Summing up the hands-on experience

In a word, great. I’m more verbose than that, though, so to expand, the R6 II continues the original R6’s legacy of excellent all-around performance. I consider the EOS R6 the camera I wish the EOS R had been when it launched in 2018. I’m not sure that the R6 II elevates the EOS R system to the next level like that, but it does something equally impressive – it emphasizes the R6’s strengths while addressing some of its weaknesses. It’s a better all-around camera suited to a wide range of applications for photographers, videographers, and the ever-growing segment of users who do a bit of everything. The improved autofocus system and performance go a long way to making the R6 II a better camera than its predecessor. But there’s a lot more to it than that. Pointing to just a couple of features undersells the camera a bit. It’s a very good camera. It's also greater than the sum of its parts. Everything comes together very well.

Now's a good time to discuss more general features of the EOS R6 II – features that affected my entire experience, regardless of the situation and subject. The R6 II has a newly designed 24.2-megapixel full-frame CMOS image sensor. There are a couple of key points to make about the sensor. It's not stacked or backside illuminated. It's not surprising that it isn't stacked. That's still a rare feature for full-frame cameras. It is a bit surprising that it's not BSI. While the sensor is made entirely by Canon and doesn't include the latest and greatest in sensor technology, it produces great image quality.

At low ISO settings, the R6 II captures sharp, detailed images. While 24MP isn't very high-resolution, it's plenty for most situations. You can certainly make nice large prints from 24MP files. As you increase the ISO, detail decreases, but image quality remains good. The R6 II performs very well in low light. The camera also produces images with excellent color and tonality. There's something about Canon color that always looks good, especially with skin tones. The dynamic range is also impressive. While we haven't dug into the camera's raw files yet, and can't share them because it's a pre-production camera, we suspect the R6 II will deliver better image quality than its predecessor. We're excited to put the R6 II to the test in our lab as soon as possible.

The Canon R6 II offers many notable improvements over the original R6, including an impressive new sensor, excellent autofocus improvements, and more speed. All these improvements were immediately felt during just two days of hands-on shooting. Additional time with production firmware will likely solidify the strong positive first impressions Canon's newest full-frame camera made.

Image Quality & Shooting Features

The heart of the new Canon R6 Mark II is its all-new 24.2-megapixel full-frame sensor with Dual Pixel CMOS AF. Although not a significant increase in megapixels compared to the 20MP R6, the 24MP chip makes the camera a bit more versatile and a bit more competitive against similar cameras in the market. The 24MP sensor should offer a nice balance of resolution and manageable file sizes, plus excellent image quality across a wide range of ISOs. If you find yourself needing to crop your photos, the 24MP resolution will be a bit more forgiving than the 20MP R6.

It's important to point out that, despite sharing a similar megapixel count, the R6 Mark II does not use the same stacked 24MP sensor as in the EOS R3. These are different sensors, and Canon states that this chip is "newly-developed" for this camera. The 24MP sensor inside the R6 II isn't a backside-illuminated sensor, which is a little disappointing. However, as you can see from our initial gallery, the camera can produce excellent images. Like most Canon sensors, the R6 II's sensor also features a fixed optical low-pass filter on the front to suppress moiré and aliasing artifacts.

While the sensor is all-new, the R6 Mark II uses the same high-performance DIGIC X image processor as the predecessor. This is still Canon's latest-generation DIGIC chip and the same one powering the high-end R3 camera. As with the R6, the Mark II has the same broad range of ISO sensitivities with a native ISO range spanning ISO 100-104,200 and expanded ISOs going down to ISO 50 and up to ISO 204,800.

The R6 II supports both JPEG and higher-quality 10-bit HEIF file formats, in addition to both RAW and Compressed RAW (C-RAW) formats. The R6 II also has Dual Pixel RAW mode and a RAW burst-shooting mode. The camera also has HDR image capture, which now supports moving subjects in addition to static ones. There is a separate moving subjects option for HDR shooting in the menu, but the camera can still capture and combine multiple frames without any apparent ghosting or compositing artifacts -- at least from the few test shots we've tried. Canon wouldn't explain in detail just how the camera captures and combines multi-exposures of moving subjects to create these HDR images, however. Nonetheless, if you want to create HDR photos in-camera and often run into compositing difficulties from moving trees, flowers, or other objects, this new moving subject mode can come in handy.

As before, the Canon R6 II features powerful in-body image stabilization for both stills and video shooting. Like the R6, the Mark II's IBIS system is rated for a very impressive eight stops of stabilization compensation. The stabilization also works in conjunction with the optical image stabilization of native RF lenses and adapted EF lenses.

Autofocus & Performance

Another significant new feature of the R6 Mark II is an improved autofocusing system, with the camera incorporating similar AF algorithms and the intelligent subject-detection features of the EOS R3 -- and then some. The R6 II, in fact, has more AF features than this higher-end model! (Canon does point out that sheer AF performance and speed is superior on the R3 thanks to the faster stacked sensor.)

