CANON R6ii - INITIAL FIELD TEST SUMMARY

Period of Testing : Jun 2025 - July 2025

Lens Used: Canon RF 100-400 f5.5-f8.0, Canon EF 400 f5.6, Sigma 150-500 f5-6.3 DG OS HSM, Kenko                      DGX 1.4x teleconverter and Canon EF-RF adaptor.

SD Card: Lexar 1800x Professional UHS II

After about a month trial in the field using the Canon R6ii full-frame mirrorless body combined with the EF and RF lenses that i have, paired with Kenko DGX 1.4x tele-convertor and the EF-RF adaptor for non-RF lenses, i have come up with a few conclusions to share with those who are considering to purchase the Canon R6ii mirrorless body as their main camera body or add as a back-up body for wildlife bird photography.

i) Weight - The R6ii body is a lot smaller than my EOS 5D3 and 7D2 and way lighter in weight, so it is a big relief for my shoulder carrying it all day long. Of course it depends on which lens you put on the body. The lightest combo is with the RF100-400 without any adaptor at 1.3kg, with the heaviest is a combo with the Sigma 150-500 plus Kenko 1.4x plus EF-RF adaptor at 2.81kg! The combo with Canon EF400 f5.6 plus Kenko 1.4x and EF-RF adaptor weighs at 2.16kg which is not bad. However, the combo with this Canon EF 400 f5.6 feels front heavy. The best combo is with RF100-400 which feels very light and balanced with R6ii body. However, the long end at 400mm feels at times not enough for small birds far away. I have yet to try it with an RF 1.4x tele-converter as i do not have one, and the cost of the converter is as expensive as the lens itself! At 400mm f8.0 the performance is very good in good light, but adding a 1.4x might be too dark at f11.0.

ii) Ergonomic - The body ergonomic and buttons feels familiar as i come from Canon EOS DSLR. It is a breeze to familiar with buttons, customizing function to each button, go through the menu which is almost identical to EOS 5D3, &D2 and 80D. For customization i set C1 - 1/2500sec, f8, ISO Auto with limit 25600 for skittish birds in good light and electronic shutter with 40fps, center zone AF with animal eye-tracking; C2 - for BIF 1/4000sec, f8.0, ISO Auto - 25600 for eagles, sea shore birds, egrets, herons etc. 40fps electronic shutter,  full zone AF with eye tracking; and C3 - BIF 1/6400sec, f8.0, ISO Auto -25600 for very fast birds like swifts, 40fps electronic shutter, and full zone AF with animal eye tracking. For normal shooting i use Manual mode with Spot AF and animal eye tracking, ISO Auto-25600 with shutter speed and aperture depending on lighting and action. Bear in mind the R6ii native ISO can go to 102400 but i feel ISO25600 limit is enough to handle most lighting situations without the noise becomes unmanageable. R6ii handle noise very well in low light conditions up to a certain point. Of course the Adobe Lightroom can help clean up noise but only to a certain extent.

iii) Auto Focus - This feature alone makes me wonder why i waited so long to switch to a mirrorless body from EOS DSLR. I think it is mainly the cost of mirrorless bodies sold in this country which is outrageous! The eye-tracking of birds is amazing. However, you still have to do some set up in the menu on how sticky you want it to be. I just set my focus to stay on the subject as priority and ignore anything else coming into view, The full zone AF with animal eye-tracking is a God-send as i get more keepers doing BIF compared to using EOS DSLR. The camera AF still can lock in low light which is amazing.

iv) Shutter Frame Rate Per Second (FPS) - The R6ii can shoot 40fps using electronic shutter mode and first curtain mode which is mind blowing compared to my DSLR 7Dii 10fps, and 12fps in mechanical mode. I have to be careful all the time not to press the shutter for too long to avoid having to review so many photos in post processing. However, taking a lot of shots increasing my chance of getting some sharp photos. The R6ii also have a precapture feature albeit just for half a second, but still it is good to have. I usually shoot by short tapping on the shutter button, so i do not have any problems with the buffer. The Lexar Professional 1800x UHS ll SD card that i use has a fast write speed of 210mb/s which can handle the 40fps of 24mp per image, so far.

