John Warkentin here from the Michaels Camera Social Media Team!
Today we’re joined by Mark from Canon, and he’s brought a trio - well, actually four - but, three models; brand new Canon cameras that have just been announced; and of course, we’re here in the Michael’s Camera world famous camera museum, and our background today is Canon!
So we’ve got a wide range of historical Canon cameras and we’ve put a couple on the table here because we want to draw some comparisons between the new and the old, but let’s just dive right into the new!
Mark, what have you got here to show us today?
(Mark)
Alright, today we’ll start at the bottom and work our way up, I suppose.
(John)
Sounds perfect!
(Mark)
So, we’ve got the EOS 800D – a shiny new entry-level camera; and we jump up to the 77D; and then we go across to our new mirrorless cameras, the M6.
(John)
So, just to let everybody know; we’re shooting this video on the Canon M5. The M-series are Canon’s mirrorless cameras, and they use the new M-mount lens.
(Mark)
Yes.
(John)
But, if you’ve got a collection of Canon EF, and EF-S lenses in your closet, from your other cameras or you,’re currently using both formats; there is an adapter so you can use those.
(Mark)
Yep.
(John)
And, because it’s mirrorless, there’s a world of other options that you can use with mirrorless cameras; basically, any lens made can be modified – well, not even modified, can be adapted – with, in general, you know, dumb adapters - they’re just rings - so that you can use all sorts of historical lenses on a mirrorless camera.
And because a mirrorless camera - pop a lens off here, Mark - the sensor is very close to the mount on a mirrorless camera, and that’s what enables you to use all sorts of interesting historical lenses on these things.
[Mark takes a lens off one of the Canon EOS cameras]
So, Canon comes to the party with a great new mirrorless camera; it’s the M6. It’s got a 24-megapixel sensor; great low-light sensitivity; high burst rate. What’s our burst rate on this unit?
I think it’s 6 frames a second.
(Mark)
Six frames per second, I believe, yeah.
[A correct appears on the screen saying that the M6 is in fact, faster at 7 frames per second; and if the focus is locked it can run up to 9 frames per second]
(John)
Yeah, something like that. Very good in low light; it’s got an amazing dual pixel focusing system for video; so it’ll track video, it doesn’t hunt.
(Mark)
That’s correct. The big difference between the M6 and the M5 is there’s no viewfinder. Well, no viewfinder built in.
So we’ve come out with a new viewfinder as well.
(John)
So, the M6 is a little bit more compact than the m5; a little bit lower price; and what you’re basically giving up is the electronic viewfinder, but so many people are used to shooting on their telephones, and all the compact cameras for the last decade or more, they’re used to the rear display, and by getting rid of the electronic viewfinder - the built-in one, there is an optional viewfinder. We’ve got it here it’s mounted on the silver one - this enables the rear display on the M6 to flip up for selfie mode, or V-logging mode.
(Mark)
This is for your vloggers, essentially.
(John)
Exactly.
So you can put this camera on a tripod, whereas on the M5, the display flipped down, and thus you couldn’t use the display aimed at yourself while using a tripod.
(Mark)
Quite annoying, yes. Yeah.
(John)
This is where this is really advantageous.
So, for the people who want to make YouTube videos with a minimum crew – ie. A crew of none!
(Mark)
Yep! Perfect.
(John)
You can flip up the screen and you can see what you’re doing, while you’re using it.
And of course, I’ve used the M10 to do the exact same thing; which is another in the M-series.
So basically, the M6 is the baby brother with almost all of whole feature set of the M5; at a more affordable price; in a more compact body; but you still, you’re not giving up on any of the control knobs.
We’ve gone… oh, we’ve got everything here: we’ve got exposure compensation; we’ve got a rear control wheel; we’ve got a front control wheel; we’ve got the mode selector here; we’ve got a built-in flash; and of course, the optional electronic viewfinder, which you can keep in your pocket and only when you need it, you can hook it up.
(Mark)
Correct.
(John)
And of course, the camera is available in a silver trim; which it looks very retro, and of course, that brings up a very interesting point here - we’ve got an old Canon range finder - the Canon Canonet CL17 - from the museum, and so take a look at the comparison between the old and the new!
Now, Mark, I believe you own one of these Canonets.
(Mark)
I do have one of the QL17s, yeah.
(John)
So, we always welcome everyone to come into Michael’s Camera check out all the historic items in our Museum; and if you love the Canons, there’s a lot of very interesting things.
Which brings us up to the Canon 7 rangefinder.
These new Canon M-series mirrorless cameras can be used with lenses even like this!
So, this is the 50 mm f/095.
This lens almost sees in the dark, and what we want to do is get this thing - we can’t do it today - but we’re going to get this mounted on one of the M cameras and we’re going to take it out on the street soon; and show you what we can do with the old meeting the new!
But, there’s a lot of interesting things that the mirrorless camera brings to the table, and everyone who’s shooting mirrorless, they just love using other lenses.
So Canon’s entry is very powerful; very high resolution; very good image quality; very good low-light sensitivity; and very usable!
Now, we’re talking about usability - that brings up the new entry, which is the?
(Mark)
800D.
