A video powerhouse perfect for photography

With video features such as RAW now commonplace on mid-range mirrorless cameras, Canon has decided not to mess with its latest model, the 33-megapixel EOS R6 III. It’s a true cinematic beast, allowing for up to 7K RAW video capture internally with reliable and automatic focus and rock-solid stability.

At the same time, it’s a solid image camera with high burst speed and warm, accurate image quality. The R6 III has stiff competition with Sony’s 33MP A7 V, however, as the latter delivers a higher dynamic range. Pricing may also be an issue for buyers, as the R6 III costs $300 more than its predecessor. Whether that extra money is worth it depends on what you plan to do with it.

Management and design

The EOS R6 III is quintessentially Canon in terms of design. It is very similar to the R6 II and EOS R5 II, with the same button and dial layout on the back. In terms of performance, this is a good thing as everything moves smoothly, allowing you to control it by feel once you get used to it. However, the design of the R6 III is a little simpler, so if you’re looking for a stylish camera here Fujifilm, not this one.

Holding the R6 III is also a joy thanks to the grippy, soft rubber exterior, although at 1.5 kilograms it is slightly heavier than the A7 V. It is comfortable to hold and use all day, unlike Sony’s A7 V which felt uncomfortable after prolonged use due to the hard material and sharp lock in the finger area.

The R6 III’s 3.69-million dot, 120 fps electronic viewfinder (EVF) worked well for me to test color and focus, but falls short of that of the cheaper Nikon Z6 III. The flip-out 3-inch 1.65-million-dot rear touch display is standard in this category and does the job well. Finally, the R6 III supports CFexpress Type B cards for RAW video capture, and SD UHS II for MP4 video and photos.

Other key features include headphone and microphone ports, a full HDMI input (instead of microHDMI as before, thankfully) and a USB-C port for charging and transferring. Battery life is decent for this category with a maximum of 510 shots per charge or 620 shots when using power saving mode or around 90 minutes of continuous 4K shooting. However, you can almost double those figures with Canon’s $150 BG-R20 battery grip.

Working

The R6 III offers an improvement in shooting speed over its predecessor thanks to a new 33MP sensor. It has a faster readout speed than the R6 II as well, allowing for faster bursts and lower shutter rolling skew. In comparison, Sony’s A7 V also has a 33MP sensor but it’s partially integrated, so it introduces less distortion when shooting fast-moving subjects.

With that new sensor and a 34 percent faster Digic X processor, the R6 III can shoot up to 40 fps in electronic and 12 fps in mechanical shutter modes (with continuous AF and AE enabled). That’s second only to the Panasonic S1 II (70 fps) in this price range. You can fill the buffer in about 3.7 seconds at that time (150 RAW frames), which is a decent amount for a mid-range camera.

You generally want to avoid an electronic shutter with fast action due to shutter distortion, but the R6 III’s fast sensor can handle fast-moving subjects reasonably well. I also snapped a few shots of kids, bikes and dogs that I might have missed by using the new shutter mode that records up to 15 shots before fully retracting the shutter.

The new sensor and processor also make the R6 III’s autofocus system faster and more accurate than ever. When shooting bursts of moving action like dogs running or cycling, less than five percent of my shots were out of focus. And the EOS R6 III can now track animals, birds and cars, as well as human faces, eyes and bodies.

This camera also has a few new autofocus tricks, including one called Key People Registration. That allows you to save up to 10 people on the camera that it can detect and switch to automatically. I found it useful for a large gathering, it helped me focus on my niece enjoying her second Christmas. However, the R6 III lacks several autofocus features found in the R5 II such as sports “action leading”, eye control AF and increased AI.

In-body stabilization is also excellent, keeping the sensor steady in handheld shooting with 8.5 stops of shake reduction. With that enabled, I was able to effectively blur the action on the roads while keeping the background in focus with shutter speeds down to a full second.

Image quality

With a 33MP sensor instead of a 24MP sensor, the R6 III offers more sharpness and a more flexible touch range than its predecessor. When shooting RAW, I was able to capture a lot of detail with high contrast on sunny days with dark shadows. However, Sony’s A7 V soundly beats the R6 III in terms of dynamic range, thanks to its new sensor.

