Missing Aperture Priority mode on EOS R6

[Andrew Reid]

So one can be snapping merrily away in Aperture priority mode for stills and then with a quick, easy, 6 turns of the mode dial through 5 different positions you are suddenly in video mode with completely different exposure settings.

No aperture priority mode. No shutter speed priority mode.

This of course means you need a variable ND filter to adjust exposure on the fly or if you lack one of those you have to play with the shutter speed manually with big notchy transitions and the sound of a wheel going CLLIIIIICK during a documentary shoot.

Canon mirrorless cameras are now far beyond the fag end of the ancient technology they squeezed out of their arseholes for nearly a decade of disappointing DSLRs and 4K crops. So it can't be an engineering thing to remove aperture priority exposure from video mode on a £2500 4K/60p 10bit 422 full frame camera.

In fact Canon seem to be pulling out all of the stops to establish their overpriced new lenses and want us to invest in those, enticed by the amazing specs of the cameras. The EOS R3 looks amazingly well spec'd albeit naturally at the uber expensive end of the market with a charmlessly Toyota-like blandness to it.

The problem is that Canon keeps making it frustrating and expensive to enjoy their new lenses.

Because they cannot resist a good slam of the CRIPPLE HAMMER.

New blog post:

https://www.eoshd.com/news/canon-eos-r6-the-campaign-for-aperture-priority-in-video-mode/

[herein2020]

One more reason why I am so glad I got rid of the R6 within 4 days of getting it and got a full refund in the process. I will never for the life of me figure out who makes a camera with an electronic level that TURNS OFF when you press record or why Canon REFUSES to add dual slot video recording to ANY of their non cinema cameras.  Canon has been nothing but one big disappointment for me since the 5DIV. 

I will admit, the R3 intrigues me, but I already know it will find a way to be yet another disappointment. I am pretty sure it will still not have dual slot video recording, no XLR module, no WFM, no 4:2:0 10 bit options, etc. etc......everything I already have in my S5. But of course it will have amazing AF and be great for photography.

In case anyone missed it, here was my rant  review of the  R6: https://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/48628-canon-eos-r5r6-user-experience/?do=findComment&comment=384985

[Andrew Reid]

29 minutes ago, herein2020 said:

In case anyone missed it, here was my rant  review of the  R6: https://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/48628-canon-eos-r5r6-user-experience/?do=findComment&comment=384985

"Editing - Just like everyone else stated, editing these files are a nightmare. You will need to transcode. I have a 14 core CPU, RTX2080Ti video card, Davinci Resolve Studio, and NVME storage....doesn't matter, DR couldn't play the files until I created proxies."

Ah yes I forgot to mention this - the 10bit 422 files are a complete nightmare. I have an M1 Mac and it's fine in FCPX. In everything else they seem to not even get hardware acceleration.

The 4K is pretty mushy anyway, looks more line skipped in 60p than it does oversampled. The dynamic range and rolling shutter in 4K/24p 8bit is very poor. Indeed the rolling shutter is very bad in all modes apart from 4K/50/60

This camera could have been a contender.

[herein2020]

11 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Ah yes I forgot to mention this - the 10bit 422 files are a complete nightmare. I have an M1 Mac and it's fine in FCPX. In everything else they seem to not even get hardware acceleration.

The 4K is pretty mushy anyway, looks more line skipped in 60p than it does oversampled. The dynamic range and rolling shutter in 4K/24p 8bit is very poor. Indeed the rolling shutter is very bad in all modes apart from 4K/50/60

This camera could have been a contender.

 

I honestly never even bothered editing the footage that I shot with the R6. I shot a dance group and the footage was so impossible to work with that I never put together anything complete with the footage so I did not get a chance to see if the 4K was even worth the headache. I don't see how R5 owners are working with the footage.

Hopefully you can get a refund; I got lucky and the local retailer took it back without me even having to pay a restocking fee; thanks to their generous return policy I actually ordered my S5 from them specifically because they let me return the R6 penalty free.

[Andrew Reid]

Here in UK and Europe online you have by law 14-days to return it if you change your mind. Which is good as it stops Canon absolutely ripping people off with exactly these kinds of unexpected trickery.

Retailer I bought it from has been very helpful.

[Fox]

36 minutes ago, herein2020 said:

 

I honestly never even bothered editing the footage that I shot with the R6. I shot a dance group and the footage was so impossible to work with that I never put together anything complete with the footage so I did not get a chance to see if the 4K was even worth the headache. I don't see how R5 owners are working with the footage.

