Thursday, October 25, 2012

Hands-on: Canon EOS-M

Mirror, mirror on the pane..
Monty Wong took the dive by jumping into the mirrorless camera bandwagon by acquiring a set of Canon EOS-M.
He paid nearly RM3K for a set of lenses - 22mm and the 18-55mm zoom lens which is specifically made for the EOS-M system.
Wong was also one of the very first few photography enthusiast to fully utilise Canon's new mirrorless system.
This is also Canon's first venture into the world pioneered by Olympus and Panasonic.
Nikon too joined in with their Nikon-1 system.

M: for Major disappointment..
Wong complained that the EOS-M camera was 'too slow' in acquiring focus.
I checked out his new toy and can confirm that.
He is better off manual focussing his subject rather than relying on the camera's on-screen autofocus feature.
It took a few seconds for the camera to acquire and perform a focus lock.
Some gurus said this is due to the body's large sensor. I doubt it.
Spare the solid and compact camera body, the focussing on this camera blows!
 
The lens system
 What I found odd was the fact that the price for a set with zoom lens is at RM2599, while the entire set with a flash thrown-in is at RM2,999.
That's a couple of hundred ringgit difference for the extra bells and whistles.
It is said that the battery life on the EOS-M is good for 400 shots.
But, the bad news is this: You can't get a spare battery yet. Not at the present moment.
And the minimal focussing distance on the 18-55mm zoom lens is 25cm. Well, this sucks if you want to sneak in close for some food shots.

Well, there is always room for improvement..
Nikon had launched their Nikon-1 version 2 cameras. I don't know how they would perform.
For mirrorless systems, I would say that Olympus had a better focussing speed with their EP-series bodies. But still, they suck in terms of handling.
As for Canon, I am sure that the M-series would experience a quick re-boot with a second and perhaps a third generation mirrorless system with better and faster auto-focussing..
Other than the sluggish focussing, I don't think I have much to complain about the EOS-M.

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