It has taken a long time coming, but canon
finally has a compact mirrorless camera in its stables. The EOS M is like a
Canon EOS DSLR that has been miniaturized. So inside it is still the same old
Canon control, though a lot less complex and much more simplified.
The
EOS M is a very compact camera
Design
The EOS M is a very compact camera, not
much larger than some of Canon's IXUS models, without the lens. The 18-SSmm
lens is also much smaller than the DSLR version, there is a 22mm pancake lens
too in case you don't need the zoom. The 3-inch touchscreen that dominates most
of the camera's controls, thus simplifying life for novices. A mode dial on top
lets users choose the auto, manual and video modes. The control dial to the
right of the LCD does most of the other control and adjustments. There are
Menu, Info and Playback buttons around this ring, as well as a record button to
initiate video. But you will predominantly be using the touchscreen.
Despite
the sluggish auto-focus, the EOS M is a superb camera because it produces
results that can match with any DSLR
Results
Despite the sluggish auto-focus, the EOS M
is a superb camera because it produces results that can match with any DSLR. In
fact, we compared pictures clicked on an EOS 400D and the EOS M seemed to have
the better colors and feel. It anyway has an 18MP CMOS sensor with a DIGIC 5
processor, good enough to take on most DSLRs. The low-light results are great
too, even though this has a maximum ISO of 12800 at a time when other compact
mirrorless cameras go one point higher. Then, like other cameras of this ilk,
the EOS M too shoots pictures in RAW mode. The video quality is great too,
though it has a maximum of 25fps in 1080p. The auto-focus strangely seems much
more faster while shooting video.
Operation
The iOS is among the easiest cameras to
use. In the manual camera mode, all you have to do is click the mode icon on
top of the screen to change to Aperture priority. Swipe to the left and even
the Scene settings can be accessed here. Similarly, most of the icons on the
screen can be used to change those settings like the picture quality and ISO
and so on. Now, that is ease-of-use in our books. Plus, while you are using the
video mode, you can easily click lictures too, though in the aspect ratio of
the video. Even while shooting in Full HD, you can change most of the settings
on the screen.
But this camera has one serious problem, an
auto-focus that has a mind of its own. We could not click some shots because
the AF would not oblige. And, it wasn't even in low-light. We felt that the
problem was more when using the FlexiZone-5 single auto-focus that lets you
select the area in the frame that you want to focus on. This is otherwise a
superb feature which we have not encountered in other cameras. Even in the
other modes, you can use the screen to select the subject you want to focus on,
and we loved this feature. The continuous mode is superfast, though it will
take a while to save the pictures if you are using a SD card under Class 6. We
tested the camera with a Class 10 SanDisk Extreme SD card.
Certainly,
a great buy for Canon fans and those looking for an advanced camera that is not
as large as a DSLR.
Verdict
Its sluggish auto-focus aside, this is one of
the best compact mirrorless cameras in the market. Coming from Canon, there is
also an ease of use that comes from familiarity. Plus, you can use you old
Canon lenses with this camera using a Mount adapter EF-EOS M. Certainly, a
great buy for Canon fans and those looking for an advanced camera that is not
as large as a DSLR.
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CANON EOS M
§ Price:
$924
§ 18mp
APS-C
§ DIGIC
V
§ ISO
100-12800 (25,600 Expansion)
§ 3″
Touchscreen 1.04million pixels
§ Phase
& Contrast AF
§ Video
Servo AF
§ 1920×1080
Video 30p/25p/24p
§ 1280×720
Video 60p/50p
§ MPEG-4,
AVC/H.264
§ SD
Card
§ Adaptor
at launch for EF lenses
§ Hand-held
Twilight mode, to help with long exposures in low light.
§ Multi-shot
noise reduction function that helps reduce the noise by combining four
images.
§ The
usual creative filters
§ HDR
mode to synthesize three different exposures
§ Camera
size: 66.5mm (width) 108.6mm (height) x 32.3mm (depth)
§ The
weight (body only) 262g, (including battery and memory card) 298g
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