Canon T6s (EOS 760D)

24MP APS-C, 5 FPS, Flip Touch LCD

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Canon T6s

Canon Digital Rebel T6s (EOS 760D) (19.9 oz./564 g with battery and card, about $849) and 50mm f/1.8 STM. I got my T6s at Adorama. I'd just as well have gotten it at Amazon, at Crutchfield or at B&H. It comes as a body-only or as a kit with the great little 18-55 STM lens, or my favorite do-everything 18-135 STM lens.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to my personally-approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Canon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, store demo or used camera. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.

 

Canon T6s

Top, Canon T6s.

 

Canon T6s

Back, Canon T6s.

 

October 2015   Canon Reviews   Canon Lenses   Canon Flash   All Reviews

Best Canon Lenses 20 June 2015

Canon T6i: the same thing with a few less controls and features.

 

Sample Images

(more at High ISOs)

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Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

What really impresses is how I get great-looking photos right out of the T6s with no editing or processing required. This is the greatest thing I can say about any camera; its color, exposure, focus and auto white balances are always right-on, so pictures look much better than I get from other brands of camera like Fuji or Sony. With the T6s, I can point and shoot and get great results:

Mercedes GL550

ISO 6,400: GL550 at night, 10 October 2015. Canon T6s, Canon 35mm f/1.4 L II, f/1.4 at 1/40 hand-held at Auto ISO 6,400.) Camera-original © JPG.

 

Jewelry Store

Jewelry Store, 11 October 2015. Canon T6s, Canon 35mm f/1.4 L II, f/8 at 1/400 at Auto ISO 100.) Camera-original © JPG.

 

Introduction

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Performance   Usage   Recommendations   More

New   Missing

Adorama Pays Top Dollar for Used Gear

Amazon

B&H Photo - Video - Pro Audio

Crutchfield

I buy only from these approved sources. I can't vouch for ads below.

The Canon EOS Rebel T6s (called the EOS 8000D in Japan and EOS 760D in the rest of the world) is a basic lightweight DSLR with great performance. It's easy to shoot, shoots well, and the pictures look much better than many other brands of cameras.

 

New

Built-in flash works as a wireless commander

 

Touch Flip LCD Screen

The screen swivels all around, and you can touch it to make the camera do what you want.

 

LCD on top of camera

New for a Rebel, but who needs it? It turns off with the meter, so it serves little purpose.

 

Rear Control Dial

New for a Rebel, and I love it!

It makes shooting and menu setting much easier.

 

As-Shot Distortion Correction

The 6Ti can be set so JPGs are recorded with lens distortion automatically corrected.

Even the 5DS R can't do this! Ha!

 

Wi-Fi

Only talks to apps, not the Internet.

 

As-Shot, In-Finder Cropping

The T6s can be set to crop to 4:3, 16:9 and 1:1 ratios, and the viewfinder is marked with lines to show you the actual image area that gets recorded.

 

Flicker Synchronization

The T6s can shoot through flickering light by synchronizing the actual instant of shutter release to the lighting automatically.

This lets you shoot in gyms, stadiums and auditoriums and get great color and exposure at high shutter speeds.

It also lets you get much better results under fluorescent and LED lighting.

 

Smaller Video File Size Options

New "lightweight" video file size options take up only a fraction of the usual file space.

This typically triples the amount of video you can record on a card.

 

Digital Zoom for Movies

This is in the T6s, but not the T6i.

 

Electronic Level

This is in the T6s, but not the T6i.

 

Missing

No Facial Recognition for regular autofocus

You have to assign AF points to faces manually.

 

No GPS

Thank goodness.

Use the GPS Receiver GP-E2 ($230) if you want.

 

No Battery Percentage Meter

It has only a battery bar icon.

 

No Intervalometer

 

No second card slot

 

No PC (Prontor-Compur) flash sync terminal

Use a hot-shoe adapter, or I prefer wireless strobe triggers.

 

No Silent Mode in Live View

 

No AF Fine Tuning

Not needed, either.

 

No LCD Auto Brightness Control

 

Canon T6s

Back, Canon T6s.

 

Specifications

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Lens Compatibility

Canon T6s

Front, Canon T6s.

All Canon EOS EF and EF-S lenses made since the 1980s work perfectly.

The only Canon lenses that don't work are the old manual focus FD lenses and earlier.

 

Sensor

24 megapixels CMOS; 6,000x 4,000 pixels native.

14.9 x 22.3 mm.

Pixel wells are 3.72µm square.