(John)
The 800D; which has a new user interface.
In an entry level SLR or digital SLR; there’s always been confusion about what are these? What is the “feature set” and how do we use this? And Canon’s now simplified it.
So we’ve got pictorial representations of…
(Mark)
So, once you. Yeah, yeah, if you go around the viewfinder, it’ll, sorry, the mode dial, it’ll tell you what it’s going to do for you, basically. Creative auto; and you can pick from all the different modes; portrait mode; your usual beginner modes; sports scene mode; creative, but once you jump into the manual modes; AV for instance. So it will tell you.
(John)
So, here we’ve got an example: on the left, it tells us about the blurred background, and on the right, it tells us about the sharp background; and now it’s going to basically if we hit okay, I guess is going to tell us how we’re going to achieve that. [Review screen is very bright and shows different modes available]
And there we go!
So now we’ve got our aperture scale here; where the larger aperture numbers [ Review screen shows Av sliding scale with information on what the background looks like] so the aperture is wider open; that enables us to have a blurred background.
So you can see the little picture of the woman and the mountain behind her; the mountain has been blurred; but as we stop down to the larger aperture numbers, or smaller apertures, again, this is why it’s always been confusing for everybody.
(Mark)
Yeah.
(John)
It shows that the background is going to be sharper.
So hopefully, this is going to open up a lot of creative avenues for you know, novice shooters to dive in.
(Mark)
For beginners it’s perfect.
(John)
Yeah, to dive into the more complex functions.
And these are the reasons why we wanted to use an SLR all along!
(Mark)
Yeah.
(John)
Because we have these advanced features.
(Mark)
Well, you can open up that creativity to the people who find it easier to grasp those concepts of aperture and shutter speeds you know, pictorially. Yeah, if they can see it on the back, then they can see a picture and okay, sharp at this end blurry at this end; then if that works, great.
(John)
This is a huge problem for all novice shooters; is how do they get a grasp of the principles of photography - which are quite complex.
So with Canon’s new user interface, we think that’s going to be much simpler for them to dive into it, and to explore their creativity.
So, we really want you to see this in person and get a hands-on view with it.
When are we expecting these cameras to show up in the stores?
(Mark)
Late March, early April.
(John)
Ok, so we’re looking at probably about six weeks away.
(Mark)
Six weeks ish.
(John)
Ok, well that’s good.
Obviously, we can pre-order the cameras on our website right now…
(Mark)
Pricing soon.
(John)
And pricing soon!
(Mark)
Yeah.
(John)
Ah in general, what sort of price points are you thinking of, you know compared to the current line? So, uh, we feel that this is sort of the new baby brother to the 80D.
(Mark)
Yes.
(John)
And, of course, now this is the 77D; this has got a top mounted display; it’s got the articulated rear display, so this is great for the video shooters here; ah, it’s a small body.
(Mark)
Back button focusing; you’ve got your control dial at the back there as well, vs none of that on the 800.
(John)
So we can expect this to come in several hundred dollars less than an 80D.
(Mark)
I would expect so, yes.
(John)
Yes, yeah, so this will be very affordable.
What are we giving up versus the 80D here; it’s probably not weather sealed I guess?
(Mark)
The weather sealing, not as great, no. Again, once you step up the line, the ceiling gets better; the build quality gets better.
(John)
Yeah, and burst rate probably just a little bit slower?
(Mark)
I believe it’s seven on that one.
(John)
Yeah, yes, yes; but image quality, basically the same focus engine; and the same sensor.
(Mark)
You’ve got a 24-megapixel sensor in that one as well.
(John)
So.
(Mark)
And the same dual pixel AF system as well.
(John)
Yeah, so basically, for a budget you’ve got a baby 80D here, as long as you are not looking for dousing it in the water, or anything like that! It should just be good to go!
(Mark)
It should be.
(John)
We don’t recommend anyone douse any cameras in the water.
(Mark)
No. (cannot hear what he says)
(John)
Unless you want to buy the; what’s 1DX Mark II, that could probably handle a good splash.
(Mark)
You go out in a good downpour on that one, yes.
(Mark)
Yes, yes; but that’s a lot more money; so we’re not recommending that for the average user; we want to expose you to the beauty of the digital SLR at a very affordable rate.
And of course, if you’re interested in getting the weight down, and going with some brand new stylish cameras; we’ve got the M6, and I think that’s just a beautiful looking camera.
(Mark)
These are great; I love this one; I love the silver. Again, it harks back to the old school.
[John agrees]
(John)
Now, we’ve got a little remote on the table. What can you tell us about this, Mark?
(Mark)
Okay, so, a Bluetooth remote; pretty self-explanatory.
All these new cameras are Bluetooth enabled; so what that means is, if you can trigger the video, you can trigger the shutter remotely.
What it means is, the older remotes, infrared, they rely on line of sight; not so good outdoors in the sunlight.
(John)
Yeah, sometimes the sun would overpower it, it just wouldn’t work.
So, Bluetooth is the way to go.
(Mark)
It’s a lot more reliable; it’s that low power. So there’s a low-power drawing Bluetooth in the cameras; also acts as a handshake essentially; if you’re using the app on your phone.
