The Canon EOS R6 II is a higher-resolution, better-performing follow-up to 2020's EOS R6. Like its predecessor, it's a mid-range, full-frame camera aimed at enthusiasts or pros. But while it looks very familiar externally, it's actually packed with upgrades throughout.
The R6 II is a camera you'll most likely turn to either as a well-heeled enthusiast or perhaps as a pro looking for a second body. Its nearest rivals are the Sony a7 IV and Nikon Z6 II, and like those cameras, it doesn't necessarily hit the ball out of the park in any given area.
But while you'll find faster, higher-res cameras further up the line, the R6 II nevertheless delivers solid performance where it matters most, while still being much more competitively-priced than flagship models.
Basic specs include a 24.2MP CMOS image sensor, in-body image stabilization, continuous shooting at 12 fps with mechanical shutter or a whopping 40 fps with electronic shutter, support for sensor-width 4K 60P video capture, and an uprated autofocus system with deep-learning-based subject recognition.
The R6 II looks a whole lot like its predecessor, although a second glance at the top deck reveals a new still/video switch in place of the power switch. Atop the R6 II's handgrip, a new three-position switch has subsumed both power control and locking functions. The joystick control around back has also been reprofiled slightly, but in other respects the exterior design is unchanged.
That said, it will still offer a little more latitude for cropping post-capture, as well as help Canon keep up with the Joneses in the spec tables. And importantly, you can expect the same sensitivity range and low-light AF performance as in the original R6, despite the reduction in pixel pitch.
Somewhat confusingly, Canon is still using DIGIC X branding for the R6 II's image processor. But while the name is the same as that in the R6, the processor is a brand-new one. We'll come back to the benefits it brings in a moment. (Spoiler alert: You'll likely notice these rather more than the modest resolution bump.)
What this all means is that you can (and if you're a sports shooter, very likely will) take regular advantage of its speed. That gives the R6 II a big edge over both its predecessor and marketplace rivals. If you don't need all that speed you can dial the capture rate back to 20, five or one fps. And if you don't need a silent shutter you can enable a pseudo-shutter sound.
For tricky subjects, meanwhile, you can enable a half-second pre-roll buffer to grab some frames from before you pressed the shutter button. And we've saved the best for last: You can have the camera group batches of photos in Raw Burst mode like your smartphone would for much quicker access when reviewing, then rate frames right on the camera using a dedicated rate button on the camera's left shoulder.
Of course, fast burst capture is no good without swift autofocus, but the DPRTV team found that the camera locks focus swiftly from the first frame, which inspires confidence. Canon has also continued the education of its deep-learning algorithms, which can now newly identify zebra or horses, as well as planes, trains or helicopters.
Better still, there's now an auto mode that lets the camera deal with choosing what subject types to recognize, letting you focus on your subjects. The R6 II also gives you more control over portraits, as you can now manually tell the camera which eye to focus on (toggling back and forth with a custom button) as well as just letting it select the nearest eye automatically.
Canon has also worked to make its autofocus tracking algorithms more 'sticky,' although DPRTV's Jordan reports that pre-production models could still use a bit more stickiness when shooting video. And a new 'detect only' AF mode will stop the camera hunting for new subjects if the currently-tracked subject leaves the frame altogether.
Video was clearly well up Canon's list of priorities for the R6 II. If you're coming from the original R6, it'll take a little while to get used to the new control placement, which repurposed the power switch for still/video mode switching and added a new power switch on the handgrip instead. It's worth relearning, though, and not just because it makes powering on a one-handed affair.
The key benefit here is that the new still/video control works in concert with the mode dial, so exposure modes won't send you into the menu system any more. Better still, you also get shutter or aperture-priority exposure plus three custom positions, where the R6 offered only program auto or manual exposure.
You can also pre-buffer three or five seconds of video from prior to recording being triggered. And there's no more mandatory sensor crop, with the R6 II now allowing full sensor-width 4K 60p video that will help maximize the wide-angle possibilities of your lenses.
Gone, too, is the mandatory 30-minute clip length limit. That makes the R6 II much more useful for extended shoots like single-take interviews. But the news isn't all great. Sadly, Canon still won't let you use the histogram or level gauge once recording starts.
If you need to slow your subjects down and can trade off some image quality to achieve it, you'll be pleased by the new 180 fps high frame-rate mode at 1080p resolution, up from 120 fps in the R6. There's also a handy new false-color warning to help get your exposure right before recording starts, some new aspect ratio markers and an improved Q menu interface specific to video capture.
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