By Yadira B. Arnold 
Sony and Canon are in a fierce action for the full-screen hybrid camera market, and the recent salvo from Canon is the EOS R6 II for 2, 500. Not only is it a major rival of Sony’s 33-megapixel A7 IV at the same price, but it also gives Canon the opportunity to fix overheating bugs of the otherwise excellent EOS R6.
The new 24-megapixel sensor promises more resolution and image quality than the 20-megapixel R6. It also offers faster striking speeds, improved 4K video specifications, an improved viewfinder and more. However, the competition in this category is getting tough. Panasonic also recently announced the Lumix s5ii for 2, 000 and the s5iix for 2, 200, the first cameras with hybrid autofocus for phase detection.
I saw the R6 II as a prototype last year, but now I’ve got my hands on the final version. Can it keep up with the competition and are overheating problems solved? I tried it in different striking situations to find out.
Canon experimented with the controls of previous cameras and introduced things like a touch bar, but users did not like them. Fortunately, the R6 II uses Canon’s proven form factor with catchs, dials and the joystick where you would expect them. The handle is large, comfortable and has a rubber-like material that provides a secure grip without discomfort even after a day of use.
However, there are some welcome changes compared to the R6. The power catch is now on the right side to make it easier to access, with a “lock” setting that prevents commands from being accidentally activated (you can set which commands to lock).
Canon has also introduced a dedicated photo and video switch. Turning it over, you change all the settings for each catch, as well as the main and quick menus. However, when switching from photos to videos, everything that is set on the mode dial is used (M, S, A, P, etc.), so you need to remember to change it. However, all other settings remain separate.
As before, it has a fully movable 1.62 thousand point display, which makes the R6 II useful for vlogging, selfies and more and Canon has updated the electronic viewfinder from 2.36 thousand to 3.67 thousand points, which corresponds to the A7 IV and eliminates one of my biggest complaints about the original R6. It is not quite as sharp as, for example, the X-H2S’s 5.76 thousand-point electronic viewfinder, but it is relatively sharp and fast with a refresh rate of 120 fps.
Canon EOS R6 II hybrid camera review
While the R6 had a single fast UHS-II card slot and a slower UHS-I slot, the R6 II now has two UHS-II slots. However, unlike the A7 IV or Panasonic GH6, it does not have a CFexpress card slot, which affects the burst speed and video recording options.
It uses the same LP-E6NH battery as before, but the endurance has increased significantly, from a maximum of 510 strikes on the R6 to almost 760 on the R6 II. I took well over 2,000 photos in one day (with a mixture of electronic and mechanical fasteners) and strike videos for almost two hours.
Of course, it has microphone and headphone connectors, as well as a next-generation 21-pin digital interface on the hot shoe (Canon showed pictures with the Tascam xlr2d-C audio interface and the newly introduced Speedlight EL-5). Unfortunately, instead of a full HDMI port, a fragile microphone is used. This is unfortunate, given the RAW video output, because micro HDMI cables (and connectors) are usually fragile and fussy.
In terms of connectivity, you can operate the camera from USB-C via the Power Delivery function. It also offers Bluetooth 5 and 5 GHz WiFi, and you can use it directly as a PC or Mac webcam via USB-C using the industry-standard UVC and UAC video and audio drivers built into Windows and macOS.
Performance
As I saw in San Diego at the sport striking, the R6 II is fast. With the mechanical shutter, it can record bursts at 12 fps, which is already slightly faster than the A7 IV. However, switching to electronic mode brings this speed to 40 fps, making it by far the sportiest full-frame camera in this price range.
However, using the electronic mode means that you take fewer photos (this also affects the quality, but more on that soon). You can get about 75 compressed RAW/JPEG images before the buffer is full, and less with uncompressed RAW. In mechanical shutter mode, on the other hand, you can take about 1,000 compressed RAW/JPEG images before it stops, or about 140 uncompressed RAW photos.
Speaking of buffers, a cool new feature is the pro striking mode. If you activate this setting and press the shutter catch halfway, photos will be continuously saved and saved in the buffer for several seconds. Then, when you press the trigger all the way, you capture a few seconds of the action that took place just before. The idea, of course, is that if you were not fast enough, you still have a chance.
The roller shutter is well controlled, about half the size of the original R6 and significantly less than the A7 IV, as you can see from the tests of Gerald undone. I would hesitate to use it for fast full-screen sports, but it is very minimal in 1.6 times cropped mode.
The R6 II’s dual-pixel autofocus is also faster and more reliable than the R6. If you use it in single point mode without face/eye detection, it can keep up with 40 fps burst speeds and only miss the odd shot. In the mechanical shutter mode at 12 fps, I rarely had a blurry photo. In this regard, it is almost on a par with the EOS R3, which uses a stacked sensor.
There are 4,897 focus detection positions for photos and 4,067 for videos with up to 100% coverage depending on the lens. This means that you can trace motifs even on the edge of the frame. The selection of a motif is relatively easy with the multi-controller joystick or the touchscreen.
The R6 II can recognize the bodies of people as well as animals and vehicles such as motorcycles, cars, trains and horses via the face and eyes. It also comes with a new automatic selection mode that allows the AI to select the type of subject. It can also track user-selected topics that are not included in these categories.
Although it can sometimes be confused by the background, the R6 II is well suited for holding on to human faces and eyes. It is slightly less reliable for animals and other subjects. Tracking fast moving subjects works well, although I had to delve into the settings to increase the speed for faster movement. Touch to track works well when the subject is well defined, but is not as reliable as face tracking.