v) Megapixel - R6ii comes with 24mp which is enough for most scenario, provided you do not crop more than 100%, which will give soft/blur images. It is a ful frame body so the 1.6x crop factor like R7 is not available. So to avoid cropping too much it is better to use longer lenses. My trial with the Sigma 150-600 lens produce quite good images but not tact sharp as the lens are not an L lens, pairing it with 1.4x tele-converter resulted in soft images not worth cropping. Pairing the R6ii with EF400f5.6 without 1.4x, and with RF100-400 produce sharp images worth cropping, but maybe not more than say 100% crop. So maybe a future acquisition of a Canon RF200 - 800 f6.3-9 or RF800 f11 is in order to handle more distant birds?

vi) Weather Sealings - Canon said the R6ii is weather sealed against water and dust but how much we do not know. I am very confident with the EOS 7Dii and 5D3 body weather sealing, as i took photos in the rain before without any issues. I even washed under the tap my 5D3 after coming back from a sea trip, it worked fine after proper drying. I had some very light rain on the R6ii a few times without any issues so far, but i do not dare to take risk under heavier rain as i just bought the camera in June 2025. The seals between the body and EF-RF adaptor and the lens are the weak points when it rains. So i covered them with a lens coat. Of course you can always buy a raincoat for the lens and body just to be safe.

vii) Battery Life - As with any mirrorless camera which depends on the battery to power the EVF and LCD, the battery capacity and how long it last in the field is very crucial. The DSLR bodies use prism to reflect the image to the view finder which does not need battery, so the only consumption of the battery is the internal circuit board and the LCD panel for live view mode and review settings and images. In a mirrorless camera the EVF and LCD use a lot of battery, the brighter they are set up to be the shorter the battery life will be. I usually close the LCD panel for most of the time when i am shooting, to save some battery, and i set the EVF at 4 or 5 brightness depending on the weather. The LCD panel is set at 4 to 6 according to how bright the sun is shinnning when i use it.

The good thing about purchasing the R6ii is that i can still use my old LPE6 batteries for my DSLR to power the R6ii thus saving a lot of money. I have about 6nos LPE6 batteries and when i bought the R6ii it came with two new LPE6NH batteries. However, one or two of these batteries are enough to cover the whole day . The LPE6NH and LPE6N battery can be charged inside the body using a USB cable which is handy if you forgot to bring the charger.

In conclusion, my initial impression of the R6ii after one month of use is very positive and enjoyable to use for birding. The only negative so far is the total megapixel at 24mp does not allow me to crop in so much, and i have to rely on getting a longer lens to get  bigger images in the frame. Well, guess what? I just ordered a Canon RF800 f11 lens an hour ago on line to pair with the R6ii for BIF, which i will receive it in the next 3 days or so! I am so excited to try the combo in the field, and i will post here the results for you guys in case you are thinking to buy it also. 

Untill next time, happy birding and take care. Thank you.

TESTING CANON R6ii PART 5 - ORIENTAL MAGPIE ROBIN

Location: Frasers Hill

Date: 26 July 2025

Gear: R6ii + Canon RF100-400 lens

TESTING CANON R6ii PART 4 - CRESTED SERPENT EAGLE

 Location: Sepang, Selangor D.E

Date: 20th July 2025

Gear: Canon R6ii + Sigma 150-500mm lens

     

