Performance and Autofocus

Continuous shooting

The Insubordinate T6s isn't likely to grab any headlines with a 5 fps continuous shooting speed, withal it'due south probable sufficient to encompass near situations in which a Rebel-class photographic camera will be used.

Viewfinder shooting

The optical viewfinder on the T6s has a magnification of 0.82x, which on an APS-C photographic camera makes for a somewhat small viewing epitome. While this is similar to previous Rebel models, pocket-sized optical viewfinders are starting to experience a bit dated. Perhaps nosotros've been spoiled by all the big, high quality EVFs to come beyond our desks in recent years, but the T6s viewfinder feels a bit smallish however.

The good news is that with the T6s (and its sibling, the T6i) Canon has finally updated the basic nine-bespeak AF system that has been a staple of the Rebel line for years with a 'new' 19-point, all cross-type AF arrangement. We call it 'new' because, despite the fact that it'southward new on the Insubordinate T6s, it's non a new organisation for Canon. In fact, this basic AF system was get-go introduced in the EOS 7D in 2009. While non cut edge by today'south standards, it has performed well on past models and brings some welcome improvement to the Rebel line.

The nineteen-indicate, all cross-type AF organization on the Rebel T6s (and T6i) is a noticeable improvement over previous Rebels.

1 of those improvements is that there are now three AF point selection options: manual point pick, automatic selection, and zone selection. Zone AF allows you to select one of five AF zones (eye, left, right, acme, or bottom) and can be useful for some types of shooting, such as keeping AF points on elevation of a moving subject.

I thing to note: auto AF indicate pick, which is something we'd await many typical Insubordinate users to wish to default to, is oddly implemented in continuous AF (AI servo). Previous Rebels would allow continuous AF with the camera automatically picking the starting AF bespeak, but on the T6s, y'all must showtime with i AF point over your subject, after which the photographic camera volition automatically track your subject by choosing the appropriate AF points to remain on your discipline every bit it moves.

While this is fine for a lot of users, it would've fabricated sense to offer a fashion where the camera can automatically select the AF betoken from the go-become, using peel-tone detection to focus on a homo bailiwick, for example (more on this subsequently). As it is, if yous want continuous AF and wish the camera to worry near focus point choice, you'll accept to use AI Focus. And we institute AI Focus - which tries to automatically decide if y'all have a moving subject that requires continuous AF - is very laggy in realizing your subject field's actually moving. This means that quite oftentimes your subject volition have moved quite a bit before your photographic camera even realizes information technology should endeavor to refocus. For moving subjects, you lot're better off selecting your own AF point (transmission choice), and keeping information technology over your subject by constantly reframing, peculiarly as 'auto option' in continuous AF can be unreliable as we explain below.

Continuous AF performance

Continuous, intelligent AF functioning to sympathize what information technology is you wish to focus on, and then reliably focus on that discipline (even if it'south moving), are features beingness increasingly offered in cameras these days. One might argue such features are especially important for the demographic using cameras like the Rebel - first time parents and offset time shooters generally may not wish to take full control over focus, rather expecting that getting a DSLR should hateful that the camera should just focus on their running child. This requires intelligent bailiwick recognition, and good continuous AF operation, so we expect at these in-depth below.

Real earth tracking

We'll first start with a real world case of something that should exist relatively straightforward for a modern AF organization: an approaching subject well isolated with respect to depth (there aren't many other moving objects at a similar distance that might otherwise distract the AF system), that doesn't motion too much from side-to-side.

Let's start off by proverb that uncomplicated distance or depth tracking of subjects - eastward.g. subjects moving toward or away from you - tends to work very well on cameras with dedicated phase-detect systems, and here the Insubordinate T6s is no exception. Even when shooting at the maximum fps outburst charge per unit, the camera generally kept upwardly with subjects moving toward or away from the camera. But our cycling case below tests a little more that - we let the camera automatically select AF points to stay on the initially chosen subject (Richard on a wheel). In the sequence below, while the T6s generally kept up with the subject field, a good 6 shots or so are non optimally focused. Since the camera's depth tracking abilities are very expert, what went wrong here?

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While the highlighted AF points indicate the camera ostensibly stayed with the discipline, there were instances in our multiple runs where the AF points wandered off. In other words, the subject area tracking organization is sometimes easily confused. The out-of-focus shots in the example above likely accept less to do with the depth-tracking capabilities of the camera, and more to do with its ability to know what exactly to continue focusing on.

And how does the T6s know what to continue focusing on in AI Servo? The phase-discover AF module knows the distance of your subject initially when you one-half-printing the shutter push, afterward which the system selects any AF point that reports a subject with similar distance (it's a bit more complicated, every bit the system also looks for contiguous movement beyond points, and whatsoever distance patterns indicating budgeted or receding subjects). You might imagine that such a system might be easily tripped upward by other nearby objects entering or leaving the scene, and might not have enough accuracy to differentiate Richard's face up from his jersey from his bike handlebars (none of which are at drastically different distances from the camera). And you'd be right - a more than advanced subject tracking arrangement tin can use more data, like actual color or pattern recognition of a subject, to understand and stick with it.

In fact, it's likely the meliorate subject tracking functioning of the Nikon D5500's '3D tracking' organisation, which uses information from its 2,016-pixel RGB metering sensor to empathize and stick to your subject, that gave it better performance in our similar test with that photographic camera. This raises the question: what sort of discipline recognition and tracking capabilities does the Insubordinate T6s have?