Ultrasonic cleaner with dust delete data. (No fluorine coating.)

 

Image Sizes

LARGE (24 MP) 6,000 x 4,000 pixels.

JPG MEDIUM (11 MP) 3,984 x 2,656 pixels.

JPG SMALL 1 (6 MP) 2,976 x 1,984 pixels.

JPG SMALL 2 (2.5 MP) 1,920 x 1,280 pixels.

JPG SMALL 3 (0.35 MP) 720 x 480 pixels.

 

Cropped Aspect Ratios

Crop modes at 4:3, 16:9 and 1:1.

The finder shows these with two lines.

 

ISO

ISO 100 - 25,600.

 

Auto ISO

100 - 6,400 in most modes.

The only adjustment is the maximum ISO, settable from ISO 400 to ISO 6,400.

ISO 6,400 is the default highest Auto ISO.

With flash, Auto ISO is fixed at 400, but will dip to 100 if overexposure would happen. If bouncing an external flash, Auto ISO will vary from ISO 400 to 1,600.

 

White Balance

Auto (AWB)
Daylight
Shade
Cloudy (also called Twilight or Sunset).
Tungsten
Warm Fluorescent (4,000º K)
Flash
Custom gray-card (about 2,000º ~ 10,000º K)

No Kelvin setting.

±9 levels of blue/amber and ±9 levels of magenta/green bias.

 

Color Spaces

sRGB and Adobe RGB.

 

Autofocus

19 cross points for f/5.6

Center point also adds precision for f/2.8.

AF range: LV -0.5 ~ 18.

No AF Assist light, but will try to fire the flash to help.

 

Finder

95% coverage.

0.82x magnification with 50mm lens.

23.2º apparent angle.

19mm eyepoint.

-3 ~ +1 diopters.

Depth-of-field preview button.

 

AF Information

AF points and focus confirmation

 

Exposure information

Shutter speed

Aperture

ISO speed (always displayed)

AE lock

Exposure bar graph

Spot metering circle

Exposure warning

Flicker detection indicator

 

Flash information

Flash ready

Flash exposure compensation

High-speed sync

FE lock

Red-eye reduction light

 

Image information

Highlight tone priority (D+)

Maximum burst (1-digit display)

White balance correction warning

SD card information

 

Light Meter

7,560-pixel RGB+IR meter sensor.

63 segment (9x7) evaluative, as well as 100% averaging, 6% central and 3.5% spot metering.

Meter range: LV 1~20.

 

Shutter

1/4,000 ~ 30 seconds and Bulb.

2s or 10s self timer.

Vertical metal focal plane.

First curtain electronic; second curtain mechanical.

Soft-touch electromagnetic release.

2s or 10s self-timer.

1/200 flash sync.

 

Frame Rates

5 FPS.

3 FPS in silent mode.

 

Shutter Lag

75 ms.

With flash: 86 ms.

Silent mode: 100 ms.

Silent mode with flash: 250 ms.

These are presuming the T6s is already awake. Camera turn-on time is an additional 165 ms if the camera is asleep.

 

Flash Sync

1/200.

Flash exposure lock (FEL).

 

Flash

1/200 sync speed.

 

Built-In Flash

Yes, pops up.

Also works as Commander for wireless slaves.

 

External Flash

E-TTL II for use with all EX flashes.

FE lock.

No Prontor-Compur (PC) terminal; use the built-in flash to trigger your slaves or use a hot-shoe adapter for corded sync.

 

Live View

Still and video.

AF during Live View.

315 zone, center-weighted, 10% and 2.7% spot metering.

3x3 or 6x4 Grid.

Meter range: LV 0 ~ 20.

No silent Live View mode.

 

Video

S-t-e-r-e-O mic.

.MOV files

MPEG-4 AVC / H.264 video with linear PCM stereo audio.

 

1,920 x 1,080

29.97p, 25p and 23.976p: 216 MB/minute.

29.97p and 25p "lightweight:" 87 MB/minute.

 

1,280 x 720

59.94i and 50i: 187 MB/minute.

29.97p and 25p "lightweight:" 30 MB/minute.

 

640 x 480

29.976p and 25p: 66 MB/minute.

29.976p and 25p "lightweight:" 23 MB/minute.

 

LCD Monitor

Canon T6s

Back, Canon T6s.

3" TFT Color.

3:2 aspect ratio.

1,040,000 dots.

No auto brightness control.

Capacitive touch-screen.

 

Storage

One SD slot for SD, SDHC, SDXC, UHS-1 and Eye-Fi cards.

