Canon EOS 6D 20.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD (Body Only)

I had a 30D that I have been using for almost a decade! It was a great camera, took great photos... but I was missing a few things, so I upgraded to the 6D. 1. Full frame & crop factor - I am not a fan of the 18-200/250 single lenses & I like to use separate lenses. I had a 10-18, 24-105 IS L & 70-200 IS L. The 24 with 1.6 crop factor translates to 38 which is not quite wide and hence requires switching with the wide(r) lens every now & then, and I found myself switching between the wide angle 10-18 (x1.6) & medium 24-105 (x1.6) too frequently. 2. Camera was getting old & couldn't keep up with the changes in technology - After I upgraded my PC to Win 10 it became almost impossible to use the canon software to do the image transfers. I had to do this manually using windows menu which was a bit painful. 3. Low light photography - This was my biggest issue. With max ISO at 1600 it was difficult to shoot at low light without using the flash. Also photos shot at 1600 had significant grains. I realized the best I could go would be 800... or max 1200. Also... sometimes my camera had issues focusing on low light. What's good about the 6D ------------------------------------- 1. Initial setup was easy & functions were intuitive. 5 stars! 2. It's a full frame camera... so now I can use the canon 24-104 from 24mm & I don't need a separate wide angle unless I need to capture something ultra wide (which is seldom). On the flip side though... with the full frame my 70-200 now gives 200 as opposed to 360! But again, with 20MP, I can do a 2x digital zoom and still get a better image than the 30D. So this is a non issue. 2. Captures great colors. I believe this is attributed to the full frame sensor which quite definitely captures better images than crop sensors. Just shared few photos i took in Ogunquit Maine beach. Love the blue. 3. Great photographs at low light - This is perhaps the best feature! I like using the auto ISO option where you can pretty much shoot at candle light without a flash or having to worry about exposure. (You do need to set the lower & especially upper limit so you are not taking pictures at 64000)! Also amazing focus at low light. 4. Wifi is convenient especially when you are trying to transfer just a few files. 5. Much more flexibility with the various available exposure modes - Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Candle, Cloudy, and lots more!. Of course you can decide to just shoot raw, but the preset exposure modes help when you have taken a lot of photos & don't want to spend time on each of them. 6. Last but not the least... it's price - I couldn't believe there would be a full frame camera for less than $1500. Great option for non-professional but photo enthusiasts like me. Few things that could have been better -------------------------------------------------------- 1. Feel of the body - the 30D was a metal body and i really liked the feel. The 6D on the other hand seems like some hard plastic-like body. I definitely miss the feel of the 30D 2. PC connectivity somewhat flaky - the wifi gets disconnected especially when loading large number of images. I definitely expected better (& technologically bit more advanced options) for a camera that came in the market just a year ago! To summarize... the GOOD definitely outweighs the BAD. Very happy with my purchase this far. 5 stars!!!

I have several camera bodies, but the 6D was my first full frame. I did acquire several quality lenses to go with it, but these investments have been worth every penny. Others, more experienced photographers, can give more technical information. The specifications are widely available on the internet. The most common complaint I read when doing my research before buying the 6D, was the lack of a 2nd SD Card slot. If you are a professional, that's definitely a huge concern. For the rest of us mere mortals, the other attributes of the camera more than make up for the lack of a 2nd slot. The second complaint by enthusiasts, less of a concern by the pro's, is the lack of an on-board flash. I have been able to work around these issues by taking great care in the handling of my SD card, and carrying a spare. The lack of on-board flash I have remedied by purchasing a dedicated flash. My choice has been the Canon 430 EX ii (again, purchased gently used). I read one reviewer who had some difficulties with this combination. I am pleased to report that my copies of camera body and flash work well together. I won't list all the lenses I have used, but I will list my favorites: 1) Canon 70-200mm F4L IS USM 2) Canon 24-105mm F4L IS USM 3) Canon 24-70mm F4L IS USM 4) Tamron 70-210mm F4 VC 5) Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM Art 6) Tamron 90mm SP VC Macro lens (F017) I will note that the Canon 24-105MM F4L IS USM gets much criticism from several YouTube "experts", but I have been very pleased with the images I've taken with it paired with the 6D. Perhaps the best attribute I have found, and there are many, is the high ISO performance of the 6D. "High ISO" is a relative term, I know, but in an environment where the consensus is "for ISO, keep it low", I have had great results with woodland shots between 5000-10000 ISO with very little noise. It's more evident in the background of Monochrome shots, but the subject remains pretty pure if I do my part. The other attribute is the relatively low cost, at least at the time of writing this review. Gently used copies of the 6D (with 95% or better of rated shutter life remaining) can be found in the $400-$600 range. Much cheaper than some of the newer models. I did purchase the Canon dedicated battery grip (again, gently used). My grip was found for about $80. The added battery life and the additional heft I have found provides better balance when shooting hand held. I'm pretty much 100% stills photography, so I won't speak to any attributes or flaws while shooting video. I have included just a few sample images.

