Canon EOS Rebel T6s / 760D Review

1st July 2015

Written by Gordon Laing

Quality

To compare real-life performance, I shot the scene below with the Panasonic Lumix G7 and Canon EOS 760D / T6i within a few moments of each other, using their kit zooms and base sensitivities. Note the image quality on the 760D / T6i is identical to the 750D / T6i, so these results equally apply to that model. Both bodies were fitted with their respective kit zooms set to f5.6 in Aperture Priority. The G7 was fitted with the Lumix G 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 and the EOS fitted with the EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 STM. I’ve matched their vertical field of view here and compared their quality in a 4:3 shape – as such, the Canon is effectively performing as a 21.3 Megapixel camera in this area, but that’s still over 5 Megapixels higher than the Lumix G7.

On this page I’m comparing out-of-camera JPEGs using the default settings. On the next page you’ll find my noise results for both JPEG and RAW files. I’ve taken three sets of crops from each image, indicated by the red rectangles on the image above and presented them below at 100%. The higher resolution of the Canon means its crops show a slightly smaller area. The Canon results are in the left column and the Lumix G7 crops are in the right column.

In terms of real-life detail in the crops below, there’s not a lot between them. Look at the railings, the TV antennas, the various grills and you’ll see there’s no perceptible benefit to the Canon’s extra 5 Megapixels in the same area. Normally at this point I’d point out bigger differences due to the quality of their respective kit zooms, but I’m pleased to report Panasonic and Canon supply both of these bodies with decent lenses. You may however notice Canon’s default JPEG processing applies a little more contrast and smoothing, for a slightly punchier result, albeit one that can look a little smudged at times. It’s easy to turn down when processing RAW files though.

Ultimately the message to take home here is even when fitted with similar quality lenses, there’s little if any extra benefit in real-life resolution to the Canon, despite its higher megapixel count. There are differences between these two cameras which may sway you more towards one than the other, but resolving power shouldn’t be one of them. Scroll down further for a comparison with the Nikon D5500.

Above: Lumix G7 JPEG (left) and Canon EOS 760D / T6s JPEG (right) at 100 ISO

Above: Lumix G7 JPEG (left) and Canon EOS 760D / T6s JPEG (right) at 100 ISO

Above: Lumix G7 JPEG (left) and Canon EOS 760D / T6s JPEG (right) at 100 ISO

Canon EOS 760D / T6s vs Nikon D5500 quality

But what about when the kit lens varies quality? In the second table below, taken on a different day, you’ll see how the EOS 760D / T6s compares against the Nikon D5500. Both have 24 Megapixel APS-C sensors, but as you can see there’s a big difference in the quality of their kit zooms, especially towards the edges. The Nikon kit zoom may be able to collapse to save space when not in use, but it’s simply not as sharp or well-corrected as the Canon STM kit zoom in the corners. The Canon results are in the left column below, and the Nikon D5500 results in the right column.