6D Mark ii- Are the owners satisfied? I backed away from it based on the bad internet reviews....

[secondlevel]

I backed away from buying the new 6D Mark ii based on all the negative reviews that it received.  However, yesterday I saw the DXO scores and the camera did ok.  That made me start to wonder if I was missing something. Can really produce a usable image at ISO 40,000?

I currenly own a 60D, 77D, and the original 6D.  I feel I have most situations that I encounter covered with these models.  Nevertheless, with the cost down on it and I already have lens and flashes I wonder  about it.  I would only need the body.

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

Everyone has their own standards, experiences and opinions.  I have decades of experience with Canon, and am a former T6s owner.  An enthusiast who does not rely on his camera to put food on the table. 

6d2, my reasons for purchase.  I was looking to move up to FF and a 5dMKx wasn't in the cards.  Not because of the price, but because it doesn't have a articulating screen.  Silly, I know.  This is a feature I really enjoy and I hope it happens by the time I'm ready to step up again.  Maybe it never will on a true pro body?   

I read the same reviews as you.  They gave me pause, but I continued to research. I didn't want to invest in a older 6d.  (Which I fully acknowledge is a great camera)   After more research, I bought the body.  Its fantastic.  As mentioned, we all have different expectations.  It checked the majority of boxes for me and got me to FF at a reasonable price point, improving on what I had and meeting the criteria I had for upgrade.  The 6d2 is an improvement over the 6d.  Canon has improved almost every aspect of the original platform.  For someone coming from APS-C, its a nice upgrade.  The upgraded AF alone helped to sell me.

However, for someone who already owns a entry level FF, the feature set and modest upgrades of the 6d2 might not feel like a big step up, or justify the cost for the value being received.  This depends on the user and his/hers expectations.  Also the intended use of the camera.

The camera has already been to Europe with me, a few weddings (as a guest) and to family celebrations.  Used under various shooting conditions, weather and more.  Its perfomed well and I really like it.  When my casual snaps at my niece's wedding came back better than their professional photographers...  I felt even better.  He had a 6d with a Sigma Art lens.  I had a 6d2 with the same lens.  He looked like he knew what he was doing.  But my images are the ones the family wants to frame.  It was a bit of luck coupled with a great body and my modest (non professional) experience.  And lets not forget that Sigma lens which I love as well.  I still classify myself as an enthusiast.  I'm unloading my crop equipment.  Had 2 great years with it.  Body is gone, have some lenses left that will eventually go to good homes. Its a hobby, I just need one good body and the 6d2 is it for now.      

Side by side, the body is an improvement from the original.  But will it give you the true bump in performnace is something only you can probably answer.       

[Waddizzle]

I do not understand half the negative reviews on 6D Mark II.  The camera has a handful of significant improvements.

The most talked about improvement is the AF system.  Yes, it seems to be identical to the AF system in the 80D, and so it does not seem to fully cover the viewfinder, side to side.  Actually, the AF points cover the same angle of view as the 80D.  Yes, that means it is not as wide, but this is not the first time Canon has done this.  It was done with some 1D and 1Ds bodies, which shared the same focus system, but one used and APS-H sensor, and the other used a FF sensor.  The AF grid seemed smaller in the FF body viewfinder, and the same complaints were made.

The camera has a number of other improvements.  One would be the articulating screen.  To me, the only good thing about it is that can turn it around, and not worry about it getting damaged.  I do most of my shooting with post-shot preview disabled, to extend battery life, anyway.  I use the top LCD, and the viewfinder, for most shooting.

Another talked about improvement is the 30% increase in resolution, 20MP to 26MP.  Canon increased the resolution, wtihout significantly reducing the pixel size.  I would assume that they figured out how to reduce the space between the pixels.  Increasing the coverage of the sensor surface, means an increase in accuracy in detail, and it shows up in the images< IMHo.

