Previously, we’ve announced the pricing and availability of the Canon EOS-M kits, and today we had the chance to see it live, tinker with it, and take photos with it.
For those who haven’t been in the loop, the EOS-M is Canon’s attempt at competing with the mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras that have been sprouting in the market. The company dubs it as the first ever digital single lens non-reflex camera. It hosts an 18.1-megapixel APS-C sensor and has the same image processor as the EOS 650D—the DIGIC 5 processor. That’s not the only thing the two devices share. In fact, the M has been dubbed by several reviews online as a smaller version of the 650D. The M also adapts the 31-point Hybrid AF system (combining phase detection and contrast measurement) that was featured in the 650D. The M has an ISO range of 100-12,800, but is expandable to up to ISO 25,600.
Despite having many similarities with the 650D under the hood, the M reminds me more of Canon’s Powershot cameras, only with a detachable lens. Its build is made out of stainless steel, magnesium alloy, polycarbonate and glass fibre, giving it a sleek look and solid feel. Notably, the M is very lightweight, even with the kit lens attached to it.
The M has a mode dial on top, but it only carries three shooting options. Each mode has submenus which you can control via the camera’s screen. The M has no built-in flash, but luckily it has a hotshoe on top so you can attach a Speedlite. Canon also offers a retail package that includes a Canon Speedlite.
On the back of the device, you’ll see the 3-inch 1,0404,000-dot, which is also the only means by which you can frame your shot. The M does not have a viewfinder and neither does it provide any port to attach an external VF. The screen is touch-sensitive, thus explaining why there are hardly any controls on the device. As we tried shooting and navigating our way through the menus, we were really impressed with how responsive the screen is. What’s great about it is that you can control AF and trigger the shutter just by tapping on the screen. You also get a preview of the result on the screen as you adjust image settings. We were also tried out the playback function, where you swipe the screen to go through your images. It enables pinch-to-zoom for easy detail-checking.
Here’s a short video demonstrating the touch shutter and image playback:
Below is another video that gives you a quick tour of the touchscreen menu.
Program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual exposure modes are all present, giving you a lot of control options to get that perfect shot. The camera also features a collection of creative effects, like Toy Camera, Soft Focus, Fish Eye and many others. The M also lets you record videos in Full HD at 24/25 fps. Users are allowed to adjust the exposure settings during video capture (see video below), as well as take stills.
The video below gives you a glimpse of the manual shooting function and video shooting function of the M.
Canon also sells an adaptor that allows you to mount your EF and EF-S lenses on the M.
The basic kit comes with an EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens and is priced at PHP 35,998. Meanwhile, the kit that includes an EF-M 22mm f/2.0 pancake lens and an EF Mount adaptor costs PHP 40,998. At PHP 47,998, you can get both lenses plus a Canon Speedlite 90EX.
###
