Date: 23rd January 2026
Hi birders, i hope you are enjoying your outdoor and birding. While i am trying to decide where to go this weekend for birding, i just want to write on using the Crop Mode of 1.6x in the Canon R6ii body. This feature is not new in other camera brands like Nikon and Sony, but in Canon it is relatively new in full frame body especially mirrorless. My full frame Canon 5D3 does not have the crop mode which makes me relied on a tele-converter or extender 1.4x, to extend the focal length of my Sigma 150-500 or EF400 f5.6 lens.
There is nothing wrong with using the tele-converter 1.4x or 2.0x, but it comes at a cost. It will add extra weight to your gear, it makes your lens longer, it will increase your aperture by 1.4x or 2.0x, f4.0 lens will become f5.6 or f8.0. They reduce the amount of light reaching your camera sensor and make your photos darker, less sharp as there are more glass between the light source and your sensor. Less light means you have to settle for slower shutter speed which is a problem for fast moving birds or wild life. So, you end up using higher ISO to get a high shutter speed, which in turn will increase the luminance and color noise in your photos. Of course you can always reduce the noise to a certain extend by using softwares during post processing. There is also the extra cost to pay for using the tele-converters, which is not cheap. Tele-converters for mirrorless camera body is also very expensive.
However, there are caveats when using the Crop Mode feature in the camera body. Since cropping throws away all the pixels outside the cropped area, the final megapixel will drop from 24.2MP in R6ii body to 9.4MP(3744 x 2496), which is big enough for social media upload. If you want to crop further this cropped image, the image will become soft and lack of details. So if you have a higher megapixel body like 33MP in R7 or 45MP in R5 and R5ii, this will become less of an issue. The image will still look sharp. If you buy the latest Canon R6iii you will get 32.5MP which gives you more pixel after cropping 1.6x. Heavy cropping despite gaining a 1.6x image enlargement usually is due to the subjects appear small in the image, mostly due to the distance from the camera to the subject is too far, and the lens focal length is too short. In my case, i used the Crop Mode 1.6x with my Canon RF800 STM F11.0 giving me a total equivalent focal length of 1280mm f11(still). The good thing is my aperture is still f11.0 which does not affect the brightness of the image. However, shooting birds in flight handheld at 1280mm which i used most of the times for panning, is very challenging as the field of view is narrower, and any movement is magnified. I kept losing track of the birds a lot. It helps if you shoot with the right eye in viewfinder and the left eye open tracking the bird. When i used with my RF100-400 F8 lens to turn it into an equivalent 160-640 f8(still) it is a lot more enjoyable to use for bird in flight.
One thing i like using the Crop Mode feature in camera is that i can assign this feature to one of the buttons at the back of the camera. I use the AF-On button for the Crop Mode instead of scrolling through the Menu which takes time. If i want a wider view without the 1.6x, i just push the button and i will see it in the viewfinder and change it to 1.0x without taking my eye off the viewfinder. You cannot do this if you have a tele-converter stuck to your prime telephoto lens, because that means you have to physically remove the lens from the body, and then remove the tele-converter.. By the time you finished doing this the bird would have flown away. And then there were times when you forgot to bring the tele-converter after walking so far from where you parked your car, you will be cursing your self for missing the shots because the birds are so far away.
The best part of using this Crop Mode in camera body is how much money i saved by not buying tele-converters. I own one converter by Kenko which is DGX 1.4x, which i used with my Canon EF 400 f5,6 lens, and sometimes Sigma 150-500mm lens, but the images i got were soft, and my f5.6 aperture.becomes f8.0. On my 5D3 body this Kenko tele-converter could freeze the camera. When using the 1.6x Crop Mode in the Canon R6ii body i do not have all these issues and it is free!
Of course this is not to say it makes tele-converters irrelevant, it just give you another option in the field especially for those who like to carry minimal gear and budget conscious in photography. You should give it a try, even combine with actual tele-converters if your lenses are not long enough. However, if the combined focal length result is too long, it is better to use a good tripod for sharper photos.
Till then, go out there, relax and enjoy your birding.
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