Hopefully you can get a refund; I got lucky and the local retailer took it back without me even having to pay a restocking fee; thanks to their generous return policy I actually ordered my S5 from them specifically because they let me return the R6 penalty free.

Why don’t you guys just use a Ninja recorder? 

[RawZion]

6 minutes ago, Fox said:

Why don’t you guys just use a Ninja recorder? 

I hope this is a joke right?  You buy Canon's expensive camera, and then need to spend at least a thousand extra to rig it up with another device that is really difficult to work with.

I have a Ninja V for my Nikon Z6 and I'm pretty sure I'm going to sell it soon, as it's just so hard to deal with the HDMI cables, the crop factor, the delay, and the lack of 120 fps just for a slightly better image.  The Atomos recorder is just really difficult to work with (super hard to get the gimbal to balance with the HDMI cable too).

Regarding switching between camera modes though, the Nikon Z series knocked it out of the park.  There's a little switch you flick to instantly go between video or still and the settings are completely different, and the camera remembers.  So your shutter speed, picture profile, ISO etc. are completely independent.   That's one thing Nikon really did right.  Pushing their best modes to external is something they really did wrong.

[Fox]

2 minutes ago, RawZion said:

I hope this is a joke right?  You buy Canon's expensive camera, and then need to spend at least a thousand extra to rig it up with another device that is really difficult to work with.

I have a Ninja V for my Nikon Z6 and I'm pretty sure I'm going to sell it soon, as it's just so hard to deal with the HDMI cables, the crop factor, the delay, and the lack of 120 fps just for a slightly better image.  The Atomos recorder is just really difficult to work with (super hard to get the gimbal to balance with the HDMI cable too).

Regarding switching between camera modes though, the Nikon Z series knocked it out of the park.  There's a little switch you flick to instantly go between video or still and the settings are completely different, and the camera remembers.  So your shutter speed, picture profile, ISO etc. are completely independent.   That's one thing Nikon really did right.  Pushing their best modes to external is something they really did wrong.

I was just asking because the r ninja allows you to get more edit friendly files. Regarding the switch I know that you can program custom settings on Sony Alphas too and have them ready at a switch of the rotating top wheel. no such option with canons? 

[ntblowz]

3 hours ago, herein2020 said:

I don't see how R5 owners are working with the footage.

 

Running fine on my Ryzen 5900x and 3080.. though my collab editors just use proxy which does the job on 4 core i7 lol.

R6 gimped too much for video hence I go straight for R5, same for getting 3080 instead of using my old 1060 to wait for 3080Ti as graphic cards are so bloody expensive and hard to get now.

 

[MrSMW]

We’ve discussed this before but most if not all cameras seem to be artificially gimped somewhere, but the ‘somewhere’ seems to be different with each brand so you pick your compromise.

I’ve never been a Canon fan or user (other than a compact about 10 years back) but seriously considered an R6 for video and an R5 for stills.

Still happy I didn’t make that choice on a number of levels and chose my compromise elsewhere.

How does the R6 compare to the S5 then Andrew? 

[wolf33d]

Well. 
After shooting years with Sony I fully switched to the R5 and couldn’t be happier. Best hybrid camera with perfect stills features and great video. Never overheated on me once, which seems to only happen if you shoot interviews or do some tests in your room to make it overheat. I know several people shooting full weddings on a R5 and never overheated. 
 

The ergonomics, colors, AF, and IBIS are an absolute dream compared to awful Sony ergonomics and IBIS. And the screen is much better too. Everything is better and I don’t have to carry an A7RIV and an A7SIII. 
 

It’s such a joy to use this camera that I shoot a lot more than before. 
 

I feel your pain though. No Av mode on the R6 is another of Canon’s bad joke. I am glad I did not get that crap, cause I shoot 90% in aperture mode as I switch often quickly between stills and videos. It’s unbelievable that they randomly screw some features on purpose like that. 

Canon fucked everything up for me since the Mark III but finally knocked it with the R5. That’s what I have dreamed of for 5 years all in one package. FF + 4K60 (bonus 120p) + 10 bits + best AF + best IBIS + best colors + excellent ergonomics with great stills at 45mpx. No camera can match that. Panasonic ? Fuck their horrible AF. Sony ? Fuck having 2 bodies for stills and videos and poor ergonomics and IBIS. Nikon ? Do Nikon cameras still have video modes?… lol.