The R6 III’s high ISO performance isn’t too bad even for a high-resolution camera, with uncontrollable noise up to ISO 12,800. As is common with Canon models, skin tones are warmer and more flattering than on Sony and Nikon cameras, thanks to pink tones with a slight yellow bias. Those interesting colors were consistent, even at high ISOs, when I shot children and adults at a few indoor gatherings. If you don’t want the hassle of RAW, the JPEG rendering is excellent out of camera, with well-balanced sharpness and noise reduction.

Note that switching to electronic shutter mode slows the sensor down to 12-bit reading, which helps speed bursts but hurts image quality. This is very good compared to the A7 V, which maintains 14-bit quality even when shooting at the highest camera rate at 30 fps. So while on paper the R6 III wins the speed race, the extra 10 fps won’t be worth the drop in quality for most photographers.

Video

Canon has improved the video on the R6 III in every way, putting it almost on par with the more expensive R5 II. While it can’t shoot 8K, it can handle 7K RAW video at up to 60 fps (CFexpress only) and 4K at 120p, with a smaller shutter than the R6 II. It also supports “open gate” 3:2 video that uses the full sensor area so you can output vertical vertical video and other formats.

The R6 III supports 4K 10-bit MP4 capture at high data rates and if you prefer to save storage space or shoot on SD cards. You also get CLog 2 on top of CLog 3’s improved dynamic range capability. Strangely though, Canon has made it a pain to switch to log modes compared to previous models, forcing you to wade through a bunch of menus to do so.

Video autofocus is excellent at all resolutions, with fast subject detection and reliable tracking. Face and eye detection work very well, and I occasionally noticed autofocus lag with fast-moving subjects, especially when they were moving towards the camera.

In terms of stabilization, I was able to shoot smoothly hand-held out of crop, as long as I didn’t shake the camera too much. Digital stabilization allowed for more movement and the improved setting let me shoot smoothly while on the move (the 7K doesn’t work on digital stabilization modes, though). Panasonic’s S5 II is still the best in this regard with slightly smoother stabilization, but the R6 III is not far behind.

Video on the EOS R6 III is extremely sharp in RAW and HQ modes, especially in 4K HQ with large sampling. Some 4K modes are sampled, but they’re almost as sharp. The rolling shutter handles better than before, but you’ll still want to avoid things like whip pans, sudden movements or fast subjects like propellers or golf swings.

In a variety of shooting situations in bright and dark conditions, Canon’s advanced color science delivers warm skin tones and accurate colors. Shooting RAW video allowed me to further adjust the shot in post, while the CLog 2 mode greatly improved the dynamic range when shooting in different conditions. For example, I shot the windows of a famous Paris store and was able to extract details from the light and dark parts of the video.

Overheating has been a problem in the past with Canon’s R6 models, but the R6 III didn’t shut down for me, even during a few tests over 15 minutes. Overall, it reliably delivered outstanding video quality and I actually preferred it over the R5 II because of the smaller RAW file sizes.

Finish it

Canon’s EOS R6 III is now the best midrange camera for creators thanks to RAW video, fast and accurate autofocus and excellent handling. At the same time, a strong camera for taking photos with a high burst speed, more resolution and, again, reliable AF. If it’s mainly photography that interests you, however, Sony’s $2,900 A7 V is a better choice. It matches the R6 III’s resolution, price and autofocus but offers a higher dynamic range and lower shutter rolling distortion.

Some video-focused options can be more attractive for other reasons – including budget. Nikon’s 24MP Z6 III offers similar capabilities, has a slightly larger sensor and retails for $2,400, but can often be found for less. Panasonic’s S1 II is also a good choice for its RAW video and creator-oriented features, although it costs more than $3,200.

So, which one to buy depends on your budget, use (video or photos) and whether you already have lenses in one system or another. That being said, if it’s a Canon camera you’re after and you depend on content creation, the EOS R6 III is your best choice.