Canon has only recently decided to update its M line, offering small-body cameras with big-body capabilities and the added benefit of featuring a mirrorless build. The new M100 is the company’s follow up device to the two-year-old M10 and will follow in its somewhat small lineage of providing quality camera output in a budget-friendly manner.
The camera will maintain the same small brick design that the M line has been known to adopt. It looks reminiscent of the M5 and also comes with its own lens kit, for the price of $599. Canon took its time in updating the M line, as it has not always focused on its mid-range offerings in the last two years. But the improvements do show in the specifications and just like with the M10, the M100 will feel like the most promising offering in the small-brick segment of the camera market.
M100 will feature a 24.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor that is supported by a DIGIC 7 imaging processor for image processing and quality management. The device can extend its ISO all the way up to 25600 and can also shoot at burst mode with a maximum 6.1 frames per second with Auto-Focus on or 4 frames per second with Autofocus off. The camera will be able to shoot 1080p videos at 60 frames per second and will most likely out do even the best smartphone cameras, which is what the M-series is specifically meant for. One of the gripes that users will have with the camera is the lack of a viewfinder and will have function using the camera’s 3-inch 1.04 million dot tilting touchscreen on the back. Just like with any smartphone, users will be able to tap on a spot on the screen to focus on that point.
This is the perfect compact camera for beginners with user-friendly functionality, like the auto-focus, HDR backlight control, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC for remote sharing as well as the helpful tilting screen that will allow for taking high-quality selfies. Canon has also added a Creative Assistant menu that will help in adjusting the background blur or add more brightness to a photo. Canon will be choosing to market the product like any other point-and-shoot camera, which will be heavy on easy interfacing and functionality and won’t offer as much control that the manual mode of a DSLR can offer. In terms of quality, however, the M100 does come close.
The device itself comes in two color variants – white and black, with nine different jackets to offer a splash of colour, from red-yellow to navy-gold. The lenses that will come with the $599 device include a 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 lens. Adding another $350, buyers will also get a 55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 lens. The camera will also be compatible with various Canon EF lenses as well. The adapter to mount those lenses is also available at $200.
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