Review: Canon EOS 6D Mark II +16-35mm F/4L Lens
After a lot of deliberation about upgrading from my Canon EOS 80D and 10-22mm USM lens to a full frame camera, I decided on a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, but that didn’t work out well for real estate due to the lack of pop-out articulating screen, however, we still have the 5D, which we use for portrait work. So I dropped another $2,000 on a Canon EOS 6D Mark II as I had bought the 16-35mm F/4L lens for $1,000.
With that explanation out of the way, in use, the 6D Mark II feels like a larger, full frame version of the 80D, a plus point for me as it’s very familiar, allowing me to start shooting without the learning curve. For a review of the Canon EOS 80D, which also applies to the 6D Mark II, being a full frame 80D, click here.
The largest difference over the 80D is the higher ISO performance, I can now shoot at 800 ISO for interior shots, giving me very clean, noise-free photos, whereas the 80D, anything beyond 400 ISO shows significant signs of noise, especially in the shadow areas. With the 80D, I had to shoot on a tripod, however, with the 6D Mark II, I can boost the ISO to 800 or even 1600, coupled with the image stabilization of the EF 16-35mm F/4L, I can shoot handheld if I choose, although I still shoot on a tripod.
In all honesty, both the 80D and 6Dm2 work just fine in real estate as I shoot five bracketed shots on a tripod and merge into HDR in post processing. That said, I do prefer the higher ISO performance on the full frame 6Dm2, at ISO 800, I can see zero grain or noise, even in the shadows, so I won’t be going back to the 80D, except in an emergency situation, where I can’t shoot with the 6Dm2 for some reason.
A downside of having a full frame sensor is that it creates more Bokeh wide open at F/4 with the EF 16-25mm F/4L, I could shoot at F/3.5 with the EF-S 10-22mm on the 1.6x crop sensor 80D and everything would be in focus. With the 6D2 and 16-35mm F/4L, at 16mm, F/4, items closer to the lens are a little out of focus, which I don’t like, forcing me to stop down to F8 to make the foreground bokeh go away.
I decided to go with the EF 16-35mm F/4L (Mark I) and save money because the EF F/2.8L Mark III is double the price at $2,000. And I knew that I would not be shooting at F/2.8 in real estate as the photos need to be 100% in focus, if F/4 creates some out of focus areas, the F/2.8 would only make that worse.
At the time of writing, the EOS 6D Mark II is selling for $1,900 and the EOS 80D is selling for $1,100, plus $1,000 for the EF 16-35mm F/4L and $600 for the EF-S 10-22mm USM. That’s a difference of $1,200, which, if you are a professional, making money from your kit, is not a lot of money, I would finance the extra $1,200 or finance the whole cost to get better results, the full frame sensor makes shooting simpler.