Subject recognition and tracking

These days mirrorless cameras offer sophisticated field of study recognition by, for example, recognizing the nearest face and tracking information technology, no matter where that face ends upwardly in the frame later subject, or photographic camera, motion. DSLRs accept traditionally struggled in this regard, as they don't have the advantage of an prototype sensor to constantly analyze during through-the-viewfinder shooting. DSLRs take, though, traditionally always sent a portion of the incoming lite to a multi-zone metering sensor for accurate exposure. Recently, in some DSLRs, these metering sensors have seen a transition to full color, RGB array sensors - much like prototype sensors themselves - that tin help analyze the scene and understand the subject for better tracking (and metering). Amidst DSLRs, Nikon offers the about accurate subject area tracking we've seen to date, beyond most of their lineup. Canon hasn't been sitting even so, though, and has made similar attempts with their metering sensors in the 1D X, 7D Mark II, and 5DS.

Some of that technology at present filters down in limited grade to the Rebel T6s, which sees the addition of a vii,560 pixel RGB+IR metering sensor. The implementation of the RGB+IR metering sensor on the T6s is a bit less sophisticated than on some other cameras, however. Instead of supporting face detection or blueprint recognition for bailiwick tracking, the T6s uses 'colour tone detection' only to help initially select an AF point. In essence, information technology'south designed to identify skin tones, making the assumption that skin tones probably represent the most likely target in any particular scene. While it does a reasonably good job of identifying subjects, skin tone detection can be fooled. In the shot of Dan from our shooting experience y'all can see how the camera focused on his hand instead of his face, assuming that the closest discipline with skin tone was the desired subject.

Unfortunately, color tone detection merely works in a narrow set of circumstances: shooting in ane shot or AI Focus (not in AI Servo) with automatic AF point selection turned on. It doesn't employ colour, or the metering sensor, at all to rails a subject once information technology starts moving, instead relying primarily on depth information to understand where your moving subject is in the frame (like the 7D/70D). Without blueprint recognition or confront detection, field of study tracking tends to be pretty striking or miss on the T6s, equally we demonstrate in the video below. It tin work somewhat well when you take a subject well isolated with respect to depth (like our cycling example in a higher place), but is ultimately generally speaking unreliable enough that you're probably not going to want to trust it over just selecting an AF betoken (or zone) yourself and reframing to stay on your moving subject.

Subject tracking capabilities when shooting through the viewfinder lag behind the contest. In this brusk video nosotros brainstorm with the center AF indicate on the mannequin'southward eye and begin reframing. The camera rarely stays on either heart of the mannequin (contrast this to Nikon's 3D tracking offer). We run across similar results when shooting continuously while moving.

What's this all mean?

While representing a footstep forrard compared to previous Rebels, it's besides bad that Canon hasn't fabricated more than improvements in this surface area. Constructive subject tracking capability is now pretty much standard in mirrorless cameras, including credible Rebel alternatives such equally the Fujifilm X-T10, Panasonic G7, and the Sony a6000. Even the Nikon D5500 which, like the T6s uses an optical viewfinder, does a very good job at subject tracking cheers to Nikon's 3D AF system.

Thankfully, though, the T6s offers some other option for relatively quick, and accurate, focusing with much better field of study tracking than what meet above in viewfinder shooting: Hybrid CMOS AF III, or, focusing in Alive View. We'll expect at this more than in-depth on the side by side folio.

A note on AF accuracy

One characteristic missing from the T6s is the ability to microadjust focus for particular lenses. Cameras and lenses are manufactured to very tight tolerances to insure that AF systems work accurately, however, it'south still possible to end up with a item photographic camera/lens combination where the plane of focus isn't quite perfect. To recoup for this, some cameras (usually more than avant-garde models) allow you to microadjust the focus for a specific camera/lens combination by shooting a target and determining how much correction is needed.

Entry level DSLRs such as the T6s typically don't include a microadjustment function, and if you plan to shoot primarily with a kit lens (such as the EF-Southward eighteen-135mm F3.v-five.vi IS STM) it'due south possible that small-scale copy variations between bodies and lenses volition never prove upwardly, given a somewhat limited ability to isolate a narrow zone of focus with most kit lenses. However, using fast primes, or even a fast zoom such every bit the EF 70-200mm IS L lens, it becomes more probable that these focus inaccuracies will show up.

In this shot of the sailboats the AF points were right on acme of the sail of the gunkhole in the heart, all the same the photo is front focused. Nosotros consistently ran into this problem on a couple of lenses when shooting with the T6s. (Photograph taken with Canon EF lxx-200mm F2.eight IS L lens at F2.8.)

We ran into this exact problem with our re-create of the T6s. When using certain lenses we consistently saw issues with front-focusing. It's possible to send bodies and lenses back to Catechism for adjustment, but in one case you've gone to the price and trouble of doing and so, you lot may as well have spent a bit more money on a body which lets you do these adjustments yourself.

It's important to annotation that that this issue only affects photos taken through the optical viewfinder. When shooting in live view mode, focus is being measured on-sensor, meaning that live view AF should be very accurate (and it is).

Flicker detection

The T6s also has the ability to find and respond to flicker from a light source. This can be very useful equally the camera will sync its shooting to match the peak brightness of the light'south flicker bicycle, avoiding unexpected underexposure. This tin slightly reduce frame rate in continuous shooting mode, just should avoid the inconsistent epitome brightness between frames that can occur when shooting under artificial lighting.