Canon R6 Mark II False Color: GAME CHANGER or GIMMICK?

When the Canon R6 mark ii came out, I was very excited. Clearly they intended to make this model more video friendly by removing that 30 min record limit, improving it’s cooling, providing overlays for different video formats, and the addition of false color.

These were all meant to make our lives as videographers better. But the one feature I haven’t given enough attention has been the false color. So I spent the past 2 weeks practicing using false color and want to share with you what I like about it, and what I don’t.

But first…

What is false color?

False color is simply an exposure tool that assigns certain colors to certain brightness values. Then it overlays those colors over the image so you can judge your exposure. This is more useful than the histogram that these cameras provide since the histogram only tells us about how many pixles are bright and dark, not WHERE they are on the image. With false color you can see WHERE on your image are things being exposed.

How do we set up false color?

On the Canon R6 Mark II, you can find the setting for false color in the red menu on page 7. If for whatever reason this option is greyed out, simply select it and a dialogue box will appear telling you what setting is preventing access to false color. Do that first, then you will be allowed to select false color.

From here you have 2 options, Enabling False Color and the False Color Index. Simply hit enable and when you exit out the menu, you will have false color showing.

How to read false color?

But what do all these colors mean? Well if we go back to the menu for false color, we can open the false color index and see what each color corresponds to.

Red means white is clipping and you are losing detail in the highlights.

Yellow means that the image is just below white clipping.

Pink represents one stop over 18% gray.

Green represents 18% gray.

Blue is for just above black clipping.

Purple means black is clipping and you are losing detail in the shadows.

How to use false color to expose?

The short hand way I use false color to expose is to make sure I am not clipping any important part of the image in the highlights or the shadows. So any red or purple is a bad sign. Unless of course those parts of the image truly are too bright or dark. So if I see red on a light source like the sun, I ignore it. If I see purple in some corner of the image that doesn’t have light, that’s fine too. I just don’t let red or purple appear anywhere important on my image.

Next I use pink to help expose for people. I use an exposure technique known as ETTR (expose to the right) meaning I want my image brighter so I can keep my shadows clean. This is handy when shooting in Clog-3 because it struggles with noise in the shadows, and has great highlight detail retention. So I simply make sure my subject has pink on the bright side of their face, so I know they are exposed properly.

That’s it.

My issues with false color

So my only qualms with canon’s false color here is that there isn’t enough colors to judge anything in between the 6 colors they chose. When I expose my subject with the pink zone, the rest of their face is grey, telling me NOTHING.

I find it frustrating how they couldn’t add a few more colors, just so you can see the nuance in your image. These 6 colors only show so much, and most of the image ends up looking grey.

The other unfortunate side effect of canon’s false color is that it won’t display on an external monitor. I use an external monitor a lot and it would be nice to display false color on the larger screen for a better viewing experience. However, it will only display on the back LCD and the viewfinder. Making it useless for me since I turn those displays off when I use an external monitor.

Lastly, I wish they put the false color index somewhere easier to find. The fact that you have to open up the menu to view it means you can’t be recording and reviewing the index. But as a first time user, you need to learn the key and might forget what the colors correspond to. Meaning you have to open up the menu anytime you forget. They should have the false color index on the monitor and have a way to toggle it on and off so it isn’t obstructing your view.

Final verdict

So what do I think of Canon’s false color on the R6 mark II? Meh. It get’s the job done, but it isn’t anything I am excited to use. I used to use zebras to judge exposure, such as when the highlights are clipping, or to expose for skin. And that worked fine for me.

I can do that with False Color, but it isn’t necessarily easier or better than my zebras method.

I appreciate how simple the false color is, making it beginner friendly. But in that pursuit canon made the false color on this camera not that interesting or powerful.

I will use it every now and then just as a secondary POV, but I am not thrilled with it or anything.