I had quick affair with the R6 at "the Largest IT Show in Singapore". It was brief, had to be since I was carrying a couple of bags full of stuff, and so many others calling out for attention. Heres my first impression, retrieved from RAM and comparing to the R5.
First thing you noticed is the zoom lever, its now a ring round the shutter button, very suitable for one handed operation. The screen is larger and the image quality is better, though not a huge improvement, and no more funny static, lines and dots. And yes its slimmer, makes the R5 look a little clunky. The loss in thickness helps a little to avoid blocking the flash, but its still likely to be covered accidentally. I forgot to test the flash as I had basically stopped using it on my R5, so hopefully a review on that would pop up soon.
The user interface is very similar, no problems navigating, but I only played with mainly the ADJ button. Recording movies is now an option in SCN mode, and they placed it right to the end of the menu option. Considering most people would record movies in very spontaneous situations, it seems silly to have to wade through all that options. The third mode is a MY option, didn't check that out, but I believe its for custom settings. There is now a Auto-Hi option for iso menu.
Macro is still superb.
I was very interested in the image quality at high iso and managed to record 2 pictures. One hand operation, and I do have shaky hands.
iso1600
iso64
They were only cropped to protect the innocent shopper, no other adjustments. You can also follow the link to my picasa album for the same pictures.
(17/3/07 Uploaded the full file, any objections from anyone in the picture...leave comment)
You can only pre-order at the show, for S$599 (approx US$380) and delivery is one week. Free gift of 1GB MP4 player, mini-tripod, 2GB SD card, screen protector and cleaning kit. You have to "trade-in" any old camera though. Waiting for my usual seller to receive the stock, they didn't even know about the R6.