After 2 month of use, I can say a few more words about the 6D wi-fi capability and HI ISO. The wi-fi function, if you have an Iphone, is unbelievable. Not hard to set up, just take a brief look at the instructions on the app. After you set it up for the first time, just have to choose your camera at the settings each time, if you have an Iphone. First of all, your self portraits and family photos are going to reach a new level. You can see at your phone the actual composition, so... NO MORE SELF TIMER AWFUL PHOTOS. And you can control focus, aperture and speed. Then, just press the shutter at your phone. Truly impressive. And, after all this, you can download the photos immediately to your phone at a reasonable size. I take pictures always on raw format, wich are about 20mb. They go to your Iphone at 600kb, so you can send it thru email, sms or whatsapp. When you are at a gathering, take the pictures, download it and share it right on the spot. The look of the photos on your phone are going to be way differente from other photos, taken on phones or point and shoot cameras. Looks really professional, deep, sharp. I am truly impressed. My family is impressed. My friends are impressed. Really cool. Hi ISO photos are also a remarkable feature of this camera. I am using 2 F4L lenses (24-105 and 70-200), and they are not exactly bright lenses. But I being able to take photos indoors, including at night, without flash and tripods. Handheld photos at 2500 ISO are great. No significant noise, I can tell you. A few adjustments on Lightroom and you're done. But, if you use a tripod, the pictures are going to be better, for sure. Well, more then my first full frame, this is a breakthrough camera for me, since I'm doing things that I would not think about few years ago. This is my first full frame digital camera since my K1000 in 1987. On film days, I used to take fotos on large formats, B&W, diapositives, and had a lab at home... Since I've moved to digital, somehow it felt always soft, always shallow, never got what I was looking for. Truly disappointing. Upgrading from a Canon T1, finally I found in digital photografy the results that I used to achieve on 35mm. Sharp and deep images. There's a button below the lens on the body that reproduce the depth-of-field that you will get, just like it used to be on old film cameras. Incredible efects on close objetcts and portraits. Amazing video shooting also, I must say, even though my main goal are pictures. So many edit options on the camera, you may find it a little tricky to remember, but some of then are very useful, like HDR or multiple exposure. Strongly recomend the tutorials at canon web site. And I would recommend to a friend.

