While the Canon EOS R6 is not the highest model in Canon’s mirrorless camera lineup, it has some surprisingly good video capabilities. And it’s not just about bells and whistles–it’s built on some solid video bitrates.
They’re not the highest available, and they pale in comparison compared with some of the high-end 8K and RAW options available on the R5. But they’re still impressive for a camera at this price point and mix of features.
The high-bitrate video recording is really the mode that is most challenging for the memory cards to handle. Using SD cards that are too slow can limit the camera’s features that you can use. Specifically, a card that can’t keep up with the high-bitrate recording modes can cause camera lockups, dropped frames, stopped recordings, and other unexpected behaviors.
This is why it’s important to get fast SD cards for the R6, and I’ve put together a separate post on Canon R6 memory card recommendations.
This first table is with Canon Log setting OFF and HDR PQ setting OFF.
| Resolution | Framerate | Compression Method | Bitrate (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4K | 60 | IPB (Standard) | 230 |
| IPB (Light) | 120 | ||
| 50 | IPB (Standard) | 230 | |
| IPB (Light) | 120 | ||
| 30 | IPB (Standard) | 120 | |
| IPB (Light) | 60 | ||
| 25 | IPB (Standard) | 120 | |
| IPB (Light) | 60 | ||
| 24 | IPB (Standard) | 120 | |
| IPB (Light) | 60 | ||
| 4K Timelapse | 30 | ALL-I | 470 |
| 25 | ALL-I | 470 | |
| 1080p | 120 | IPB (Standard) | 120 |
| IPB (Light) | 70 | ||
| 100 | IPB (Standard) | 120 | |
| IPB (Light) | 70 | ||
| 60 | IPB (Standard) | 60 | |
| IPB (Light) | 35 | ||
| 50 | IPB (Standard) | 60 | |
| IPB (Light) | 35 | ||
| 30 | IPB (Standard) | 30 | |
| IPB (Light) | 12 | ||
| 25 | IPB (Standard) | 30 | |
| IPB (Light) | 12 | ||
| 24 | IPB (Standard) | 30 | |
| IPB (Light) | 12 | ||
| 1080p HDR | 30 | IPB (Standard) | 30 |
| 25 | IPB (Standard) | 30 | |
| 1080p Timelapse | 30 | ALL-I | 90 |
| 25 | ALL-I | 90 |
This second table is with Canon Log setting ON and HDR PQ setting ON.
| Resolution | Framerate | Compression Method | Bitrate (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4K | 60 | IPB (Standard) | 340 |
| IPB (Light) | 170 | ||
| 50 | IPB (Standard) | 340 | |
| IPB (Light) | 170 | ||
| 30 | IPB (Standard) | 170 | |
| IPB (Light) | 85 | ||
| 25 | IPB (Standard) | 170 | |
| IPB (Light) | 85 | ||
| 24 | IPB (Standard) | 170 | |
| IPB (Light) | 85 | ||
| 4K Timelapse | 30 | ALL-I | 470 |
| 25 | ALL-I | 470 | |
| 1080p | 120 | IPB (Standard) | 180 |
| IPB (Light) | 100 | ||
| 100 | IPB (Standard) | 180 | |
| IPB (Light) | 100 | ||
| 60 | IPB (Standard) | 90 | |
| IPB (Light) | 50 | ||
| 50 | IPB (Standard) | 90 | |
| IPB (Light) | 50 | ||
| 30 | IPB (Standard) | 45 | |
| IPB (Light) | 28 | ||
| 25 | IPB (Standard) | 45 | |
| IPB (Light) | 28 | ||
| 24 | IPB (Standard) | 45 | |
| 1080p Timelapse | 30 | ALL-I | 135 |
| 25 | ALL-I | 135 |
There are some things worth noting about this data:
- Because the videos are encoded with variable bitrate encoding, the bitrates are approximate. And they’re target bitrates. What that means in practice is that you can end up with averages slightly above or below these values. That’s something you often notice more on short recordings where the stream has less chance to even out.
- These bitrate values reflect only the video stream–the audio stream is not included.
- These values are taken directly from Canon’s data.
- As you can see, the 4K timelapse videos boast the highest bitrates on the R6. But in terms of SD card speed, this is less relevant because of the different way that time lapse footage is captured. Rather than writing at the high bitrate in real-time, as normal video capture does, timelapse video is compiled after the fact from frames captured at much longer intervals.
- For the framerates, I’m rounding here. For instance, the NTSC 30fps is more accurately 29.97fps (although even that is still approximate) and 24fps is more accurately 23.976fps. The reasons for this are way beyond the scope of this post, but you can find more information about frame rate conversion and telecine here.
