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Canon EOS M Improvement Wish List

I have had my hearts set on getting a Canon EOS M for a long time. After all, it is as sleek as the Canon EOS IX Body Style that I want in a digital version. In fact, I have had attempted to build a Canon EOS M four years ago as shown in Sony Cyber-shot and Canon EF Hybrid. My failure, due to a broken sensor ribbon cable, prevents me from having a Canon EOS M before anyone else.

Now, Canon has produced a EOS M, so that I won't have to hack my own. I'm ecstatic. No doubt, I will purchase a EOS M when it is released. But there are a few issues that I'm concerned with (see below). No one has a production unit yet. But when the production unit comes out, I hope these are no longer issues.

Auto-focus Speed with EF Lenses

Canon has the foresight to provide the Mount Adapter EF-EOS M so that you can mount any EF lens with full electronic control on the EOS M. But the anticipation is that auto-focus speed is slow unless you use the EF-M (STM) lenses. There are only two EF-M lenses.

I think the majority of the photographers who purchases EOS M will want to use the EF and EF-S lenses at full AF speed. If all you want to do is stick to the EF-M lenses, there are so many other mirror lens digital camera contenders that makes EOS M less of a factor.

Battery Life

The Canon LP-E12 Lithium-Ion Battery Pack has a capacity of 875 mAh. Consider that the rear LCD screen is going to be on all the time, that battery capacity may not be sufficient for long.

Even Canon's entry level EOS T4i SLR digital camera uses the Canon LP-E8 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Pack with 1120mAh capacity. But the T4i has an optical viewfinder, so if you are really running out of juice, you can go optical only with no review.

You can't do that on the EOS M. So the battery life becomes critical. In order to conserve battery life on the EOS M, you have to shut down the camera between shooting sessions and wait a 1.6 second boot up time. That means missing out on impromptu opportunities.

Chieh Cheng
Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:00:35 +0400

How bad do you think the battery life will be?

Sarcast
Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:26:27 +0400

I can't give you a real quantitative data right now. But based on the Canon EOS D30, which uses Canon BP-511 battery pack with 1100 mAH capacity, I would completely disable the LCD preview and use the optical viewfinder only. If I were to review each photo as it was shot, the battery would last no longer than an afternoon.

The Canon EOS D30 is ancient technology now. So the data may no longer be relevant. I ordered a Canon EOS Rebel T3i, which should be arriving tomorrow. It has no separate old-school LCD for shutter/aperture setting, so the rear LCD will be used a lot. I will post battery use data after trying that out.

Chieh Cheng
Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:44:36 +0400

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