Review: Canon EOS M

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Shutter noise in E flat major

I photograph musical events in my community, specifically classical concerts for an organization called Festival Mozaic. These concerts are held in a variety of locations from the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly, a 1400+ seat concert hall, to Mission San Luis Obispo, an 18th century adobe building downtown that is much more intimate. Sometimes I shoot photos at outdoor concerts or, as I did recently, at a seaside resort hotel. The music is sometimes loud and boisterous, other times quiet and serene.

Unfortunately the shutter on my camera is always loud and boisterous. For years I have been shooting with versions of the Canon EOS 1ds camera. It’s the top of the line digital from that company, it has all the features, and its shutter sound might as well be a thunder clap when the violins are playing a pianissimo part in a Mozart symphony. More than once I have been embarrassed out of the room by my camera’s noisy shutter.

I was intrigued a few years back when Sony shipped a mirror-less SLR camera. Almost silent, the camera uses an optical system that is comprised of a prism instead of a mechanical mirror. I didn’t want to reinvest in new lenses and equipment, so I left the Sony alone. I needed a Canon mirror-less camera.

Last year Canon announced such a camera, the EOS M, which has no mirror, but still has a mechanical shutter like the one in my DSLR. Without the clopping sound of the mirror, this new offering from Canon could be a solution to my noisy camera problem.

The front of the camera and its sensor, unprotected by a mirror. The mirror-less Canon camera accepts several lenses made specifically for this size body with the mount shown.

 

Another view of the EOS M body with its exposed sensor.

A few weeks ago I bought an EOS M. It arrived in a small box, and when I opened it up, I thought I had purchased a point-and-shoot camera instead of a pro camera packed with most of the features of a full-size DSLR. It weighs only a few ounces, and it will easily slip into your pocket.

And, with an adapter that Canon sells separately, the M accepts all of Canon’s lenses, from the very wide to the very long.

The optional Canon lens adapter for the EOS M is nicely made, and includes the electrical connections to connect to all Canon lenses.

This is the Canon EOS M with its optional Canon lens adapter. When this is fitted, the camera will accept any Canon lens, with electrical connections for all functions.

 

A mighty lens with a midget camera. The Canon 100-400mm zoom lens attached to the EOS M camera. This combination works delightfully well, as do the other lenses I have tested with the diminutive camera body.

This photo shows the EOS M with a Canon 10-22 mm wide angle zoom lens. This is one of the “white” lenses, designed for the 2/3 size sensor cameras.

 

The EOS M with Canon’s newest 400mm f2.8 Mark II lens. It’s a delightful juxtaposition with a $500 camera body mounted on a $12,000 lens

Canon, meet iPhone

Since there is no mirror, there is no pentaprism, and therefore no optical viewfinder on this camera. Everything is presented on an LCD screen on the back of the camera. It is touch-sensitive like a smartphone. The button controls on the right-rear are minimal – you can access a menu list, review images already taken, and get information about the camera’s settings by pushing these physical buttons.

The back of the EOS M shows its very large LCD screen, and its very spare controls. Almost all settings are controlled on the touch-sensitive LCD screen.

 

Adjusting the shutter speed and aperture is done by touching and sliding controls on the LCD. Changing shooting modes is also done on the LCD. You can even set the camera to shoot a photo by tapping the LCD (I got this out of my system early by shooting a bunch of photos with my belt as I carried the camera).

This shows a typical manual setting on the LCD. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO, shooting style, and other menus are similar. You touch and slide to make changes.


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  • Steve Maxey says:

    How does this stack up against the D70?

  • jose says:

    not sure EOS M, but EOS M5 and M6 have a crasy slap shutter mechanical sound, have also a friend with a Nikon and canon DSLR with optical view finder and mirros and the sound still there but not as loud as the M5 and M5, which also seems like there is a hammer inside, or that it could be autodestroyed in the next year or so.

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