Canon in the US has announced fourth quarter availability of the ‘new’ mirrorless interchangeable, the EOS M3, along with three new EF-M mount lenses.
The camera has been available locally since the middle of the year. USA launch price is US$679 ($A945). Locally it’s available for $729 on the Canon online store and $699 (incl. GST) from competing online retailers. It’s even eligible for a further $150 cashback.
With the official US price at A$945 body only, Australian retailers could switch the tables on US-based grey marketers with this model – especially given it’s not in stock over there for another month or so. The local ex-GST street price is just US$460 (A$636).
As one US photographer commented on The Imaging Resource website: ‘The thing is that B&H just listed the official USA M3 version for pre-order for $679.99, and the M3 I got, the exact same camera, cost me less than $350 (including tax and shipping.) Good luck with that, Canon.’
The camera has a ‘large’ 24.2 Megapixel APS-C sized CMOS sensor (rather than a normal sized 24-megapixel APS-C sensor?) and Digic 6 Image Processor, and captures video at Full HD resolution.
While the range of EF-M lenses is limited, Canon emphasises the camera is compatible wit EF and EF-S lenses via an adaptor, and has a standard hot shoe for Speedlites.
ISO range is from 100-12,800 (expandable to 25,600). Canon claims a number of benefits for the new Digic 6 image processor including high-quality movie capture with a number of different movie compressions including MP4, enhancement of the image stabilisation system, and better face detection accuracy.
The EOS M3 has AF coverage over approximately 80 percent vertical and 70 percent horizontal of the image. The hybrid AF system combines pixel-level phase detection with a secondary contrast detection system.
The EOS M3 offers a number of control options for manual operation. The front dial, placed directly around the shutter button, is complemented by an exposure compensation dial positioned near the camera’s thumb grip. In addition, the EOS M3 has numerous custom functions, including user-programmable shortcuts and customisable buttons.
It has a high-resolution, 3-inch tiltable touch-screen LCD monitor (once again it’s a ‘large’ three inches) with a resolution of 1.04 million dots.
Canon US also announced three new EF-M format lenses for the fourth quarter:
– EF-M 11-22mm f4-5.6 IS STM wide-angle zoom lens. (US price US$400)
– EF-M 22mm f2 STM compact prime lens (US price US$250)
– EF-M 55-200mm f4.5-6.3 IS STM telephoto zoom lens (US price US$350)
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