(John)
Ah, perfect!
(Mark)
Much like NFC would be for an Android user.
(John)
Also, it can sort of implement the connection.
(Mark)
Yes.
(John)
Ah, perfect!
And of course, as Mark’s just said; using your smartphone.
All of these cameras have Wi-Fi now.
(Mark)
Yep.
(John)
Have had for quite some time; and there’s a Canon – what’s the app? It’s Canon connect, is it?
(Mark)
Canon Connect, camera connect.
(John)
Canon Connect app. So, you can basically run a live view on your smartphone from any of these cameras; which enables for you too, a remote display of course; trigger the camera; you can do, a lot of the shot settings can be controlled; and of course, once you’ve taken the shot, you can then transfer that photo directly to your smartphone; and then get it out to your social media channels immediately.
So you don’t have to rely on that somewhat poor quality camera, with no zoom lens in your smartphone; but you’ve got all the benefits of instant communication to your followers.
(Mark)
Yeah. Exactly.
(John)
And of course, you do this all the time; you’re always active on Instagram.
(Mark)
I’ve done it already. I’ve already done it this morning - taking a picture of the M6s and, um, well before I came here.
(John)
Yeah, yeah. I know I’ve used the Canon Connect app; I quite often mount my M-series camera on the top of a very tall carbon fiber pole, and I wear my smartphone on my wrist, so I can hold on to the pole and control the camera; and it’s just perfect, because I can frame exactly what I want to see from quite a great distance; and adjust shutter speed, or aperture, or ISO; however I see fit, and then trigger that remotely all with the camera, you know, 30 feet above me - 10 meters above me - so it’s a very powerful tool, and Canon’s done very well with it - very popular!
(Mark)
It’s a good app, yeah.
(John)
Now, do any of these cameras have GPS on them?
(Mark)
GPS, no.
(John)
No. No GPS.
(Mark)
That’ll all have to be done through the app.
(John)
Now, that brings up another important point - when the camera is talking to the Canon Connect app; the GPS is active on your phone, and thus the GPS coordinates are added to the shot data, into the JPEG or RAW files; So another great feature.
So, even though the cameras don’t have GPS on them when you’re using them with Canon Connect you do get location tagged photos; very powerful feature.
We’re going to be doing the White Night street photography.
(Mark)
White Night, yes.
(John)
So, that’s in Melbourne on… well… today is…
(Mark)
Sunday morning, so, today is Friday.
(John)
Sunday morning, yeah. So, Mark and I, and a large group of people; and a few more people from Canon; and from Michael’s; are going to be hitting the streets at four in the morning!
(Mark)
At 4 am!
(John)
And, covering the White Night!
And we’ll be shooting on Canon cameras; most likely hand held at high sensitivity.
(Mark)
We’ll have a bunch of 80Ds yeah.
(John)
Yeah, yeah, so we’re looking forward to that!
If you’re in Melbourne, White Night is a huge event.
There will be, oh, the better part of a hundred thousand people out!
(Mark)
So many people, yeah.
(John)
There’s going to be projected displays on all the major buildings in the central business district; and we’re going to give it that Canon touch, with our White Night Photowalk!
So, we’re really happy to have Canon on board for that; and we’re looking forward to meeting a lot of people and showing them how great Canon cameras can work, hand held, in a low light environment!
So…
[Someone off camera asks where they meet]
Oh, yeah, well, you’ve got to book your tickets already, so.
(Mark)
Well, I believe it’s booked out.
(John)
Oh, it’s already booked out.
Okay.
(Mark)
Sorry! [Laughs]
(John)
Well, you just come and sort of follow along with your own gear; but, yeah, we’re running an event where Mark’s bringing out a whole bunch of Canon cameras.
(Mark)
Yep.
(John)
And we’ll be there to help people; show them the ropes of shooting in low light.
(Mark)
Yeah.
(John)
And using the Canon system.
But obviously, any anybody, any member of the public’s welcome; it’s a public event - so they’ll be…
(Mark)
They can tag along.
(John)
Yeah. They can tag along, anywhere; there’s just, it’s going to be amazing what’s happening in Melbourne on that night!
So, yeah, we really want to thank you for dropping in with this trio - albeit there’s really four because there are two versions of the M6 - with this a trio of very exciting new Canon cameras, Mark!
And we are looking forward to getting them into the store, and getting them into the hands of the Michael’s customers!
So, if you’re interested in these cameras, of course, you can pre-order on our website; and when they finally come into the store, we’ll be sure to let you know through all of our standards social media channels; and we’ll be having the photo show coming up, in the middle of March; and there’s a very good chance we might have a couple of demo units in hand by that time.
(Mark)
Hope so.
(John)
Yeah! So, yeah, again, big thanks to Mark for bringing this collection of cameras to us.
(Mark)
My pleasure.
(John)
As always, we love to get the message out about exciting new products at Michael’s Camera; and when you’re in Melbourne, come and see us; and always come up to the first level, the upper level, and check out the world famous camera museum.
Thank you so much, and we’ll see you next time!
[Waves]
[Camera pans around the Canon display in the museum]
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