my update did not post********* I realize now that there is no FEC button on the 6d which is going to be an issue for me because I almost always use a spot metering preflash (star button) over people's face to nail correct exposures using bounce flash, and use the FEC button with the rear wheel to adjust according to skin tones (+1 for white people, -1 for dark skin, etc). While I've been able to make the "set" button on the 6d a FEC button, the FEC amount still shows up on the LCD screen instead of in the viewfinder, so you'll have to take your face away from the camera for a second. I'm sure I can work with this annoyance, but I'm pretty disappointed that canon took this button away from a camera that costs almost $2,000 (while the 7d has it and costs less). I guess they have to make you wish it was a 5d mark iii. Luckily, I still have my 5d ii so I'll probably end up using that more often when I'm using flash. Or maybe it won't be as bad as it seems it's going to be, and everything will be alright. I just wanted to make it apparent that this button is missing, and no matter what you do, you have to change the FEC on the LCD screen, not in the viewfinder. I'm leaving a 5 star rating because I'm still happy with the camera; the image quality is superb. ******************** I will be updating this review over time. I shoot mostly weddings and I have been using two canon 5d mark ii bodies, and just sold one to get this 6d. I have kept the other one, however. I will start by stating the obvious: The canon 5d mark ii is a great camera, even 4 years after it became available. In fact, it was so good when it came out that it still holds up to many of the brand new camera bodies that are out now, in terms of its sensor. I decided to buy this 6d to replace one of the 5d ii's I have after a friend sent me an ISO 6400 raw. At first it didn't seem any better, but it is, a little bit. In fact, it's just enough better than 6400 on the 5d mark ii for me to consider using it without hesitation. I've shot at 6400 with the 5d ii many times at weddings in situations where I didn't have a choice, and while it worked, the photos had to be heavily noise reduced and I only provided them at 2 megapixels to my clients. At 6400 on the 5d ii, there is noticeable color loss and dynamic range loss. You must get the exposure right because you cannot manipulate the file much without getting some intense noise and banding. The 6d file at 6400, however, gives you some room to play. You can correct exposures much more without ruining the photo, it retains better colors, and the noise is just a hair better- that is, in a scene with mostly black. In a brightly lit scene, the 6d's noise is substantially better, about one stop, maybe a little less. In video mode, it's a different story. Iso 12800 on the 6d in video looks like 3200 on the 5d ii, no kidding. I don't know how they did this but it's pretty amazing. I don't do much video work though. The 5d mark ii has a preferable button layout, which has been retained in the 5d iii. The 6d's layout are more rebel like and obnoxious, but I'll get used to it. I miss the joystick, as the directional pad on the 6d requires you to shift your hand, and it's pretty mushy. The 1/4000 shutter speed on the 6d would have been a deal breaker to me if I did not own a 5d ii as well, because using wide aperture primes during the day at 1/4000, is just not going to happen. At f1.4, I am often in 1/8000 territory, and some times I have to drop to iso 50 on top of that if using f1.2. the 1/200 strobe sync on the 5d ii is better than the 1/180 on the 6d, as well, and yes it matters. Build quality wise, there is no comparison. The 5d ii wins hands down. The 6d feels identical to a 60d, in my opinion. I'm careful with my gear so this is not a problem. Now to the AF system: I thought there would be no real improvement here, as it's the same crappy focus diamond canon loves to give to us unless we spend over 3k. Well, I was wrong, it's better, much better. I'm used to having to use the center point all the time and the center point on the 6d (rated tofocus at -3 EV vs -0.5 EV on the mark ii) is amazing. A few test shots outside in the city at night revealed perfect focus every time in almost total darkness. This will definitely be helpful in shooting weddings, since most of them are in caves. some other things to note; the 6d has silent shooting modes while the 5d mark ii can only do them in live view mode. Unfortunately the 5dii sounds like a gunshot during a quiet wedding ceremony, so the 6d will for sure be my main body during ceremonies. It's whisper quiet with silent shooting enabled. Last, the overall sharpness is better on the 6d, but it's not bad on the 5d ii at all. This is to be expected from a sensor that's in a brand new body vs one that's 4 years old. The 6d also does in camera lens correction which is very, very nice. So is it worth the extra price for the 6d over the 5d ii if you're looking for a first time full frame? Or is it worth switching from a 5d ii like I did? Maybe. It depends on what you shoot. If you shoot video, and do so in the dark often, absolutely. The 6d video noise is superior, by about two full stops, but only in the higher ISO range. Lower ISO is identical. If you do mostly studio work and outdoor portraiture: No. Save yourself 500 dollars or so and buy a used 5d mark ii. That money is best used elsewhere. 5d ii has better shutter durability and build quality, which will be more important to you. Lower ISO's look exactly the same as well. If you shoot weddings: Yes. The 6d does a better job in low light, and medium light shooting without flash. ISO 3200 is usable on the 5d ii, and 6400 if you really have to. But I'd go to 6400 and not even worry about it wiht the 6d. The -3 EV center point will be very helpful as well, though not as much as the 5d mark iii's autofocus system that frees you from ever having to focus and recompose again. In summary: if most of your shooting is ISO 3200 and below - save some money and pick up a used 5d mark ii. Canon just had refurbs on sale for $1400. I sold mine, with a canon battery grip, for $1400. You get more for your money. If you really need the slightly better low light performance, get the 6d.

