Canon EOS M: Honey, I Shrunk The 650D




[clear]

What you’re looking at is Canon’s latest golden child, the EOS M. What is it you ask? It’s essentially all the goodness of the EOS 650D crammed into a great looking compact body.

“Tell me more” I hear you saying. Well I will!

It’s a mirrorless 18-megapixel, interchangeable lens camera (which we flagged would come out a while back), powered by an APS-C sensor, rather than Micro Four Thirds. It’s half the weight of its big brother, the EOS 650D and it’s half the thickness too thanks to the elimination of the traditional mirror system.

It also features a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen on the rear of the unit that allows the user to tap, pinch-in, swipe and slide the camera, rather than fiddle with all the buttons or fish around inside the menu system.

The EOS M uses a slightly different lens mount to the rest of the EOS family. You’ll still be able to use your old EF and EF-S lenses though thanks to a handy mount adapter bundled into the body-only kit. Why just the body-only kit? Mostly to placate the existing EOS owners that want to buy the EOS M and still use all their existing glass. It still has a full hot shoe, though, so you’ll still be able to use your existing accessories with the EOS M.

It’s set to go on sale in early-October, and while Canon weren’t upfront with the recommended retail price today, they did indicate that the body-only kit would slot in, price-wise, between the 650D and the 600D. Based on my quick maths, that’s somewhere between $681 and $900.

Three kits will be available from launch day, including a body-only kit mentioned earlier, a single IS lens kit which includes the black EOS M bundled in with the new 18-55 EF-M lens and the tiny new addition to the Speedlite family, the 90EX.

A twin lens kit will also be available, which includes the EOS M body in either black, white or red bundled with the 18-55 EF-M lens and a 22mm EF-M pancake lens and the cute Speedlite 90EX flash. With the lens kits, you’ll have to buy the EF lens mount adapter separately.

So why shrink the 650D? Canon says that the camera is designed to fit seamlessly into the lives of people who want to take photos of everyday events without having to lug about a hefty interchangeable lens camera and a bag full of glass — people who like photographs rather than photography.

It’s being pitched at first-time interchangeable lens camera owners who are sick of the rubbish photos that their compact camera or smartphone camera usually capture.

It’s designed to be easy to use for this particular market of amateur upgraders, too, with a live view function and several scene modes that show off what the shot will look like before they release the shutter.



[clear]

Is the EOS M your kind of thing?


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.