Sort it out, Canon – if I'm paying $2,800 for a camera, I expect these basic features!

Canon EOS R6 Mark III next to the Canon EOS R6 Mark II.

There's not doubt that the newly released Canon EOS R6 Mark III is one of the best value prosumer cameras on the market.

It’s certainly no slouch in either photo or video departments and feels like one of the best hybrid cameras, with a brilliant 32.5MP full-frame sensor, in-body image stabilization, 40fps continuous shooting, Dual Pixel CMOS AF II and 7K 60p RAW video – as well as supporting open gate capture, which will no doubt make content creators very happy.

These extra features are all well and good, and as a long-term Canon EOS R6 Mark II user I’m very happy to see these upgrades. However, there are a couple of features I was really hoping for º and they’re so basic that it’s hard to understand why they’ve been left on the cutting room floor yet again.

I am, of course, talking about the humble mode dial lock. This seemingly simple feature was present on the now 8-year-old Canon EOS 6D Mark II DSLR, and even the 13-year-old OG 6D before it. Clearly Canon thought it was a good idea then, so why stop now just to save a few bucks?

Eight years ago Canon brought out the Canon EOS 6D Mark II, and even that model had a central locking button on the mode dial to stop it from being accidentally knocked into the wrong settings (Image credit: Dan Mold)

One of my all-time favourite cameras, Canon's EOS R5, features a mode button rather than a dial; once pressed, the mode can be changed with the rear thumbwheel via the top LED screen (Image credit: Dan Mold)

Like the R6 Mark II pictured here, the new Mark III lacks a mode dial lock and a top LCD – which is a bit of a letdown at this price point, considering the Sony A7 IV has a mode dial lock and the Nikon Z6 III has both a lock and top LCD (Image credit: Dan Mold)

I’ve put my R6 Mark II through some serious abuse over the years from commercial shoots to weddings, and street photography to family portrait sessions, and I can’t tell you how easy it is to accidentally knock the mode dial. I've missed shots because I've found myself in a completely random mode with jumbled-up settings.

This seems to be particularly prone to happening when wearing a dual camera harness, such as when shooting at a wedding – it’s just too easy for the mode dial to knock against your body as you move around.

I’ve complained to Canon about this for some time now and I really do hope at some point it answers my prayers. I like the mode dial designs that feature a clickable lock, which can be clicked into place to lock it, or un-clicked to enable it to spin freely, bypassing the lock altogether for those who prefer not to use it.

My preferred solution, however, would be to make the top of the R6 Mark III more like the R5 Mark II with its LCD panel and Mode button. This gets around the problem entirely and also provides a handy top screen – useful for dialling in settings when shooting at waist level. A godsend if you do a lot of shooting from the hip, but that’s a gripe for another day…

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See our Canon EOS R6 Mark II vs R6 Mark III comparison to see how the two cameras stack up, and check out the best lenses for the Canon EOS R6, Mark II and Mark III.