A quick hands-on: Canon EOS M mirrorless camera

As cameras get better, they get smaller, more pocketable and they offer better quality as well. The big recent change in cameras came in the form of micro four-thirds and mirrorless designs. These cameras were designed to offer all of the goodness of a full-sized DSLR but with the ease and convenience of a point-and-shoot. Major player Nikon recently launched their lineup of mirrorless cameras and Canon, one of the largest camera manufacturers not to be outdone in this segment, did the same a few days back, with their EOS M line of mirrorless cameras. Canon visited our office and we were able to take a quick look at what the product looks and feels like. The product we used wasn’t the absolute final one, so there are likely to be tweaks and changes made. 

A massive 18-135mm Canon EF-S lens on the EOS M

The first thing to notice is its shape, size and weight, which is very commendable. Just the body with the battery in it weighs under 300 grams. In terms of size, it’s thicker than the typical IXUS line of cameras from Canon, but not by much. But it is noticeably heavier than an IXUS camera. 

The very simple, point-and-shoot design - but it has a rugged built

The size doesn’t mean that Canon has adopted a small sensor design either. The sensor on the EOS M is actually the same as the EOS 650D, that was launched recently. This means, an APS-C size sensor on a body the same size as a conventional point and shoot camera. It’s rated at 18 Megapixels and has an ISO range that extends from 100 to 6400. We weren’t able to view the photos on a PC to verify but we’ll leave that to our review, when we do it sometime in September, which is when the product is expected to launch. If the claims on the quality are true, then this is one of the biggest advantages of this product. Shutter speeds are as expected in most cameras - ranging from 1/4000 of a second to 30 seconds, including a bulb mode. Burst mode speeds go up to 4.3 frames per second which is very good, and close to the EOS 650D.

The lens mount adaptor

The lens mount being used on the EOS M is being called the EF-M mount, but Canon will have adaptors in the market, that let you use pretty much any Canon EF or EF-S lens, which makes this a very versatile product to use. This means you can choose one of the many lenses from Canon and also third-party manufacturers, which means you won’t have to upgrade your lens lineup for this camera. This isn’t the case so much with some of the products based on the other mirrorless designs. 

Simple, basic controls but a large 3-inch touchscreen to play with

The EOS M uses a 3-inch screen, the same that you’d find on most point and shoot and DSLR cameras. It’s got a resolution of more than 1 million dots on paper, but it’s also very good in practice, as we noticed while playing around with the cameras. The party piece of course, is that this screen is touch enabled and is gesture-capable.