Meet the Canon EOS M200
The Canon EOS M200 is a modest update to the M100 that was announced in August 2017. Most of the changes are courtesy of the new Digic 8 processor, which allows for 4K video capture, eye detection autofocus and improved battery life.
Canon didn’t change the design of the camera because, frankly, this entry-level, selfie-friendly camera didn’t need it. But more about that in the slides ahead.
The M200 will be available in October in your choice of white or black for $ 549/£499/€569, which includes the EF-M 15-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM lens.
Same ol’ sensor?
From what we can tell, the M200’s 24.1 effective Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor is the same as the one on the M100. The M100 has very good image quality, with really nice color and Raw detail capture in-line with the competition, though noise levels were slightly higher in our testing. The Digic 8 processor may affect JPEG image quality, which we’ll evaluate once we get hold of a final sample of the camera.
While the M200 uses Canon’s familiar (and very good) Dual Pixel AF system, some improvements have been made since the M100 was released. First off, there’s now eye detection, which we found to be reliable on the EOS M6 II that we’ve been testing more recently.
The other change is the number of selectable AF points, which has increased from 49 to 123. This may be due to having better Dual Pixel coverage compared to the M100, and we’ve reached out to Canon to confirm.
Flip-up display
Being a lower-end, consumer-friendly camera means that, of course, the M200 comes with an LCD that can flip upward for selfies. The display is 3″ in size and sports 1.04 million dots: the same as before. When the screen is flipped all the way up, you can turn on a self-portrait mode, which lets you blur the background, brighten the image and retouch your skin.
The flash can be popped up with the LCD in this position, though it will block the right side of the LCD. Speaking of the flash, it can be manually bounced for softer light, if you’d like.
Light on controls
The M200 isn’t loaded with buttons, which is probably a good thing for those looking for an easy-to-use camera. You’ve got three buttons and the four-way controller on the back, a single control dial and a simple shooting mode switch on the top. M200 users can choose from fully automatic, program mode and movie mode – and that’s it. The camera can almost be controlled by the touchscreen alone.
Like most Canon cameras, there’s a Scene Intelligent Auto mode, which picks the right settings for the situation, or you can select a scene preset manually when in Program mode. By putting the camera into the ‘Creative Assist’ mode you can use sliders to adjust background blur, color, brightness and contrast.
Video
The M200 gains the ability to shoot 4K/24p video (23.98fps, to be exact), but there’s a catch: When shooting 4K there’s a 1.6x crop and, when combined with the 1.6x crop of APS-C, this adds up to 2.56x. The bundled 15-45mm zoom thus becomes a 38-115mm equivalent lens when you shoot 4K. The widest Canon EF-M lens is 11-22mm, which turns into 28-56mm equivalent. That’s still wide-ish, but be aware that if you’re vlogging, or just want to shoot wide-angle, you might find that compound crop effect very limiting.
If you drop down to 1080 the crop disappears, and frame rates of 30p and 60p become available. If you want to shoot at 120 fps you’ll need to shoot at 1280 x 720 resolution – which is still fine for sharing on social media.
One of the M200’s new party tricks is the ability to record vertical videos, much like the PowerShot G7 X Mark III. Unlike that camera though, the M200 cannot stream live video to YouTube.
Ins and outs
The EOS M200 has a minimal set of inputs and outputs: just micro USB and micro HDMI. The camera can be charged over the USB port, and Canon is kind enough to include an external charger with the camera.
Speaking of batteries, the M200 uses the familiar LP-E12 and can take up to 315 shots per charge (by CIPA testing) – up from 295 on the M100. Canon says that if you put the camera into Eco mode you can take 485 photos before you run out of juice. Unless you’re using the flash or Wi-Fi a lot, you should find that you can easily exceed those numbers.
The M200 offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and Canon’s Camera Connect app supports auto image transfer, sharing location data with the camera and, of course, remote control.
Wrap-up
The Canon EOS M100 was one of our favorite entry-level mirrorless cameras when it was released, with an easy-to-use interface and solid image quality. While the EOS M200 isn’t a huge upgrade, nobody’s going to complain about improved autofocus and better battery life.
Some may complain about the M200’s 4K video feature though, due to the restrictive 2.56x crop (relative to full-frame) that puts wide-angle shooting out of reach with the bundled kit lens. That’s too bad, since crop-less 4K and a microphone input would make the M200 a pretty compelling vlogging camera. That said, 4K is nice to have, and 28mm equiv., from the (admittedly not bundled) 11-22mm zoom is still likely to be wide enough in a lot of situations.
That aside, if you’re after an accessible camera with robust underpinnings and don’t mind the 4K crop, we think that the M200 will be a good choice. For those who wish that the M200 had an electronic viewfinder, let us direct you to the EOS M50, which is essentially the same camera with an EVF.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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