Canon R6 Quick Start Guide and Ultimate Setup Hacks 

I just bought the R6 on New Year’s Eve and have been a photographer for over 30 years and so I’m very stuck in my ways and old school but after seeing and hearing your explanation of back button focus and how you can quickly change mode I will follow your very concise instructions and give it a go because I see the huge advantages of it👍🏻👏

Kyle...Your video is the first R6 tutorial that MAKES SENSE!! You are a great teacher for this camera. Thanks for your gift of giving to others!

The best video I’ve seen on customizing buttons!! Thank you!

That was outstanding Kyle! Great review and production

loved it bro, really appreciated the breakdown

I just upgraded to the R6 after using an XTi for the past 14 years. There are so many new/different buttons that didn't exist on my old camera, so this was very helpful in setting it up to make my R6 more intuitive. I'll probably need to take 1000 shots to get used to it, but getting it set up is half the battle.

Just got the R6 a few days ago. I’m going to set it up just like he’s showing. Thanks Kyle!

Just picked up my R6 with RF 24-70 (moving from Sony as well) . Thank for this most informative and easy to understand video. I've never considered back button focus but will do it to see if I to can adapt to the the ease of it. Appreciate your educational efforts. Cheers, Matt

Love this video!! Your set up makes total sense!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!!

Best R6 tutorial ever. Thanks

Thanks for the helpful tips, Kyle. The 3 back buttons setup really make a lot of sense.

Kyle! THANK YOU! Just upgraded to R6 from my 5D Mark II and I have a huge learning curve. I never got the hang of BBF but am excited to try it again with this video. Thanks!!!

Very helpful for quick set up of an R6 on trial, thanks!

Thanks for this awesome info! I appreciate you sharing the how and why of your custom button mappings for focusing.

Just got my R6 yesterday for birding (25 yrs Nikon, D500 now) and love it. Your video was so helpful, thanks! For now teaming it up with the Sigma 150-600 Sport.

Omg I've been searching everywhere for information on how to assign the joystick to move AF points but with no luck. Then your video was recommended to me and it had all the information I needed. Thank you! Saved a lifetime of headache! Hope to see more vids about the Canon R systems :)

Really understandable suggestions. Great for an old guy with a new camera!

Fabulous. I’ve just bought my r6 and this video is so helpful. Thankyou

Very informative! Thanks a lot!

Hi Kyle. I recently bought this camera and I got to tell you this video has been so very helpful. So very easy to understand and so informative. Thanks again.

Fantastic how to video on the setup of the R6. Just got mine a few weeks ago and had not gone through all the mapping of buttons and dials yet. Thanks so much for this very detailed menu setup guide. Subbed

Great guide!

very helpful, thanks

This info is awesome for the I'm-not-as-good-as-I-think guy like me. THANK YOU!

Awesome!!! Thanks!

thenk's very helpful

Hey just got the R6 and adaptor, still waiting for a lens, but playing with some of my mk4, great video, the custom buttoms makes loads of sense, i didnt follow them all as obviously its personal preference, but got wait to use them and it on an pre wedding shoot tomorrow, liked, and subscribed now, great video, no crap around it straight in, love that. Darren - UK

very useful explanation. I just bought this camera and I was a little scared about all these functions but following a good set up after some practice must be a great choice. I like your set up. Thank you

Brilliant. Someone who speaks from real experience and common sense. Thank you.

This is a very concise and to the point set of instructions. Thanks. Can you also do a video on how to setup the camera for flash photography please ? In some cases in bright daylight one may need to expose for the highlights and fill flash for underexposed faces. In that case I guess one one of the C1-3 will work. The metering start assigned to shutter button doesn’t make the metering sticky.

Recently switched my my 6d and 6d Mark ii for a while eos r and an r6.. the r6 is so much better in than the r it’s pretty astonishing.

since the d3 my focus has been tied to the * button. so glad i can still set it that way. also I had no idea Amos Burton from the Expanse was a photographer.

I use almost the same setup for shooting ice hockey. The eye tracking works great when I’m setup behind the net and players are heading toward me what their head up to shoot or pass. When I’m shooting the net from the side or from the penalty box and want to focus on the goalie, I use the back button star to just focus on the goalie and then I can let it go as players cross in front of him and he stays in focus...great tips. My only issue is with using the back buttons for focusing, I can’t really use the joystick or swipe the screen for changing my focus spot since my thumb is busy focusing!

thank you very helpful...........

Hi Kyle - Pretty sure you can map the dofp button to start video from still shooting modes 👍

Got mine coming tomorrow, can't wait!! This was soooo helpful. Just can not find adapter for ef glass!!

