Upgrade Canon EOS M3 from Shape to Core Comprehensive Evaluation

A year and a half after the evaluation of IT 168, Canon officially released the latest mirrorless camera EOS M3 on February 20 15. As the third generation of Canon's mirrorless camera, EOS M3 has greatly improved in appearance and performance compared with the previous generation. So how does EOS M3 perform and is it worth buying? Let's have a look.

EOS M3 first abandoned Canon's traditional18 megapixel CMOS sensor and used a brand-new 24.2 megapixel CMOS sensor. The shape and control have also been greatly upgraded. The improved handle and comfortable skin not only make the shape more professional, but also make the user very comfortable to operate. Equipped with the latest hybrid CMOS AF III hybrid focusing system, the focusing performance is further compared with the previous generation.

superiority

1.242 million pixels, and the number of pixels increased by 50%.

2. Improved handle and skin, double impeller design, more professional appearance and more comfortable operation.

3. The newly added flip screen makes the shooting mode more free.

4. The latest hybrid CMOS AF III hybrid focusing system can focus faster.

5. Add NFC function to make WiFi sharing more convenient.

6. The fuselage comes with a flash, which supports changing direction.

Disadvantages:

1.EVF electronic viewfinder needs to be purchased separately.

2. The battery life is average

3. There is a 180-degree flip screen but no self-timer and skin softening mode.

The detailed evaluation of EOS M3 is as follows:

Appearance-professional appearance, strong mobility.

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Resolution-the picture quality is good, and it is more reassuring to shoot at night with ISO 3200.

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New features-more comprehensive and easier to use

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Real shot sample

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Buying guide:

EOS M3 has been greatly upgraded compared with the previous generation, with improved appearance, control, pixels and focus, especially the handle and skin. The user can easily control it with one hand, and the compact body is also convenient for female users. At present, the price of EOS M3+ 18-55MM in Suning.cn is 3999 yuan. Take the two best micro-orders sold by Sony at present. At present, the price of EOS M3 is between a 6000-a 5 100. Compared with A6000 and A5 100, the focusing system of Canon EOS M3 is still slightly weak, but it is Canon's in handling. Therefore, Canon EOS M3 is still a mirrorless camera worth considering, especially for Canon fans, the substantial upgrade really brings you a refreshing feeling.

Professional appearance and strong maneuverability.

From the front, the most intuitive change of EOS M3 is the improvement of the grip, from the plain leather of M2 to the protruding grip, and the grip part is completely wrapped by the skin, which can provide a more comfortable grip for photographers. ES-M can be easily held no matter which lens it is matched with, and users can easily hold it with one hand when not shooting.

For the buttons on the back of the fuselage, M3 has become more professional, adding the exposure lock button and focus selection button as the standard for EOS SLR cameras, which also makes users who use EOS SLR get started faster. At the same time, the photo play button moved to the top of the skin, side by side with the video button.

In fact, the biggest change on the back of the fuselage is not the key distribution, but this 3.0-inch 1.04 million pixel flip LCD screen, which can flip up 1.80 degrees and down 45 degrees, supporting 5 brightness levels. Now most mirrorless cameras are equipped with flip LCD screens, which makes shooting more flexible and convenient. Especially when pitching, it can be more convenient. In addition, this screen also supports multi-touch, which can operate menus and enlarge photos like a smart phone.

At the top of the machine, EOS M3 also changed the design of M2, and formally joined the mode dial. In addition, the exposure compensation dial is added, which is not only more professional, but also more convenient to operate.

From top to bottom, there is a built-in flash switch, 3.5mm microphone slot and miniUSB transmission port on the left side of the fuselage, and there is also the location of wifi transmission chip below. The disadvantage is that M3 still does not provide an interface for releasing electronic cables. If you want to expose M3 for more than 30s for a long time, you can take photos remotely with wifi.

