No longer just entry-level: Enthusiast-friendly Canon EOS M5 mirrorless boasts much better performance
posted Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 12:01 AM EDT
If you've been waiting patiently in the hopes of a higher-end offering for Canon's EOS M-series lineup of mirrorless cameras, your wait is over: The company has just taken the wraps off the Canon EOS M5, and unlike its entry-level predecessors, the new model looks to offer much better performance in an enthusiast-friendly package. And alongside its new camera, Canon has also revealed a brand-new, high-power zoom lens that should make for an attractive travel zoom pairing with an EF-M camera body.
We'll start off with a quick look at the Canon EOS M5 before returning to the new lens. Although its sensor resolution of 24 megapixels is unchanged from that of the earlier M3, the Canon M5 has a brand-new imaging pipeline that should provide even better image quality than does the EOS 80D DSLR, according to Canon. It also has a new body with built-in electronic viewfinder, larger and higher-resolution display, and a reworked control layout.
And perhaps even more importantly, it looks to offer a night-and-day improvement in performance pretty much across the board. Canon says startup is much swifter, and so too are autofocus and burst capture performance. In fact, if the EOS M5 lives up to its manufacturer ratings, it should be capable of far swifter shooting even with autofocus tracking enabled than was its predecessor with focus and exposure locked from the first frame.
And that's not all. There are quite a few other changes, including a new Bluetooth Smart-based wireless communications setup which looks to offer similar capabilities to Nikon's SnapBridge, not to mention improved battery life. For the full story, you'll want to read our just-published Canon EOS M5 preview!
As for the new lens, the Canon EF-M 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM is a mirrorless-specific optic providing a generous 8.3x optical zoom range, covering everything from a fairly generous 29mm-equivalent wide angle to a reasonably powerful 240mm-equivalent telephoto. The lens' optical formula includes 17 elements in 13 groups.
As its name would suggest, this new lens includes four-stop image stabilization and relies on a stepping motor for autofocus drive. Maximum magnification is 0.31x at a 150mm focal length, and the closest focusing distance is 9.8 inches at wide angle. 55mm filter threads are accepted, and the lens has a 2.4-inch diameter, a 3.4-inch length and a weight of 10.6 ounces.
Available from November 2016 in the US market, the Canon EOS M5 will be sold either body-only, or in two kit bundles with lens. Body-only pricing is expected to be in the region of US$980, while a kit with the EF-M 15-45mm/F3.5-6.3 IS STM zoom lens should also be available at launch for around US$1,100. A second kit with the new EF-M 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM lens should follow from December 2016, priced at around US$1,480 or thereabouts. The 18-150mm lens will also be available separately from December 2016 in either graphite or silver colors, priced at around US$500.