So as a loyal nikon fan for 15+ years, I have seen nikon cameras come and go. My last experience was with the D600. I had the pleasure of owning two of the d600's that had the lubricant/debris issue. I finally had enough of nikon after the way that they just made the D610 and left the rest of us behind. Nikon has had a lot of quality control problems as of late but the issue is not that things went wrong with the product because that can happen with anything but it is how they abandoned the users and never admitted a problem. My opinion is that when you buy a camera and start to add on lenses, flashes and accessories, you are starting a system and the longterm plan needs to include knowing that the company that made the product, is going to stand behind it. I am now of the opinion that Canon has a completely different way of handling such issues. Looking at the canon website, it includes actual service advisories and clear disclosure of known issues. No such luck with nikon. One check of the website and no mention of any problems. Along with the poor QC and customer service, nikon has now started to use impact damage as another excuse to cash in. Now if you are on the fence about which camera D600/D610 vs 6D, I can honestly tell you that the 6D is the system to invest in unless you have an absolute need of the dynamic range of the d610. The 6D is well made, the design and fit to me is better, the AF system has been great in my testing so far, the wifi system is a time/lifesaver in studio shoots, no lubricant/debris splatter, sharp sharp images out of the camera and just an overall great package. The D600/D610 offers dual slot cards and better dynamic range. I am In total disagreement about the D600 af system. between my two D600's, I had shot over 20,000 photos (weddings) and I can tell you that the canon has less cross type points on paper but the hit rate on the canon is far more. I would also get random backfocus on the d600 under tungsten lighting which I have not seen with the 6D. The 6D center af sensor point is good to -3 EV and I can confirm that It works in almost complete darkness. It is just amazing. No random hunting on the 6D focus system compared to the D600. At the end of the day, I feel that canon is one step behind nikon on dynamic range but miles ahead on quality control and customer service. I feel if you are starting from the ground up, you would be very happy with canons offerings. I switched to canon and sold all my nikon gear at a huge loss because I could no longer deal with nikons careless way of dealing with issues. You have to ask yourself what matters to you more? Dynamic range/dual card slots or a system that actually works (the way it should) and much better customer service/QC? I will be also getting a 5D mark III which will make the 6D a great companion for wedding work. Sorry nikon but no more of my money! Update: 06/2018 after years of owning this camera, I can still say with absolute confidance that I am very happy with my purchase. I ended up also buying a 5d mark iii as a second body but sold it when I needed the money. I now went and bought a second 6d as a backup. The 6d version 2 came out a while back but I still stuck to the original 6d cause it actually has better image performace reviews. I dont really shoot sports and never had the real crazy need for the 5d mark iii advanced focus tracking. I have shot my kids soccer/basketball games once in a while with this camera and never had focus issues. I dont think having a crazy focusing system is as critical in my line of work which is primarily weddings. I would still HIGHLY recommend this camera to anyone and think it is the best full frame value on the market. Get it while they still male it brand new!