In addition, EOS M3 has added an overhead flash, which can provide good fill light in dark rooms or at night. It is worth mentioning that the flash design of EOS M3 is consistent with G1X Ⅱ. The biggest advantage of this flash is that it can be freely changed in the vertical direction, so you can choose to flash the ceiling when flashing, which is very convenient and intimate.

A one-button NFC function area is added at the bottom of the fuselage, which can greatly speed up the wifi connection, saving time and effort.

M3 is equipped with a brand-new lithium battery LP-E 17, which is the same as the EOS 750D/760D battery newly introduced by Canon. The capacity is 1040mAh, which is almost the same as that of the previous generation LP-E8 (1 120mAh), but the volume is reduced a lot, which can further reduce the weight and volume of the fuselage. Unfortunately, EOS M3 fuselage does not support fuselage charging. LP-E 17 can take about 250 photos when fully charged. If it is not enough, you can buy another spare battery. In terms of storage, M3 supports SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card and UHS- 1 high-speed transmission interface.

▲ Customize the function interface

▲ Optional custom function

A new M-fn button is added next to the shutter of EOS M3. This button can arbitrarily specify the required function in the custom function of the menu. In addition, the photo playing and video recording keys of EOS M3 can be customized again. However, Bian Xiao does not recommend this. On the one hand, M3 button is enough for daily operation, on the other hand, photo playback and video recording buttons are essential for normal shooting. You just need to customize M-fn into one of your most commonly used functions.

In addition, users can purchase EVF viewfinder and install it on the hot boots of EOS M3. With the EVF viewfinder, they can take photos by observing the EVF viewfinder when shooting in bright outdoor, so they don't have to worry about the sunlight shining on the screen. Moreover, the EVF viewfinder can also view at 90 degrees vertically, which is convenient for everyone to view under different shooting conditions.

Summary: The innovation of EOS M3 in design is obvious to all. It abandoned the "simple and easy to use" entry-level design of M2 and changed it into a more professional and operable design. Whether it's a grip, full skin coverage, mode dial, exposure compensation dial, exposure lock button, etc. Users can operate the camera faster and more accurately. EOS M3 is undoubtedly successful in appearance design.

The picture quality is good, and it is more reassuring to shoot with ISO 3200 at night.

EOS M3 is equipped with a brand-new CMOS sensor with 24.2 million pixels, which should be the same as EOS 750D/760D in terms of pixel number, and equipped with the latest DIGIC 6 image processing engine, which will be helpful for image quality, continuous shooting and noise reduction. So what is its actual performance? Let's take a look at the test results.

The test is conducted in the evaluation room. Using a 35mm focal length 18-55mm lens, ISO 100, f/8 to shoot, the amount of light around the lens and chromatic aberration correction are turned on. In the later software, four parts of the picture were intercepted by 100% for observation.

From the figure, we can see that the resolution of EOS M3 is ok, and the gold leaf in the center is clearly restored, especially the edge of the picture is not reduced. Dollar Washington hair has also recovered more delicately, above the passing line. Considering that it was only shot with 18-55 pullover, the quality of EOS M3 is good.

You can rest assured that ISO 3200 can be filmed at night.

EOS M3 adopts a brand-new DIGIC 6 digital image processor, which can quickly process the huge image data of about 24.2 million pixels obtained from CMOS image sensor, further reducing noise. Let's take a look at the sensitivity test of EOS M3.

The ISO sensitivity range of EOS M3 is the same as that of M2. The standard sensitivity range is ISO 100- 12800. Bian Xiao took photos of various ISO files with off noise reduction and standard noise reduction respectively, and then intercepted some pictures for testing.

Turn off noise reduction, the image quality below ISO800 can be very clean, and ISO 1600 begins to appear noise, and the image quality is average. When ISO3200 is turned off, there will be a lot of noise, especially over ISO6400, which is almost impossible to use. Therefore, when the noise reduction function is turned off, EOS M3 can shoot safely below ISO 1600.

