After years of having Canon 5d Mark IVs, we have finally made the switch to a mirrorless system. It wasn’t an easy decision, as we always weigh our options heavily when it comes to investing that much money. There are a few reasons we decided to make the switch that we wanted to share with you today.
First, let us provide a little disclaimer, we don’t believe that you have to have this camera. If you already have the Mark IV or another camera that you love, it’s always tempting to think the grass is greener on the other side. We are huge believers in paying for everything with cash and not going into debt for your business. If your current gear is great or you can’t afford to pay cash, we urge you to wait until a wiser time for you to upgrade. We know how difficult it can be watching other photographers rave about their latest gear. Doing what is best for your family, finances, and business in the long term is always what’s best.
Sharper Focus
When we first got our Canon 5D Mark IV cameras, we adored them! We had just upgraded from Mark IIIs and thought the sharpness and clarity were much better. After a while, we fell out of love with the Mark IVs as they started producing images that were softer and softer. We felt so discouraged for a long time that we couldn’t nail our focus like we wanted to. We even went so far as to purchase a 3rd Mark IV to try to fix the problem, and it happened with all three that we bought.
When we heard about the new R5 & R6 releases, we couldn’t help but wonder if they were sharper. Then we watched the Katelyn James R6 videos on Youtube, and she raved about them. Slowly we saw more professional wedding photographers making the upgrade, and we kept hearing great things about them, especially how sharp their focus was. This was honestly the main reason we switched.
Smaller File Size
Canon’s most significant selling point for the Mark IV was the massive file size. It was supposed to be better for weddings and offer our clients the best images possible. Instead, we ended up with much larger files than we needed, and it ate up too much space on our computers and slowed down our hard drives. We spent so much extra money buying external hard drives to hold them all. It was such a messy process and more than we bargained for.
The R6 offered the best file size for what we needed, and this is why we chose the cheaper R6 over the R5. We don’t do videography, so we had no need for the more expensive body, with the main photo difference being the file size.
Smaller Bodies
We aren’t gonna lie; lugging around a Mark IV all day at weddings isn’t pleasant, especially without lenses attached. While it isn’t a massive difference, we’ll do anything we can to lessen the strain on our bodies during a wedding day. We love that the Canon R6 has such a sleek, small body.
Mirrorless
We LOVE that the Canon R6 is a mirrorless system. We didn’t mention it at first, but we’ve actually owned 4 Mark IVs. One of them was destroyed by something getting on the mirror and ruining it. Even after a costly repair, it would never focus again. It was a painful learning experience and left a bad taste in our moths about mirrored cameras.
Having a mirrorless system also allows us to reduce noise. Since there isn’t a physical mirrored system in place, there is no need for a shutter sound. Even on silent shutter, the Mark IV is loud. The Canon R6 is entirely silent! This allows us to serve our clients better, especially during ceremonies. Goodbye, extra noise!
Better Functionality
The way the Canon R6 is set up is so much more organized than previous bodies we’ve owned. Being able to see how changing your settings affects your images in the viewfinder is our favorite new change. Beyond that, the menu is much more organized, with the WIFI functionality having its own space. We also like that the screen pops out and rotates. This is such a handy feature for detail shots especially! We could go on and on about this, but you get the point!
The Cost
As we said, we take spending money very seriously in our household. The Canon R6 is an incredible body at a phenomenal price. After spending upwards of $3,500 on our Mark IV cameras when they first came out, the Canon R6 is only $2,500. That’s a huge relief, and we were happy to spend the money on a clearly superior camera in many ways.
Overall, we have to say the R6 is a great camera that far exceeds the Mark IV in every way. In addition, it’s cheaper than the R5 with a slightly smaller file size which makes it a total steal. We can’t wait to use this camera during our Spring wedding season and will no doubt be back with a more thorough review once we get more experience with it under our belts.
**April 2022 update:
We still LOVE our R6s. They do occasionally miss focus but are so much better than the Mark IVs we had. We know people really hyped up how they “never” miss focus, and it’s not 100% true. The eye-tracking is also amazing for animals as well as people, but again, it isn’t perfect.
Using them has helped cut our culling process in half because we can trust a majority of the photos will be in focus. Editing-wise, it was a slight curveball, but it didn’t take us long to get the hang of it. Another bonus, in the long run, has been the ability to use less space on our hard drives, which has saved us money investing in new drives.
We love them so much we’ve even taken the step to purchase a 3rd R6 to become our backup camera and are so glad we did. We have also purchased 2 RF lenses and like them! We are still using some EF lenses so sometimes remembering to take off or put on our adapter is a small hassle but it’s not a big worry on our end.
Blessings,
Katie & Alec