I have a small studio and shoot mostly families. I just finished my third shoot with this camera. I debated over upgrading from the 5D to the comparably priced 5Dii or jumping to the 5Diii. For costs the 5dII is closer to the 6D but image wise, the 5Diii is closer. I decided the cost was the biggest factor and I thought the WiFi function would be fun - it turned out to be the best decision. Build wise, the 6D is much lighter, which is great. Coming from the original 5D model, the image improvements and high ISO is stunning. For the majority of my business my clients probably won't be able to tell a difference up to 11x14's but for the occasional 20x30 prints, I can tell a difference. Plus I can crop like crazy the resolution is so amazing. No need for longer lenses anymore. I am a semi-pro, locally published photog and always get a kick out of the "prosumer", "enthusiast" and "pro" debates. The fact is that the images are only as good as the composition and lighting allows and the camera is just a tool. Don't let folks make you feel bad for choosing this camera over more expensive bodies, the images this produces are amazing. Worry about your light and your glass. Some complain about not having dual card slots. I haven't ever had a body with two card slots except when I briefly shot with a 1Dsii, but it was pretty heavy to lug around for the kind of shoots I do. When I shoot weddings, I use two bodies and capture all scenes with both bodies and after over 30 weddings haven't ever had an issue, and If and when I do, I should have it covered by shooting with two bodies anyway. I am a center point focus kind of shooter and although this doesn't have the phenomenal focusing capabilities as some of the bigger bodies, it is still incredibly good. I shoot with almost exclusively "L" glass and the focus so far has been near immediate and spot on. Luckily all my lens tests have been dead accurate and I haven't had to make any adjustments, which you can do with this camera. The auto ISO and white balance is a huge improvement for me. I shoot in a lot of mixed lighting situations and so far the 6D has performed like a champ. I have already printed off images at 6400 ISO and they are comparable to what I was doing at 400 on the old 5D. My f4 24-105 just became my all purpose lens, finally. I am excited to see how far I can push the ISO and still have marketable images. The WiFi is awesome. I thought it might be a fun gimmick, but now after three shoots, it is transforming my workflow. I am having issues with the remote feature working with Windows8, but am pretty sure it is an issue on my end. However, the WiFi remote on my iPhone and android tablet is a feature that I am thrilled about. The greatest feature is after my shoot, I connect my camera to the tablet and my clients can scroll through the images and rate them on the spot, even while I am still shooting. They love it and I love it. Mommy is over there watching the images as they are taken and by the time I finish shooting, she is ready to order. So far the ONLY thing I wish this camera had was the pc port on the side to connect my camera to my studio lights in the event my wireless trigger fails. I ordered the Vello hotshoe pc port adapter just in case that happens. There are so many upgrades I am discovering, every day I find something new that thrills me. There are probably more features that I won't use than I actually will use. I basically need a good body that takes great images. So far, I couldn't be happier. Oh yeah, I hear this thing also takes great videos. Someday I may have to try that out too. In summary, this is a major upgrade for me. The resolution I get from this body allows me to crop so much, I may not need my f2.8 70-200 IS anymore. The high ISO performance is going to allow me to use my f4 lenses more and take shots I wasn't able to in the past. The WiFi is a great tool that I didn't think I would use professionally, but I can already see it improving my sales. I have nothing bad to say about this camera. And to think I was about to start checking into Nikon...well played Canon, looks like I will still be around as a customer for a great deal longer.

My new 6D arrived this afternoon (12/7), a few hours ago. Got the battery charged and off I went. I owned a 5D for three years then sold it in anticipation of getting a 5DII as I had been happy with the images but not with the focusing on the 5D. Unfortunately the focusing on the 5DII wasn't much better so I sent it back, puttered around with Sony Nex5 and 7's waiting for this camera to arrive (the 5DIII was too $$$). So, how is it? It feels really solid. It's not like the bullet proof top end cameras, but it does feel more solid than the original 5D did. I haven't used a 60D or any of the Canon smaller sensor cameras so I cannot compare to those. The shutter sounds great, quieter than the 5D. The menu system is more streamlined, though they've moved everything around so that will take a few days to sort out. The focusing is much, much improved over the 5D and 5DII. The JPGs look great, much better than shots from a NEX7, better in low light