R6ii and 1DX Mark II comparison

[Rickelle]

 

Hi everyone! I have been researching cameras for an upgrade from my 1DX Mark i.

I’m looking at the R6ii or the 1DX Mark ii.

I was leaning towards the r6ii, however in doing the research I have some questions that mainly have to deal with what I shoot.

I am a horse racing photographer, however in addition to the races, I shoot morning works and night racing, which is low light. The other thing that I was interested in was the quiet shutter, as the shutter can be very loud in the mornings at times when there are only a few horses around. There are also a lot of days that the low light is due to rain or other weather conditions.

The issues that I have heard about would be if I’m using the quiet shutter, that you have jello shots with panning, which I would be doing with following a horse going by. The other thing is the battery life of the r6ii versus the dx. There can be up to 1400 horses here, and while I’m not shooting every horse, there are days that I can take over 1000 photos between works, baths, schooling, etc. Would the battery run out in the few hours of shooting?

I feel like if I’m going to have to use the loud shutter and the battery life, that it would be best to stay with the R6ii, other than the low light option, however I think both would be an upgrade over what I have. I would keep the lenses I use (the 70-200 and 100-400) so would have to get the adapter.

I thought I would ask here as there are people that use/have used both and would get a better idea for my specific conditions that aren’t listed in any comparisons.

Thank you so much for any input!

[Rickelle]

Thank you so much! I’m happy to know that there is a battery grip, as I like having the larger body to carry. I’m mainly worried about the wobbly effect with panning, but if the shutter is quieter than the Mark I without being in the silent mode than that is a plus.

[p4pictures]

I'm going to suggest the EOS R6 Mark II for these reasons:-

• Quieter shutter sound than the EOS-1D X Mark II, plus electronic mode that is silent
• EOS R6 Mark II will shoot at 12fps with the first curtain electronic shutter, and 20 or 40fps with electronic silent shutter. EOS-1D X Mark II is 16fps max
• EOS R6 Mark II animal subject detection detects horses, so that means it can track the eye, even a black horse with black eyes in my experience.
• Battery life of the EOS R6 Mark II is good, and a spare battery can be swapped in very quickly, or you can use the battery grip with two batteries.  I have had 4,500 shots from a single LP-E6NH battery shooting motorsport with an EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens on my EOS R6 Mark II.
• Check the versions of the EF lenses you have. There are some drive speed limitations with older versions, but new ones are generally ok. If your lenses are on this list you are ok. https://cam.start.canon/en/H001/supplement_0080.html
• EOS R6 Mark II is not as weather resistant as the EOS-1D X Mark II. This is not to say you can't use it in dusty and damp environments, but there is little that is sealed like a 1-series camera. 

I have used both cameras, though it's been a while since I used an EOS-1D X Mark II, and now I have an EOS R6 Mark II. For me the biggest difference with mirrorless is the AF performance, it is much better able to track a subject than my skills were able to achieve with DSLR. However you do need to make sure you know how the system works as it is different from DSLR.

EOS R6 Mark II 

[Rickelle]

Thank you so much for all of the information that you provided! It has been a big help. I do think that since the shutter is quieter even without being in silent mode will help. I will get the grip in order to have the extra battery life and larger body. I understand that shooting with the mirrorless is different and that is one of the reasons I wanted to get it now so that I had the learning curve down prior to Derby next year. 
As you shoot motorsports, is there a noticeable wobble effect in panning as they go by?

Thanks again! I think the focus and low light shooting will be nice and has helped in my decision!

[p4pictures]

I don't notice any wobble effect when panning, I've photographed a lot of different motorsports.

If you have doubts about going mirrorless it is worth seeing if you can rent a body and lens adapter for a few days to give the camera a try. The biggest change is to think differently about the AF. With mirrorless you can almost forget the concept of AF points, and think in terms of the subject for tracking animals, people and vehicles.