When standard noise reduction is turned on, the image quality can be very clear below ISO800. ISO 1600 noise is not obvious, and the picture quality is still excellent. The noise is generated in ISO3200, but it is within the acceptable range. There is a lot of noise over ISO6400, so it cannot be used. Therefore, when the standard noise reduction function is turned on, EOS M3 can safely shoot under ISO3200.

High saturation is sensitive to blue and red.

▲ color test area

In the color test, we set the automatic white balance for Canon EOS M3 and shoot the standard color card (the red box area in the above picture is the color test range), and finally analyze the test results with Imatest software.

▲ Color cast test

The part surrounded by gray lines in the figure is the color gamut range of Canon EOS M3. The square color block in the test chart is the ideal color value, and the circular color block is the actual shooting value.

As can be clearly seen from the above figure, in the case of automatic white balance, the automatic white balance of Canon EOS M3 exceeds the sRGB color gamut by 28.6%, which means that the color saturation is high and it is suitable for JPG direct output. In terms of color cast, this camera is sensitive to blue and red, so it is more suitable for taking photos with landscape themes.

New features: more comprehensive and easier to use.

▲ electronic level meter

When shooting, EOS M3 can switch the information displayed on the screen by pressing the INFO key, and M3 has finally added the function of electronic level, which EOS M/M2 does not have. After M3 joins the checkpoint, it will feel more at ease when shooting landscapes and buildings.

▲ Peak focus switch

▲ Peak focus is not turned on.

▲ Open the screen after peak focusing.

EOS M3 also has a built-in peak focusing function. When the user switches to the manual focusing mode, as long as the items within the focusing range are displayed on the outline in bright red, as shown in the above figure, the edge of the focused letter will turn red to remind the user that it has been focused. This function will be particularly helpful when EOS M3 is handed over to manual head shooting, which greatly improves the gameplay of EOS M3.

The focusing speed is obviously improved.

At the beginning, the focusing speed of EOS M was unacceptable to many people, but EOS M2 was significantly improved. The AF speed is 2.3 times that of the previous generation. The third generation hybrid CMOS focusing system equipped with EOS M3 theoretically makes its focusing speed 3.8 times faster than that of the second generation. So what is its actual performance? Let's use a video to illustrate.

In addition, the third-generation focusing system with hybrid CMOS AF can focus on moving objects accurately, and the focus detection range is much larger and wider than that of single-point focusing.

From the video, we can see that EOS M3 and EOS 750D are almost neck and neck in focusing, which is much faster than the first and second generation focusing systems.

During the trial, Bian Xiao also found a special option in EOS M3 menu: whether to take back the lens when turning it off. However, it is well known that the current EF-M lenses are all manually zoomed. Bian Xiao also found in the test that this option will not automatically retract the lens whether it is turned on or not. So let me boldly assume that if there is this option in EOS M3 menu, it will never be a useless function. Will Canon introduce a lens with a small electronic zoom EF-M mount? If the lens can be zoomed through the body, can it be zoomed through the mobile phone after using the wifi function?

WiFi and NFC functions:

EOS M3 is equipped with wifi and NFC near field communication functions. After several generations of EOS 6D and EOS 70D updates, M3' s wifi function becomes easier to use. There is no need to set the connection method and password step by step in the menu to connect the mobile phone. Just touch the bottom of the mobile phone and M3 camera to automatically start Canon's application "Camera Connection". But be sure to turn on the NFC function in the menu first.

After the phone turns on wifi, you can use camera connect to remotely shoot M3 camera or view pictures.

When shooting remotely, you can easily control the aperture shutter ISO through the button below, which is very practical and can instantly view and enlarge the shot photos. If you are not satisfied, you can shoot again immediately.

In terms of photo viewing, you can view all photos of the day/month/in the camera, and then you can view photos in the mobile phone at will. Canon's APP interactive experience has been doing well, and it only takes a little bit to view the photo details and download them to your mobile phone.

Real shot sample: