Thom Hogan - M5 versus the A6xxx series cameras - who wins? The Canon M5

Thom Hogan, a proliferant writer and camera reviewer this week gave his rundown on the various cameras he'd suggest if asked about. One of his comparisions was the mightly yet small Canon M5. Thom likes thes M5 alot, on various articles he has certainly mentioned it's his go-to small mirrorless camera especially when paired with the 22mm or the 11-22mm.

Personally I think this sums up Canon as a whole. They tend not to win out on spec wars but there's just something when you start to use them.

Personally I find the M5 the most user friendly Mirrorless out there (sorry Fuji fans). You can simply do anything you want with your eye up to the viewfinder. From focus, to tweaking WB/ISO/Aperture/Shutter Speed or EC. Can't really beat that. No fiddly buttons that you can't find with gloves either.

Thom's take on the M5:

Meanwhile, Canon made the smallest DSLR you've ever seen. It holds like a DSLR, it shoots like a DSLR (even has a DSLR sensor), and it is controlled like a DSLR. They just put the already small SL2 into a shrink ray machine, tweaked a couple of things, and ended up with what has to be the smallest APS-C camera that handles well.

No, the focus speed isn't Sony wiz-fast. No, the frame rates aren't Sony wiz-fast. No, the deep shadows aren't Sony wiz-post processable. No, there isn't 4K video. No, no, no.

And yet, the M5 is an example of where the sum of the parts is greater than the sum of the parts, while the Sony A6xxx bodies tend to be the sum of the parts coming up as less than the sum of the parts. You're not going to get any Cool Cred shooting the Canon. You're going to be called old and boring. Not hip with it.

You'll take nice photos, though, and you'll feel in control doing it.

All is not rosey for Canon though. No mention of the 1DX Mark II, 5D Mark IV or any other canon camera in this article. Showing another more disturbing trend with Canon. In alot of their lineup they are leaning on thier Canon name a little too much and not making the best possible cameras they can. Ergonomics and reliability can only take you so far.

Maybe that will change, maybe Canon is in transition to something better. Time will tell.

The M5 specs at a glance;