Another improvement, and one which I think is perhaps the most significant, is the addition of in-camera, 5-axis image stabilization.  I cannot recall if this can be disabled in the menus, or not.  I would need to check.  But, one this is certain.  I seem to get sharper photos with the 6D2, than with the 6D, most especially when panning.  I cannot say how many stops of improvement it affords the shooter, but it looks absolutely great at 1/1600 of a second on a monopod with a 600mm lens.

Another feature that Canon added was exposure compensation in manual mode, which had always been my main complaint with the original 6D.  I like to shoot manual mode, with Auto ISO, and could not dial in compensation when shooting in low light.  The 6D2 allows you to dial in both compensation and bracketing in manual mode.

Another complaint about the 6D2 has been the top shutter speed of 1/4000, and not 1/8000.  I do not know why it was left out of either the original or the Mark !!.  Honestly, I have only had one occasion to want, or need, a shutter speed faster than 1/4000.  I was shooting at f/1.4 in bright sunlight.  So, I dialed back to f/1.8, and got more of the subject in focus.  Background blur is very easy to add with Photoshop.

And, I think I have said enough for now.  

.

[TTMartin]

Waddizzle is seems like the 6D Mk II has some of the features of Canon's Digital Lens Optimizer built-in. This Canon article implies that it can add those to the RAW file. I was hoping you could test that and let us know if that is the case. 

EOS 6D Mark II for Landscape Photography

Enhanced tools for sharpening of image details, for both RAW and JPEG images:

• Fine Detail Picture Style, with greater and more precise sharpening dialed-in.  This is a big asset for in-camera JPEG shooting, and an excellent tool for more RAW image detail when files are processed in Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software.
• Added sharpening commands for all other Picture Style settings…“Fineness” and “Threshold” are new commands not present in the original EOS 6D camera, giving sharpening control similar to the “Unsharp Mask” command in some image-editing software.
• Diffraction Correction is built-in (can be turned on or off, on camera’s menu).  Added sharpening applied to counter both the effects of lens softening at small apertures which are common in landscape shooting (f/16, f/22, etc.), as well as providing specific sharpening to counter the softening effect of the low-pass filter immediately in front of the EOS 6D Mark II’s image sensor (when shooting at wider apertures).
• Linear Distortion Correction, to counter lens-induced bending of straight lines such as horizons with wide-angle zooms and other lenses.  Again, this can be turned on or off by the photographer (it’s off by default; note that in-camera distortion correction will slightly crop the final image file).

[Waddizzle]

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@TTMartin wrote:

Waddizzle is seems like the 6D Mk II has some of the features of Canon's Digital Lens Optimizer built-in. This Canon article implies that it can add those to the RAW file. I was hoping you could test that and let us know if that is the case. 

EOS 6D Mark II for Landscape Photography

Enhanced tools for sharpening of image details, for both RAW and JPEG images:

• Fine Detail Picture Style, with greater and more precise sharpening dialed-in.  This is a big asset for in-camera JPEG shooting, and an excellent tool for more RAW image detail when files are processed in Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software.
• Added sharpening commands for all other Picture Style settings…“Fineness” and “Threshold” are new commands not present in the original EOS 6D camera, giving sharpening control similar to the “Unsharp Mask” command in some image-editing software.
• Diffraction Correction is built-in (can be turned on or off, on camera’s menu).  Added sharpening applied to counter both the effects of lens softening at small apertures which are common in landscape shooting (f/16, f/22, etc.), as well as providing specific sharpening to counter the softening effect of the low-pass filter immediately in front of the EOS 6D Mark II’s image sensor (when shooting at wider apertures).
• Linear Distortion Correction, to counter lens-induced bending of straight lines such as horizons with wide-angle zooms and other lenses.  Again, this can be turned on or off by the photographer (it’s off by default; note that in-camera distortion correction will slightly crop the final image file).

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I’ll read up on that and will try to figure out some tests over the weekend.  😄

[Waddizzle]

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@TTMartin wrote:

Waddizzle is seems like the 6D Mk II has some of the features of Canon's Digital Lens Optimizer built-in. This Canon article implies that it can add those to the RAW file. I was hoping you could test that and let us know if that is the case. 