 

Connectors

3.5mm Mic.

2.5mm Remote cord connection.

USB & analog A/V(NTSC or PAL analog video) combined; also used for connecting GPS Receiver GP-E2.

Mini-HDMI Type C.

 

Power

Battery

The LP-E17 is rated for 550 shots. (470 at 0ºC/32ºF; 200 with live view or 1700 with live view at 0ºC/32ºF.)

You'll get less if you use the flash.

When used with the second battery in the grip, the rated number of shots doubles.

 

LP-E17 Battery

LP-E17 Battery. bigger.

 

Charger

LC-E17 Charger

Battery Charger LC-E17. bigger.

 

LC-E17 Charger

Back, Battery Charger LC-E17. bigger.

LC-E17 folding plug 100-240V 50-60 cps charger.

 

Clock Battery

Internal rechargeable battery for the clock. Takes 8 hours to charge and runs for 3 months if main battery dies.

 

AC Adapter

Optional ACK-E17 AC adapter

 

 

Size

5.20 x 3.98 x 3.07 inches WHD.

131.9 x 100.9 x 77.8 millimeters WHD.

 

Weight

19.900 oz. (564.1 g) with battery and card, measured.

19.6 oz. (555 g) with battery and card, rated.

 

Quality

Bottom, Canon T6s

Bottom, Canon T6s.

Made in Japan.

 

Environment, operating

32º ~ 104º F.

0º ~ 40ºC.

Not more than 85% RH.

 

Announced

Thursday, 05 February 2015.

 

Promised for

End of April, 2015.

 

Price, USA

February ~ October 2015: $849, body only; also comes as kits with lenses.

Canon T6s Box

Canon T6s box.

 

Performance

Top   Sample Images   Intro   Specifications

Performance   Usage   Recommendations   More

Overall   Autofocus   High ISOs   Auto ISO

Sharpness   Quiet Mode   Movies

LCD Monitor   Playback   Data

 

Overall

Performance          top

The T6s is a great little camera. It's easy to use, very lightweight, handles well, and the pictures look great.

 

Autofocus

Performance          top

Autofocus is fast and sure.

When set to its auto AF-Area select modes, it selects the correct AF areas all by itself and tracks them very quickly — for photos of things.

It has no face recognition, so you have to stop and assign AF points manually for people pictures. This is a bummer; cameras like the 5DS automatically find faces and just focus on them.

Video autofocus is awful.

 

Ergonomics

Performance          top of T6s review

It handles like most other Canon Rebels, which means very well so long as you don't need to swap between completely different saved sets of shooting parameters with a knob.

It has no C1, C2 or C3 memory settings, so you need to change every parameter one-by-one if you use different particular settings for people or landscape shots as I do.

Much better than other inexpensive Canon DSLRs is the addition of a spinning rear dial. This makes it much faster to spin around menus and set and control things.

The new dial is a huge help setting things from the excellent [ Q ] and touch screens. Press [ Q ], tap what you want to set, spin the dial, and you're done.

I like the dedicated Picture Styles button, which I use to swap among my preset ultra-saturate (landscapes) and reasonable (people) settings.

 

Finder

Performance          top of T6s review

The finder is better than most.

It stays in focus, since the focuser (diopter adjustment) is off to the side where it doesn't get knocked.

The finder isn't as big as on Canon's full-frame cameras, and it is sharp, bright, clear and always legible.

 

High ISOs

Performance          top of T6s review

High ISOs look phenomenal.

They go to ISO 25,600, and at ISO 12,800 the pictures still look great.

 

Full Images

Click any for its camera-original © JPG file to analyze on your desktop computer.

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

For normal print sizes and even big online use, even ISO 25,600 looks the same as ISO 100. The only problems at ISO 25,600 are some slight mottling of mid tones at online image sizes as seen above.

 

Crops from above images

Here are crops at 100% from the original 24MP files. Click any for its camera-original © JPG file to analyze on your desktop computer.

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

Canon T6s High ISO sample image

As usual today, high ISOs don't get much noisier; instead they simply lose all detail and look as if they've been rubbed with an eraser, which is exactly what noise reduction does.

Your practical high-ISO limit really depends on how far you want to enlarge your pictures. If these are 10" (25 cm) wide on your screen, then printing the entire images at this same high magnification will result in huge 40 x 60" (100 x 150 cm) prints!

Look at the subtle detail in the wood. It's starting to go away by ISO 200.