TESTING CANON R6ii Part 3: WHITE-RUMPED SHARMA

 Location: Frasers Hill

Date: 6th July 2025

Lens: Canon EF400 f5.6 + Kenko 1.4x + EF/EOS R adaptor

TESTING CANON R6ii PART 2: BLUE WHISTLING THRUSH

 Location: Frasers Hill

Date: 5th July 2025

Gear: Canon EF400 f5.6 lens + Kenko 1.4x + EF/EOS R adaptor

TESTING CANON R6II

 Location: Frasers Hill

Date: 26th June 2025

Gear: Canon R6ii + RF100-400

GOING MIRRORLESS - CANON R6 MARK2

 Date: 21st June 2025

I have been using the Canon DSLRs since 2010, started with 60D, upgraded to 5D3 in 2012, bought 80D and last purchase was 7D2 in 2014. It has been quite a journey i would say, sometimes enjoyful and sometimes painful. I have managed to capture some quite amazing photos of scenery, nature, wildlife, birds and people throughout the years, but there were also a lot of misses to be frank. The keeper rate varies depending on the camera body i used, with the 5D3 being the best. However, even the 5D3 feels lacking after 13 years of use especially with the non-animal eye-tracking AF and 6 FPS, not to mention the heavy body weight of 950grams, and when paired with the 400mm f5.6 1250 grams, and 1.4x teleconverter 130grams, the total weight comes up to 2330gram(2.33kg), which is quite heavy to carry all day as i get older. The 7D2 is much better with 10FPS but still heavy at 910 grams,

So, whether i like it or not the only path to improve this situation is to go into the mirrorless camera world. It is not that the DSLR bodies are useless, they still can take great photos in good hands, it is just that there are new features in the mirrorless bodies that can make my bird photography in the field less painful, and more enjoyable. I mean whatever we do should have a reward at the end of the day, after spending money, time and effort, otherwise why do it? I have been dragging the decision for quite sometime due to the cost of conversion to mirrorless bodies is quite substantial, and i have invested a lot in DSLR bodies and lenses over the years. I do not make money from my photography, it is just a therapy for me to reduce stress and enjoy nature. But there are certain things in life you cannot avoid if you want to improve what you do.

So, since i am a mainly Canon shooter( i have other camera brands) and have invested a lot in Canon eco-system, it is natural to look into Canon EOS R system, even though other brands like Sony and Nikon have some good mirrorless camera systems roughly at the same price as Canon. At least some of the lenses i own can be adapted using an adaptor with the EOS R mount on the Canon mirrorless cameras, and also save some cost before fully upgraded to RF lenses. The main 'affordable' candidates are R7, R6 Mark 2, and R5. The R5 Mark 2, R3 and R1 are too expensive to consider.

The main criteria i set for the selection are: 1) Bird Eye-tracking AF, (2) FPS, (3) Native ISO performance, (4) MP size, (5) Rolling Shutter and (6) Weight. Since i am primarily a still shooter, the video capability are not that important. As long as it can take 4K quality for a short videos at 30p, 60p or 120p, it is good enough for me. I am not the type that spends countless hours doing video editing to come up with a two minutes video for my blog or youtube. I just do not have the time. Even going through hundreds of shots to select which one to edit is already painful and take a lot of my time.

I have missed a lot of shots(blurred) because the old AF on my DSLR just cannot keep up with the birds fast movement in the bushes, up the trees or flying high up in the sky. it is frustrating and tiring physically. The new generation AF in  the mirrorless bodies have a fantastic algorithm which can  differentiate the subjects body parts for animals, like eye-tracking and stick to it like glue which is fantastic! That means more focus shots and higher keeper rates. Some have the Pre-capture feature that take a few seconds of shots before you press the shutter button, to ensure you did not miss the moments. I believe the R7 and R6ii have this feature but R5 does not have even though it is more expensive. R5ii has this feature. However, as far as how sticky the eye-tracking AF goes in all these 3 bodies, i believe the R6ii is the best based on the reviews i read. So, the R6ii wins here

R6ii AF can detect people, animal, vehicles and has eye tracking

The frame per second (FPS) among these three bodies, the R6ii wins hands down with the mechanical shutter of 12fps and electronic shutter of 40fps! The R7 has 15fps mechanical shutter and 30fps electronic shutters, while R5 has 12fps mechanical and 20 fps electronic shutter. However, all these fps are good enough to take fast moving wildlife or birds, or even sports. The issue is the Rolling Shutter(warping/wobbling effects) that distort the fast moving subjects due to the sensor readout speed while taking the photos. Among these three the R7 has the worst rolling shutter issue due to the readout speed of 31.3ms, while the R5 is second with 15.5ms, and the R6ii is the fastest with 14.0ms. So the R6ii wins here for FPS and the least rolling shutter issue.