EOS 6D Mark II for Landscape Photography

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Having MAJOR issues running DPP 4.7.2.  It keeps crashing, anytime I do something that caues it to write to disk, generating a JPEG, saving edits, or even updating preferences.  My Windows 10 recently applied some updates, as well as some firmware updates from Dell. 

Apparently, this recent Win10 update, from October, has disrupted a LOT of applications, so I am going to assume my issues are with the update, and not so much with DPP 4.7.2 which was released at about the same time.

BUT, I did manage to squeeze out a screen shot from DPP.  I'm still trying to figure out how to do a screen shot of the camera.  Notice the settings for RAW images only..  

There are extra settings in the Camera [RED 1] menus, under the "Lens Aberration Correction" menu, to correct Distortion and Diffraction, in addition to Peripheral Illumination and Chromatic Aberration adjustments.'

There are extra settlings in the Camera [RED 3] menus, under the "Picture Style" menu, to make the style settings, which now include enhanced Sharpness settings.  Each Picture Style has its' own set of settings.

It seems DPP allows you to apply your own Picture Style to a RAW file, if you desire, just as you always could.  The Picture Style settings have an enhanced Sharpness settling, that is similar to an "Unsharp Mask", instead of a single slider.

[RobertTheFat]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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@TTMartin wrote:

Waddizzle is seems like the 6D Mk II has some of the features of Canon's Digital Lens Optimizer built-in. This Canon article implies that it can add those to the RAW file. I was hoping you could test that and let us know if that is the case. 

EOS 6D Mark II for Landscape Photography

---

Having MAJOR issues running DPP 4.7.2.  It keeps crashing, anytime I do something that caues it to write to disk, generating a JPEG, saving edits, or even updating preferences.  My Windows 10 recently applied some updates, as well as some firmware updates from Dell. 

Apparently, this recent Win10 update, from October, has disrupted a LOT of applications, so I am going to assume my issues are with the update, and not so much with DPP 4.7.2 which was released at about the same time.

BUT, I did manage to squeeze out a screen shot from DPP.  I'm still trying to figure out how to do a screen shot of the camera.  Notice the settings for RAW images only..  

There are extra settings in the Camera [RED 1] menus, under the "Lens Aberration Correction" menu, to correct Distortion and Diffraction, in addition to Peripheral Illumination and Chromatic Aberration adjustments.'

There are extra settlings in the Camera [RED 3] menus, under the "Picture Style" menu, to make the style settings, which now include enhanced Sharpness settings.  Each Picture Style has its' own set of settings.

It seems DPP allows you to apply your own Picture Style to a RAW file, if you desire, just as you always could.  The Picture Style settings have an enhanced Sharpness settling, that is similar to an "Unsharp Mask", instead of a single slider.

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That Windows 10 update did cause me some heartburn, notably with some of my network settings. But it didn't have any obvious effects on DPP 4.7.

Just a data point. Not saying it couldn't have caused the effects you experienced. I'm running DPP on a Lenovo computer, rather than a Dell. Maybe that matters.

[ebiggs1]

"The camera has a handful of significant improvements."

Perhaps a toddles handful.  Certainly not enough to make a current 6D owner want it or buy it.  Not have a 6D it is a good starter FF.  However if I were to buy something in this class it would be the 80D, not a 6D2.

[RobertTheFat]

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ebiggs1 wrote:

"The camera has a handful of significant improvements."

Perhaps a toddles handful.  Certainly not enough to make a current 6D owner want it or buy it.  Not have a 6D it is a good starter FF.  However if I were to buy something in this class it would be the 80D, not a 6D2.

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IOW, don't buy an apple when a fine, well ripened orange is available. If you're going FF, an 80D, good as it is, is no substitute for a 6D2. The term "in this class" hardly applies.

[ebiggs1]

Robert, "The term "in this class" hardly applies."

Sure it does.  They are both enthusiasts bodies.  The 80D offering more with the one exception of a larger sensor.  But you are one of those guys that thinks the Sun and Moon sets on FF so this is likely lost on you.