Canon RC-6 Infrared remote review

Описание: Canon RC-6 Infrared remote review

I got sent the Rc-6 a couple months back now and it has become a standard part of my setup and workflow - In fact my good friend Josh sent this to me and I am so grateful for it and it really has been a big help!

The device itself you can get for under £10 and I know that Amazon have even released a their own version of the remote. The device itself is small, light and compact, so it’s easy to take about with you and the case it comes with even has some little slits on back so you could attach it to a camera strap if you would like. It has a small hole for a lanyard / wrist strap on the device itself which is handy - no pun intended. The devices effective range is about 5 meters or so line of sight to the sensor on your DSLR in the right conditions and as it is infrared be aware of other light sources potentially interfering with the remotes effectiveness. The RC-6 takes a 3v watch battery, which are pretty cheap and easy to get hold of and changing the battery if necessary is an easy enough operation. So far so good it’s small cheap, canon official and it can be used to start recording videos and all that right? Well let’s go on.

There is a switch on the bottom which allows you to switch between starting/stopping video and the other mode of taking a picture - here is where I encountered the design flaw. The remote doesn’t have a half press function which would allow you to auto focus. It does auto focus and take a picture (as a joint operation) with one press of the button - some might like that for taking selfies etc but I’d rather be able to half the half press auto focus function and then be able to release my shutter and / or start recording when I am ready. On this point the shutter release can lock the camera - you can take another photo but you can’t switch to video record mode and start recording you have to go over to the camera and half press the shutter release on the camera (or perhaps another button) to get it out of the lock. Which might mean leaving the frame you’ve just carefully set up and kind of defeating the purpose of the remote in this setting. For this reason I would recommend either using it specifically for Start/Stop Video or for Just taking photos depending on the job - just don’t expect switching between the two mode to be seamless. That might not be such a problem if you a purely behind camera person or taking selfies but it is definitely not great if you a one man show and are running camera, lights, sound and presenting / performing. Bit of a design flaw there - but the device is only £6 or something so can you really complain? Myself I use it in conjunction with a wired remote which allows me to get setup in frame and get focused up and then hit record on the RC-6 without moving out of frame. I do wonder how hard it would have been for them to put in a half press / AF function into the RC-6.

Now design flaw aside I love using this for start/stop video and It has helped a lot with pacturing product shots, presenting and helped streamline my workflow a lot. Especially as I like to use an alpha lens for close ups and product shots which has no stabiliser function so it really helps me eliminate that camera shake I would sometimes get when I hit record on the DSLR itself.


Honestly a really handy and portable and affordable gadget that I’ve found really helpful - shame about the design flaw but if you’re not a one man show I’m sure it’s much easier to work with.

What are your thoughts on the remote? Have you used it yourself? What do you use instead? Let me know in the comments down below and as always feel free to like comment and subscribe and all that goodness and I’m always open to constructive feedback!

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