Review: Canon EOS R6 perfect for wildlife photographers

The Canon R6 mirrorless camera and its lens are a match made in heaven for wildlife photographers.

Canon EOS R6 camera.

I recently had the opportunity to visit K’Gari / Fraser Island with a mirrorless Canon EOS R6 and Canon’s RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens. World renowned for its beauty and wildlife, this combination allowed me to capture some of the colours, textures, and life present on the world’s largest sand island.

Right from the start, the island showed off its beauty as a humpback whale revealed itself in the sunrise. Extended to 500mm, the combination of the R6 and this lens had no difficulty capturing the whale as it rose to the surface to blow and take a breath.

Humpback whale at sunrise

Photographing birds is one of the joys of having a long telephoto lens, and I was delighted to find a white faced heron perched on the Maheno Wreck as we travelled along the beach. The detail was sharp, and the colour pleasing, while the R6 and long lens combination were far less heavy to use than a traditional DSLR with a similar lens would have been.

Heron Maheno Wreck

While I was pleased with these results, I did wonder how the camera and lens combination would perform for birds in flight, which provide notoriously difficult subjects for most autofocus systems. I suddenly had the opportunity to discover the answer as a white bellied sea eagle rose soared along the beach in search of lunch – and it performed admirably!

White bellied sea eagle

Although telephoto lenses aren’t generally considered to be ideal for landscapes, I enjoyed capturing these sand patterns in the dunes behind the beach. Intricate, with changing colours, they provided ideal subject matter for the experiment.

Sand patterns

The R6 has well-placed dials and controls, and the menus are intuitive to use. Probably the only downside is the same as that of all mirrorless cameras – the battery life. Unfortunately I only had one battery to test this body with, and by the time the dingoes appeared in the evening, the battery had died. This is easily fixed, and most photographers carry multiple batteries. But it is definitely something to keep in mind if you will be on the go away from a power supply for a whole day of shooting.

Sand blow

In all, the Canon R6 mirrorless camera and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens are a match made in heaven for wildlife photographers on the go, especially when travelling to places where they would prefer not to have too much weight around their necks. Pulling back to 100mm means that the lens can be used for interesting, telephoto landscapes, as well as for bird and wildlife shots, making this a combination that I would highly recommend.

Sunrise webs