The R6 II features Dual Pixel CMOS AF, with AF points covering 100% of the image area. As before, the R6 II's AF system features 1053 AF zones spread over a 39 x 27 grid when shooting with automatic AF area selection mode, yet the exact number of user-selection AF point positions is much higher. However, despite the higher-resolution sensor in the Mark II, the number of user-selection AF points is actually lower, at 4897 selectable positions -- down from 6072 in the original R6.

The R6 II features several AF point and AF zone options, from precision Spot and 1-point AF modes to two Expand AF area options and three Flexible Zone AF modes. There's also Whole Area AF which uses the entire sensor. However, even with these other small AF area modes, with subject-tracking enabled, you can still use Servo AF to focus and track subjects around the frame.

In addition to upgraded AF algorithms inherited from the EOS R3, the R6 Mark II also gains that camera's clever Deep Learning-based subject-detection modes, but the camera also goes beyond what the R3 currently offers. In addition to human face- and eye-tracking, the R6 II can detect several different other subjects, including animals and vehicles. The R3 can do this as well, but the R6 II offers a wider array of subjects that it can detect. For animals, the R6 II can detect and track dogs, cats, birds and now horses, while for vehicle-detection, the R6 II adds aircraft and trains in addition to the car- and motorcycle-detection that exists on the R3. What's more, the Canon R6 II now offers an "AUTO" selection option that automatically switches between People, Animals and Vehicle subject-detection. To date, this type of automatic subject-switching feature hasn't been seen on any other camera except the Nikon Z9.

For low-light autofocus, Canon states that the Dual Pixel CMOS AF system can focus down to -6.5 EV when shooting still images. When recording video, the camera can focus down to a reported -4 EV for 4K and -4.5 for Full HD, which oddly is slightly less dim than the -5 EV spec of the R6.

In terms of performance, the R6 II is powered by the same DIGIC X image processor, yet the camera offers some noticeable performance increases when it comes to continuous shooting specs. With the mechanical shutter, the R6 II can fire at up 12 frames per second with Servo AF, the same as with the R6. However, when switching to the electronic shutter, the R6 II can now shoot two times faster than the R6 at up to 40fps with Servo AF. The R6 topped out at "just" 20fps.

The R6 II also has a RAW Burst mode, similar to Olympus's/OM's "Pro Capture" mode, in which you can half-press the shutter button and the R6 II will continuously record and store a few seconds-worth of frames in the buffer. Then, when you full-press the shutter button, you'll capture a few seconds of action that happened right before pressing the shutter.

With a high-speed UHS-II card, the R6 II buffer capacity is very deep with shooting with either JPEG or Compress RAW using the 12fps mechanical shutter high-speed continuous mode. In both situations, buffer depth is spec'ed at over 1000 frames. Uncompressed RAW limits the buffer to around 110 frames (same with RAW+JPEG). Canon's specs do not provide a buffer depth rating for electronic shutter burst shooting. However, you can run into the camera running out of buffer when shooting at these higher speeds on occasion, especially with RAW+JPEG enabled -- as we discovered in our initial hands-on time with the camera.

Video

In addition to a very healthy array of photo features, the Canon R6 II also continues its theme of versatility into the video world. The camera captures 4K UHD video internally up to 60fps, while Full HD can now be recorded at up 180fps -- up from 120fps on the original R6. 4K 60p video can be recorded both using the full width of the sensor or with an APS-C crop mode. Full-width 4K video is derived from an oversampled 6K readout. Full HD 180p is also uncrossed and uses the full-width of the sensor.

Recording times for internal video recording are not capped at an artificial 29min. recording limit. Full-width 4K 60p is rated at up to 40 minutes or longer based on temperature, Cropped 4K 60p at up to 50 minutes or longer and Full HD 180p at 60 minutes or longer. Full-width 4K 30p video is completely unlimited, at least in terms of temperature or card capacity. Beyond 4K video, the R6 II also supports 6K RAW video out via HDMI to an external HDMI recorder. There is also a 3.7K Crop RAW video option, too.

Much like with stills and RAW Burst capture mode, the R6 II has a Movie Pre Recording option that can 3-5 seconds of footage prior to pressing the record button.

Other video features include a new focusing mode called Detect Only AF, in which the camera will stop autofocusing if the subject its tracking leaves the frame. This avoids awkward or disruptive focus hunting during recording in situations where the camera would typically lose focus and then hunt around trying to reacquire focus. The R6 II also includes a new Movie Digital IS for enhanced image stabilization for handheld video, as well as built-in webcam support (UAC/UVC). There is also a new Cinema EOS-derived "Q" menu just for video shooting, various Aspect Ratio Markers and False Color overlays.

Pricing & Availability

The Canon EOS R6 Mark II is scheduled to go on sale this December, with a body-only configuration selling for an MSRP of $2499.99, the same price point last the R6.

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