Thanks for the video! This is very helpful. I'm seriously considering going from the R to the R6. The R6 solves some of the things that bug me about the R. Yeah, it has lower resolution, but better dynamic range. Also, has anyone ever told you you look like Wes Chatham from The Expanse? This entire video I was thinking you reminded me of someone and it finally clicked.

Very concise and very helpful, many thanks!!

thanks this works a lot. last project I was struggling with the autofocus who just do his own thing except what I wanted. now with the button to pause It I think it solve a lotta problems. and in shooting mode you can put the m-fn button to movie recording. only by movie shooting there is no option to switch back to shooting mode but I will take that for granted. Thanks for this video !

When its on auto 1(only screen) it means that your EVF will be disabled when you flip your screen out. It will only switch back to auto when your LCD screen is flipped back in

thank you, very helpful!

thanks very much for the useful vidéo, unfortunately when I switch off my camera I loose all the settings any idea ?

How to change when I shoot live view mode vertical my picture upside down?

Excellent tutorial 👍. Could you please do the same for the R5 witch I have. Thank you.

Hi Kyle. Thanks for your helpful tips. Just got my R6 recently and I setup it almost exactly like yours. However I'm facing an issue where my windows computer doesnt detect my camera. Got any idea how can I solve this? Tethered shoots is a big part of my workflow. Thanks!

Hello Kyle, thank you for the very informative video. But I still have unanswered questions: Can I also select the photos by swiping instead of the wheel, as you do on a smartphone and dragging them with two fingers to enlage them (as with smartphone)? This is not possible withe the Sony A7iii. Do I understand correctly: when movie mode is on, you cannot move the focus point via touch on the display, but you can do with a wheel? And one more question: I live in Europe with artificial lights at 50 Hz frequency. If I film with 30 fps I would like to select the shutter to 1/50 in order to avoid flickering, but otherwise leave all automatics on like ISO or exposure. Is that possible? I had the impression I can only chooese between fully automatic and completely manual in the video mode? Yours, Oliver

Kyle, Thanks for the tips! You're the first person to sell me on the idea of back button focus! Not sure if you figured this out yet, but... regarding the issue you were having on SET-UP 3 Screen/viewfinder display... This is how my R5 functions. Perhaps your R6 is the same. In Screen/Viewfinder display... Auto 1 "only screen" only works when the display is out of its "home" or nested position. While home or nested, it reverts to AUTO 2 where it switches based upon input from the sensor below the viewfinder.

I do the exact same thing with THE DOF button on the R5 to toggle between the EVF and LCD screen. I don't like the camera making that choice for me. On the EOS R I used a different button (can't remember which one and the camera is home right now) on the back of the camera to toggle between EVF and LCD screen.

Hi, I have a quick question - when I’m changing lenses, as I’m twisting on and off, I heard this noise as if the pins are rubbing. Does yours do it? It’s not sensor cleaning bc I know that noise

I don’t think I will like this but I’ll try it.

Do you find the Canon's eye-tracking auto focus capability in the R5/ R6 bodies use-able in near pitch black/ super dark scenarios (ie: night wedding reception or nightclub) when using F2.8/ F4 zoom lenses?

Hi Thank you so much Really good video but one thing please let me know how to setup c1 or c2 video mode 120 frame please if have any video send me link thanks

I know that this isn't the right place for this question, but i was wandering if there is a way to keep the backscreen off all the time except the 2 sec review. I want to be able to use the screen just for review (example of timelapse, i dont need the screen on all the time but i need to review the photo once taken.)

Does the R6 only have one size RAW file, rather than small, medium, and large in my 70D?

Duuuude!! I'm in Sony Land right now (A7III). Great Camera. But I came from Canon. The good old 5D III still works like a champ. And I wanna go back now... the Feeling of the Tool, ..the Camera is just different. The Sony gives you insanely good results in all areas, but the camera itself is just not that much fun to use (Display Quality, Operation Performance, EVF Quality.) When I wanna show a few shots to clients, I know that the picture will be great on the computer and after the edit, but on the screen you barely get a feel for it becuase of the inaccurate colors and brightness. Thank you for the super deep dive here! :)) It's a bummer that you can't set the m.fn button to switch between Photo & Video Mode... I'd love setting it up like that. Having quick access to use your tool to it's max potential is so fun!! Even my Sony became a Quick Setting machine with the right setup. Thanks again! Have a great Week!! Dani

How do you set a custom preset mode for video, I thought they were only for stills?

there is no c1, c2 and c3 in video mode.. in R6.. how did u set ur framerates in c1 c2 and c3 then? need to know..

