When the first sample shots from the 6D mark II started showing up in the usual places, I must admit I was not all that impressed. It looked like Canon had taken a step backward and failed to advance their sensor in terms of noise. Having now had the chance to test the 6D mark II, I’m happy to report it’s an OK result for the price of the camera. I personally think you can still get better value for the money, but it’s an OK upgrade for those in the Canon camp looking at long exposure work while gaining some much need features and AF improvements.
Most long exposure Aurora work is around the 30 second mark, so as shown from the results below the new model is only slightly worse at 30 seconds than the original, which when combined with the megapixel upgrade and no doubt better noise reduction options in camera, would most likely put the new model in front. Results for the 5 minute exposures are also slightly down, but with slightly better standard deviation, again making the two cameras very similar.
However, looking at 1 second results, they seems to be more in line with what others are reporting, which is maybe a step backwards in noise, especially if your looking at sports photography.
So if your looking to upgrade from the 6D to the 6D Mark 2 I don’t expect the pictures are going to look any worse, maybe a slight improvement for long exposure work. Is it worth the upgrade? I will leave that up to you to decide.
If you would like to look at the results in more detail, you can do so here.