A lot of info can be added to screen

I do a lot of bird photography in and around the forest, heavy wooded areas, in hilly and mountainous areas where the light condition can change very fast. One moment it is very bright  but the next moment it is overcast, misty with bad lighting. In the morning and late in the evening where birds are quite active the light is low. Trying to use high ISO in these moments for faster shutter speed can result in higher noise especially above ISO3200. So the native ISO of the sensor of the camera body and its lowlight performance is very important, in order to get as clean as possible photos of birds. The rest can be improved using the Lightroom software or other softwares available in the market. I try to edit as little as possible the shots that i took. I hardly used ISO12800 as the noise becomes visible,. My limit currently is ISO3200 to 6400 depending on the situation. Among these three R bodies, R6ii have the best low light ISO performance according to reviews, followed by R5, and last R7. This not surprising since R6ii has a fullframe sensor with 24mp with native ISO up to 100-102400, while R5 has a full frame sensor with 45mp with native ISO from 100-51200, and R7 has an 32.5mp APSC sensor with native ISO from 100 - 32000, all can be extended. The higher the sensor resolution the higher the pixel density becomes, and the smaller the size of the pixel. Smaller pixel will collect less light therefore produce more noise. Among these three the R6ii has a pixel size of 6.0 micron, R5 has 4.4 micron and R7 has 3.2 micron. So, obviously the R6ii will produce better images in low light condition.

The size of the megapixel of the images produce by the camera will determine how much you can crop into the images before the pixel becomes too visible. A lot of birders crop into their images to get big enough birds size to fill the frame which is common. I do it all the time because i do not have super long tele lens like 600mm f4 or 800mm f5.6 which may cost a bomb! The R6ii here only has 24megapixel, so maybe i cannot crop too much into it like R7 and R5. So, i think it loses out to the R7 and R5 here. The solution is to get closer to the subject, or invest in a longer lens with better optics. Between the R6ii and R5 bodies the price difference here is roughly RM5000, which can be used to buy a Sigma 150-600 contemporary tele lens to pair with the R6ii.

Lastly, the weight of the camera body is a strong reason to go into the mirrorless camera nowadays. I have been shooting with the 7D2 and 5D3 bodies which weigh at 910g and 950g respectively with battery for so many years. As i get older i start to feel the effect of carrying them the whole day. Once i add the weight of the tele lens 1250g for the Canon 400f5.6, or 1780g for the Sigma 150-600 lens plus a 1.4x extender which weighs around 130g, the total weight of the set can total up to  between 2290g to 2860g! Choosing the R6ii mirrorless body which is only 670g with battery can shave almost 300g from the set up, and lighten the load on my shoulders. The R7 body is even lighter at 612g, and the R5 is 738g, heavier than R6ii.

Smaller and lighter than my Canon 80D at 

In conclusion, without going further into each body features(you can get them from the internet), i figure the R6ii will fulfill my needs at the right price right now for my bird photography. The R5 is good but too pricey for my budget, and the R5ii is a dream one day. So i decide to purchase the R6ii body and an EF to EOS R adapter, and see whether they can elevate my bird photography to the next level. It will not break my bank but surely will dent it, but what the heck life is short, so lets enjoy it while we can. I will put my new R6ii through the paces in the next couple of weeks and see whether it meets my expectations. I will put up the results in this blog for your viewing. Till then happy birding everybody and take care.

Happy birding.