 

[UncleBobsPhotography]

One of the reason I got the R5 over the R6 was because I knew there would be some hidden crippling of the R6. On the other hand, I never use aperture priority for video, so I wouldn't really mind this, but I can see how it's annoying that they omit something they could easily include.

What happens when you click the video record button on the R6? On the R5 I can program it to jump into exactly what video options I chose which is very useful. That does of course mean that I won't be able to preview expose correctly if I'm in photo mode.

[MrSMW]

3 hours ago, wolf33d said:

Never overheated on me once, which seems to only happen if you shoot interviews or do some tests in your room to make it overheat. I know several people shooting full weddings on a R5 and never overheated. 

I suspected that would probably be the case in most circumstances and the principle reason why I did not go that direction.

But...and this for me was THE sticking point, what about in 30+ degree celcius (shade) heat for typical 9-15 hour events here in SW France?

I shoot for hours extensively in direct mid-afternoon sun and suspect both R5/6's might melt under such conditions.

I was shooting my S1H last week in 23 degrees C which itself is not that hot, but with the direct sun combined with the camera generating heat, the camera was quite hot.

Never shut down and even the cooling system set to auto did not kick on once.

I'd have needed to test it really and renting kit in these here rural parts is pretty cost-prohib.

Anyway, good to hear it's working for someone as I'm sure it does for many.

Otherwise, L Mount AF is not horrible, it's just inconsistent at forward or receding tracking 🤪

[k-robert]

colour science is very personal 

cripple science is real, objective 

[Andrew Reid]

Big difference, big step back.

[Video Hummus]

On 6/14/2021 at 7:49 PM, herein2020 said:

I don't see how R5 owners are working with the footage.

On a $1700 M1 MBP. 8K RAW Lite included when playback mode set to "performance" in FCP.

Premiere has garbage performance about anyway you slice it.

18 hours ago, wolf33d said:

After shooting years with Sony I fully switched to the R5 and couldn’t be happier. Best hybrid camera with perfect stills features and great video. Never overheated on me once, which seems to only happen if you shoot interviews or do some tests in your room to make it overheat. I know several people shooting full weddings on a R5 and never overheated

This has been my experience as well. R5 has been a great camera after FW 1.3.1. 8K RAW is an awesome tool and it looks great! I use it to fake camera movement in a 4K timeline for select shots.

I have not once been kicked out of 4KHQ mode or RAW Lite mode. I shot a mix of video and stills all day last Sunday—mostly 4KHQ but several 2-5 minute 8K RAW Lite clips. Camera was turned off for 5-8 mins at a time in-between taking stills or video (left on tripod or in my hand). The time remaining counter did not dip below 15 mins at any point in the day. I remember seeing it at 15 mins remaining at one point...I turned off the camera, walked and scouted around for 15 mins turned on the camera and the timer said 25 mins. Ambient temperature was 77F and dipped to 74F after a freak thunderstorm. R5 is one of the best hybrid cameras out there right now with C-Log 3 and 8K RAW. I don't know why people are complaining about it. Buy the right tool for the job. You have tons of great options: C70, FX6, FX3, R3? (perhaps), S1H, even S5.

7 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Big difference, big step back.

Totally agree. It's beyond stupid it isn't there in a $2500 R mount camera.

[Andrew Reid]

What is the bitrate and file size in 8K C-RAW Lite?

[gt3rs]

8 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

What is the bitrate and file size in 8K C-RAW Lite?

 

8k RAW (Light) (29.97p/25.00p): Approx. 1700 Mbps

8k RAW (Light) (24.00p/23.98p): Approx. 1350 Mbps

For 8K a very good compression.

[seanzzxx]

I have a R6 as a 'b-cam' with autofocus, but it has a lot of weird quirks. 4k25 has horrible unusable rolling shutter. However 4k50 doesn't but overheats like crazy. 1080p (which would be fine for me) on full frame has aliasing. I haven't really inspected the crop modes yet but it probably has something weird going on as well, haha.

[herein2020]

On 6/14/2021 at 8:25 PM, Fox said:

Why don’t you guys just use a Ninja recorder? 

As others have said...this is completely unrealistic. I don't own a recorder, I don't want to have to fiddle with a recorder while on set, its a real PITA to even use an external monitor on a gimbal let alone a recorder and why should I have to buy something like that just to overcome inherent camera shortcomings?

My gear is as simple and streamlined as possible; I am typically covering large events with both photography and video as a OMB...no way is a recorder feasible to me.

In the end I found nearly the perfect camera for me which was the Panasonic S5 with the only missing feature being useable AF.