than the 5D. Very happily, skin tones are fabulous, as they were with the 5D. I don't have a Nikon 600D or Sony A99 to compare to. That said, I am extremely happy with the camera. The 5D was a great landscape and portrait camera and the 6D improves on the things I hated about it. Plus a modest gain in detail to boot! As I shoot more over the next couple of weeks I'll update this. I can't comment on the cost, for some folks it's too much, and for others it's "affordable." It seems to have a great sensor, it focuses well in dimly lit interior spaces (my home study is lit by two 60 watt bulbs and it focuses quickly), feels great in my hands, and doesn't have a lot of extra stuff I won't use (other than GPS). The wifi is not quite ready for prime time (feels like V 0.9), though the potential is obvious and is going to be crazy cool for all sorts of remote uses. If you have canon lenses and the 5DIII seems to much, and the 7D not quite there, I don't think you can go wrong. If you have someone else's lenses, who knows? 12/9. Some other initial impressions. There is no noise, none, at ISO<1600. Dark/shadow areas at ISO 800 require no noise reduction at all. Skin tones are accurate, smooth and seem flattering (albeit accurately). On the down side, the canon software for converting the raw files is brutally bad. Hopefully Adobe will release an update for Lightroom sooner rather than later that will address this. Last, I suspect the reviews that claim the camera is super light may not have held the camera. It's very solid. On paper it's 4 oz less than the original 5D, and it is way lighter than the 1dX sized cameras, but in no way does it feel light a la the rebel models. The buttons on the back are *not* solid feeling, rather cheesy actually. The menu system is easy to get sorted out. Used focus-tune to adjust the micro focus for my 50mm and 24-105mm zoom and found that after repeated calibrations the camera lens combinations I used are all reliable (in the sense that they don't vary sig from test to test). It's a really great camera.

24 January 2013 - Update. I downloaded the Wi-Fi app into my IOS devices. It works great. I can put my 6D near ground level and pointing up, preview the composition and take the shot. My wife can review pictures taken before I load them up into my laptop. The only downside to this app is that it drains the battery of my IOS devices quicker than I wish. Original review: Photography is my hobby. I take pictures on weekends, vacation, or business travels for my company. Also, I like to geo-tag my pictures as a way to remind me where the photos were taken. So for me, this camera is great. People's complaints about its 20 MP (vs. 24 MP of some other brand) sound misplaced to me. The consequence of this low pixel count is the low pixel density, which resulted in excellent noise performance in low light / high ISO of the 6D. Since many pictures I took and will take are during business travel for my employer, they are taken mostly at or after sunset, or indoors. This very low-noise at high ISO performance of the 6D is a very big positive for me. The 6D has 11 AF points (vs. some very high count of some other brand). More than enough for hobbyist like me. The lack of a built-in flash is at worst -1/2 star, in my view. I rarely used the pop-up flash since this kind of flash is typically weak. Canon's decision to forgo the built-in flash to make room for the Wi-Fi and GPS circuitry is commendable. Since the performance of the 6D in low-light / high ISO is so good, my need for a pop flash is greatly reduced; I like pictures with a more natural look. Besides, I carry an external flash anyway. As for the sync speed of the flash (1/180 vs 1/200), I struggle to imagine a case that this small difference would affect me. Talking about Wi-Fi. The feature is another big plus, in my opinion. my smartphone or my tablet will act as a cable release. And I can review my pictures on my tablet soon afterward, a much better proposition than viewing them on the display on the back of the camera, without having to wait for a laptop or desktop. The lack of 2nd card slot may be a deficiency of the 6D vs. its competitors. But so far, all my cameras have only one card slot; So I don't find this "deficiency" a big deal. The 97% viewfinder of the 6D (vs. ~100% of other full-frame cameras) is a more significant issue. On rare occasions, I do end up with additional elements at the fringes / edges of my pictures than I anticipated since they didn't show up in my viewfinder. Again, these occurrences are few and far in between. A very nice surprise is the very low noise the mirror of the 6D makes as it flips up. And I didn't even put it in silent mode. Will try this mode (and others) as soon as I can. After all, I only have this camera for 3 days. I took a few pictures of my wife inside our home, under incandescent lights, with ISO set to 25600, and with GPS on. The results were great. The GPS was surprisingly accurate. Sorry guys, I won't post these pictures up. In conclusion, I find the pluses of the 6D far outweigh the perceived deficiencies. I recommend this camera.