The clarity of the minute markings is starting to fade by ISO 400.

Look at the detail in the gold band around the clock dial. You'll see it's detail gone by ISO 800.

Look at the details in the clock's vertical wood column. They're gone, along with all the details in the wall's wood grain, the details in the black base of the clock and most of the minute markings, by ISO 3,200.

If you blow up this big, most of the picture holds up until ISO 12,800, and is getting smudged by ISO 25,600.

 

Auto ISO

Performance          top of T6s review

Auto ISO is on by default.

It does what it wants to; there is no way to program anything other than the maximum ISO to which you want it to climb.

It seems to be programed for slowest shutter speed equal to 1/focal length.

This is a a problem for me; I always use use 1/250 for sports, 1/125 for people and a slower version of 1/focal length for photos of things.

 

Sharpness

Performance          top of T6s review

It's super sharp.

The only limitations are your skill as a photographer and the lenses you use.

As shown at High ISOs like all cameras, it's sharpest at the lowest ISOs.

 

Quiet Mode

Performance          top of T6s review

The Quiet Mode isn't much quieter than the regular mode, but it's not much slower, either.

To set the Quite Mode, press the [ Q ] button, tap the plain rectangle icon along the bottom and turn the dial until you get a rectangle or rectangles with an "s."

Neither mode is very quiet. The T6s is relatively clattery as it fires, not smooth and quiet. Nikon's cameras like the D3300 and D5500 are much quieter.

 

Movies

Performance          top of T6s review

Video looks great if used under professional conditions where your actors hit their marks and your focus pullers have everything under control.

For normal people, video is poor because autofocus is s-l-o-w!

The built-in mic is S-t-e-r-e-O and sounds fine.

Even with the latest STM lenses, the audio tracks will have humming sounds from the lens trying to focus, which its doing all the time unless your subjects aren't moving.

Just use your iPhone for better results if things are moving. If they hold still the T6s works fine, but why would you make a video of something that's not moving

 

Stills with Video

The shutter button will snap stills while rolling video, but you will hear the camera shutter click in the audio track!

Your iPhone does this much better.

 

Top LCD

Performance          top of T6s review

Canon T6s

Top, Canon T6s.

I consider top LCDs a throwback to 35mm film days, and prefer cameras without these vestiges of days gone by. I prefer to control everything via the finder and the rear screen, which is much bigger.

The LCD atop the T6s isn't very useful because it turns off completely whenever the camera goes to sleep, so it's not useful to give a quick glance to check the battery or shots left, as you can do on most Nikons even when the power is off.

The good news is that while small, the top LCD doesn't show much, so what it does show is very legible.

 

LCD Monitor

Performance          top of T6s review

The LCD is sharp, bright and colorful.

The touch sensitive screen works as well as an iPhone screen, but smaller.

With no auto brightness control, it's usually too dark outdoors unless you stop and set it.

 

Playback   

Performance          top of T6s review

Playback is fun because you can zoom and scroll with your fingers.

As all Canons have done for over 15 years, the image is softer for a moment as you scroll, and pops-in sharply in a fraction of a second.

With Image Review ON (to see pictures automatically after shot) the playback controls (zoom, swap and scroll) are locked-out until you hit Play.

Like most DSLRs, playback isn't smart enough to rotate the image as you rotate the camera. Your phone is smarter.

 

Data

Performance          top of T6s review

Cards are titled EOS_DIGITAL.

Vertical images are flagged for rotation so they look appropriate in most software, but the actual image data itself is not rotated. This is typical for all digital cameras today.

Lens profiles are preloaded for many lenses, even exotics like the 35/1.4 LII, but not for the original 35/1.4 L.

Canon's free EOS Utility program lets us load whatever profiles we want for pretty much every lens and teleconverter combination made since about 1992.

 

Compared

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Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

 

Versus the Canon T6i

This T6s is almost identical to the T6i introduced on the same day.

For $100 more, this T6s adds:

A top LCD, which serves no purpose for me.

A rear control dial, which is a huge help for many things.

Adds ISO 25,600; the T6i only goes to 12,800, but they both look the same at the same ISO. Canon kept the ISO 25,600 setting out of the T6i purely to encourage you to pay more; both look the same at ISO 12,800.

An electronic level display.

That's about it!

 

Usage

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Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

If the LCD stays on too much for you, in the Wrench IV: Cfn 12 menu, select "previous display status."

It won't respond to the [ Q ] or play buttons unless it's awake; tap the shutter button to wake it up if its ignoring you.