You convinced my of giving back-button eye AF a try. But now that both my thumb and index fingers are occupied, how do I switch between subjects? I wish I could map a button to switching between button layouts… Update: Never mind, switching the focus mode for the * button to tracking still lets me switch between subjects without holding the button down

hi, I tried to set up the back button focus the way you did, but whenever I use the * to use the normal single point af, its still tracking no matter the mode I'm in... if I switch the af-on to metering and af, and * to eye detection it works perfectly fine. What am I doin wrong? (oh and ty for this helpful video :) )

Hey could you test something for me with the R6? I want to know if it’s possible to shoot a time laps with eye autofocus on? I would use this for self portraits. I use this method with my old 6D and magic lantern. I set up a time laps and every new shoot the 6D hunts for a new focus, so I has to stay on the right position in the frame and can shoot a lot of pictures of me without having a trigger or phone in my hand. It would be amazing if this method would be possible with the R6 and the eye detection autofocus, because i could move free in the frame without thinking of the focus, because the camera allays would search for my eye. Would be amazing if you could test this for me and give me a answer or maybe do a tutorial on your channel because I could imagine a lot of ppl could be interested in this method too. Best regards from Germany 🇩🇪😊🙌

When I set my camera like this and press the af on button and hold it I do not see any focus box around eye or face. They disappeared when I press the button, but reappear when I release it. You mention you have to hold this down. Am I missing something?

I wish I could get a hybrid Nikon/Canon camera. There’s some critical things my Nikon does that Canon missed, and vice versa. Really wish there was an API option where I could just program the camera myself.

Can i change w.b will recording video. Thanks

I had my R6 four days and with only 7 shots before it gave me error messages. I have had to send it back and hopefully its replacement will be ok.

I can't get my servo AF to auto place the white box around any object! Can someone please help

Clicking the multi-controller resets the AF point, so one could maybe use the set button for something else?

Awesome video Kyle! However the eye autofocus sometimes grabs the more distant eye, or if you have multiple faces in the image, an eye on a face other that you want. You can manually force the change of the eyes or faces, but only if you have AF5 "Initial servo AF-pt" set to Auto AND you are using the Eye AF as the main focus mode. But if you have the AF5 "Initial servo AF-pt" set to Auto, when you use the star button, the autofocus will grab a random object. I would love to have the possibility to use the AF-ON button for eye autofocus (AND be able to force the change of the eye or faces) and also use the star button to focus on objects with the initial AF-point in the middle. Do you know if this is possible to configure? Or do you have another way to handle it, then the camera grabs an eye or a face you don't want?

Hello, Thank you for good video! How did you set video slow-mo for C2 mode at R6?

At 5:06 you mentioned where you have the AF but don’t actually say (unless I missed it) what you leave it on. Thanks!

It's a pity that you can't set video modes in the custom buttons on the R6, like you can on the R5.. But i hope i'm wrong!! :) Thanks for the video!

At about 13:30 when talking about the way you’ve mapped the asterisk, you say it’s set to tracking…… how?

Why must you record these VTRs with lenses that costs almost as much as the camera?

Swing the screen out and the toggle function with the EVF and screen will be locked.

Kyle, Thank you a lot, I just bought R6, RF 24-105 L IS USM, EF 70-200 IS L f2.8 USM pack, so when I first get the camera in my hand it has this rattle sound inside like something is broken and stucked inside, same with RF lens, it has the worst rattle sound, EF lens have it less, do you have any experience about this? does your camera make this same rattle sound?

With eos R i could not flip the screen much because the usb cable was always in the way. Have they improve this fact with eos r6?

It seems like C1-3 cannot be set for video mode on the r6... and they seem only like something u can save for photo centric settings. Would you kindly be able to confirm this?

You can't save video settings tho - I can't believe canon would do this. This makes it a much more slower camera to use for a hybrid shooter.

Hello Kyle,

Other than a C1 custom setup for Animal tracking + a spot AF I absolutely hate back button focus. When I'm on vacation or doing street photography it's most convenient for me to use touch&drag to setup my focus point with the thumb on the display. I don't see any benefit in this case to take my thumb off to reach a seperate button to focus and then take the shot - it's wasted time and possibly missed opportunity.

good video👍＆🔔：)

Cant assign video modes to C1,c2&c3 on my r6

MKBHD intro there.

We don’t wanna see your nervous face as much & rather see more of the actual menu screen when ur explaining.