Canon T6 Image Quality

As you might expect given their essentially identical imaging pipelines, the differences between the Canon T6 and its predecessor, the T5, are minimal at base sensitivity. The T6's rendering is just fractionally warmer than that from the T5, and if we had to call it for one or other camera, the T6 also looks to have a very slight edge in sharpness in the mosaic label and fabric swatches as well. The T5 shows slightly higher contrast in the difficult red swatch, though, and really both cameras turn in an extremely similar performance overall.

The Nikon D3300 sports a higher-res 24.2-megapixel sensor, rather than the 18-megapixel chip found in the Canon T6. That's not going to make for a night-and-day difference, but it's enough that there's noticeably more detail from the Nikon in this comparison. The consumer-friendly T6 also amps up the reds rather more than does the D3300, with the latter turning in a more realistic representation of the red fabric swatch. The T6 manages better with the pink swatch, though, where the D3300 renders this swatch rather too warmly.

At 20.1 megapixels, the Pentax K-S2's image sensor is rather closer to the 18-megapixel resolution of the Canon T6 than are the other rivals in this roundup. Despite that, the Pentax's rendering is a little crisper than that of its Canon rival. But in terms of their default color rendering, the T6 definitely does a better job. As usual for a Pentax camera, the K-S2 turns the pink fabric swatch magenta. And if you click through to the full-sized images, you'll see that the K-S2 also pumps up the blues quite a bit more than does the T6.

For just a little more money than the entry-level model, the Canon T6i gives you a higher-resolution 24-megapixel sensor like that of the D3300, versus the 18-megapixel chip used in the T6. Again, that shows itself in this head-to-head at base sensitivity: The T6i definitely gathers a little more detail in the mosaic label and fabric swatches. The T6i also has slightly better contrast in the red swatch, but otherwise the two cameras render the scene quite similarly.

The Canon EOS M3, too, opts for a higher-res 24.2-megapixel image sensor. And again, that shows itself with noticeably more detail for the mirrorless camera than for its entry-level DSLR rival in the mosaic label, and to a lesser extent in the fabric swatches, as well. Both cameras pump up the reds, but the EOS M3 doesn't do so quite as much as does the Canon T6, and its pink swatch is also closer to reality than that from its DSLR sibling. The T6 manages just slightly better in terms of contrast in the red swatch, however.

Stepping up the sensitivity range to ISO 1600-equivalent, higher noise levels (and the effects of noise reduction efforts) are visible in both the Canon T5 and T6's imagery. Again, there's little to choose between the pair. The T6 is perhaps just slightly crisper in the mosaic label than the T5, and perhaps loses just slightly less of the finer details to noise reduction. Both cameras have lost almost all of the detail in the red fabric swatch, but the T5's red is closer to accurate, with the T6 pumping up the saturation too much.

Now that we've dialed the sensitivity up a little, there's a bigger difference between the Canon and Nikon rivals. The D3300 clearly holds onto quite a bit more detail in the mosaic label, and where the T6 has lost almost all of the detail in the red fabric swatch, there's still quite a bit left in the Nikon's image. The Canon's more aggressive noise reduction gives its image a slightly less noisy feel, but we prefer the more film-like grain of the D3300's representation than the slightly mottled look of the Canon T6 here.

The ISO 1600 comparison against Pentax is quite an interesting one. The K-S2's noise reduction does a better job in smooth areas with little detail, yet at the same time, manages not to wreck havoc on the mosaic label, retaining most of the fine detail. But the Canon T6 does a much better job in the fabric swatches. Sure, it has lost most of the detail in the red swatch, but Pentax has basically turned the entire swatch into an amorphous blob. And again, Canon's representation of the pink swatch is much more true-to-life than the magenta hues of the K-S2.

At ISO 1600-equivalent, the higher-res Canon T6i still has a modest but noticeable detail-gathering advantage over its entry-level sibling. Noise levels are similar between the two cameras, but the Canon T6 extracts far less detail from the difficult red swatch than does the more expensive T6i.

The EOS M3, too, still manages to extract a bit more detail out of the scene at ISO 1600 than does the Canon T6. Noise levels are similar in both cameras, and both also struggle about equally with detail in the fabric swatches, and especially that tough-to-render red swatch. Again, the EOS M3 renders the color of the pink swatch more accurately, however.

Finally, once we raise the sensitivity to ISO 3200-equivalent, there's a slightly more noticeable difference between the Canon T6 and its predecessor, even if it's still subtle. The T6 continues to pump the saturation more on the red swatch, and to our eye, it also turns in a just slightly noisier result than did the T5, although there's not much in it. Really, though, you're not going to notice the difference unless you're pixel peeping in the extreme.

While the difference from the T5 was subtle, that between the Canon T6 and Nikon D3300 is anything but. Nikon's camera wins hands-down, holding onto significantly more detail in the mosaic label, and managing to retain a reasonable amount of detailn the red fabric swatch as well. And while noise levels are similar, the Canon T6 seems a little more prone to chroma noise than does its Nikon rival.

At ISO 3200-equivalent, the Pentax K-S2 clearly holds onto more detail in the mosaic label, and its noise pattern is also tighter, with a finer grain and less of the mottling that's visible in the shadows with the Canon T6. However, Canon's entry-level DSLR still does a better job with the fabric swatches, both in terms of pink swatch hue and (more slightly) in terms of what little contrast / detail remain in the red swatch.

At ISO 3200-equivalent, the Canon T6i bests its entry-level sibling in most respects. It holds onto more detail in the mosaic label, although the effects of noise reduction are certainly making themselves felt even for the T6i. And its noise-reduction algorithms also seem to damp down the chroma noise a little better. Perhaps the most obvious difference, though, is in the red fabric swatch, where the T6i holds onto a fair bit of detail which the Canon T6 has lost almost entirely.

And finally, we come to the EOS M3. Here, the Canon T6 has provided a more neutral color balance, and also does just fractionally better with the red fabric swatch. The higher-res sensor of the Canon M3 gives it an edge on fine detail in the mosaic label, however, and again its noise reduction does a slightly better job at neutralizing chroma noise.