It's not marked, but the rear dial is the exposure compensation knob — just like professional Canon cameras.

With Image Review ON to see pictures as they are taken, you still have to press Play for the zoom, swap and scroll buttons to work.

Pressing SET while playback is zoomed doesn't return to unmagnified image.

The "light" video mode options use less data, so you can record much more video. I'd suggest them. You set these in the Menu system.

For pictures of things, I set Picture Style (press [ Q ], then the left middle box with the six dots) to Standard, 6 sharpening and +4 saturation.

For pictures of people, I set Picture Style (press [ Q ], then the left middle box with the six dots) to Standard, 6 Sharpening, 0 or +1 Saturation and maybe 0, -1 or -2 Contrast.

To set the Quiet Mode, press the [ Q ] button, tap the empty rectangle along the bottom and then turn the dial until you get a rectangle or rectangles with an "s."

I find the 5 FPS "continuous" mode too fast; I usually get a couple of frames when I just want one. There is no 3 FPS setting that I prefer, because it lets me get one frame when I want, and more if I hold down the shutter button. Here's a trick: the Continuous Silent mode runs at 3 FPS, so I prefer this setting.

 

Recommendations

Top   Sample Images   Intro   Specs   Performance

Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

The 6Ts is a great little camera. So is the even smaller and lighter Canon SL1, which sells for less.

The only things the T6s doesn't do well are focus while rolling video, and that the T6s has fewer external controls than Canon's pro cameras for people like me who know how to use all the settings. The T6s (and SL1) have the same settings and take the same pictures as the larger professional cameras, but it takes longer to set the T6s and SL1 because some of these settings are behind more menus instead of direct buttons and dials. If you shoot every day as I do, I don't mind spending more for my 5DSR, so the added rear dial of the T6s easily justifies the extra $100 for me over the T6i. See also Is It Worth It?

There is little functional difference between the T6s and SL1, so unless some feature like a flip screen or the great [ Q ] quick-control screen of the T6s is important to you, even the SL1 takes the same pictures as the most expensive Canons.

I do find that this T6s, especially with its rear dial, is very quick to handle so long as I don't need to reset multiple items at a time, for which the C1, C2 and C3 recall modes on the mode dials of more expensive Canons are very helpful.

The T6s is but one out of over a dozen different Canon DSLRs. They all take the same pictures; the only significant difference among them is how easy they are to hold, to carry, and to get adjusted for each shot. I prefer the more expensive cameras with C1, C2 and C3 memory settings on their mode dials, since I often have to switch between different kinds of shooting (landscapes or people) from shot to shot. However, the picture quality of any current Canon DSLR will have the same great colors and sharpness.

What you have to ask yourself is do you know what all the settings do (few people do), and if so, are you willing to pay more to be able to set them more quickly with things like a rear dial on the T6s? What you're really asking yourself among the Canon DSLRs is do you really know how to use everything, and if you do, do you want easier access to these controls? For most people the answer is NO!, in which case these less expensive cameras take the same great photos as Canon's $6,000 cameras.

If you think you'll like the T6s, you'll love it when you actually get yours. It's small, light, easy to use and the pictures look much better than anything I can get with even the most expensive mirrorless cameras like the $3,200 Sony A7R II. The T6s also weighs less than the Sony, so go T6s!

 

Lens Suggestions

recommendations     top of T6s review

The basic 18-55 STM lens is great for just about anything.

For one-lens do-everything use where you need more zoom range, I love the Canon 18-135 STM.

If you need a longer tele for sports, the 55-250mm STM is excellent.

Few people know how to use ultrawide lenses, and if you do, the inexpensive Canon 10-18mm is fantastic should you need a specialized lens for real estate listings and architecture.

See also Canon's Best Lenses. You can pay much more for heavier lenses, but you can't get better optics than from the lightweight, reasonable priced 18-55 STM, 18-135 STM, 55-250mm STM and 10-18mm.

I love my tiny and inexpensive 50/1.8 STM, but you don't need it if you have an 18-55 STM or 18-135 STM.

 

Where to Get Yours

top of T6s review

I got my T6s at Adorama. I'd just as well have gotten it at Amazon, at Crutchfield or at B&H.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Canon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, store demo or used camera. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.

Thanks for helping me help you!

Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

More Information

Top   Sample Images   Intro   Specs   Performance

Compared   Usage   Recommendations   More

 

Canon USA's T6s page.

Canon USA's T6s Owner's Manual.

Canon USA's T6s Press Release.

 

© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

 

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12 October 2015