Canon has finally launched its first mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (ILC), the EOS M, that comes fitted with an APS-C sensor. Sporting a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen, the EOS M boasts many features found in its bigger brother, the EOS 650D, such as a hybrid AF autofocus system and a Movie Servo AF mode for real-time focusing.

Main features

18-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor: The EOS M packs an 18-megapixel, APS-C CMOS sensor (similar to the EOS 650D) together with the company's proprietary DIGIC 5 image processor.

Touchscreen LCD: A 1,040k-dot resolution, 3-inch, capacitive touchscreen LCD--similar to the Canon EOS 650D--comes with multitouch capabilities allowing users to "pinch-to-zoom" during image playback and tap-to-focus or even shoot stills during video capture.

31-point autofocus system: The ILC features a hybrid AF system--phase and contrast detection--which means faster and more precise autofocus performance for videos and stills, especially with moving subjects.

Movie Servo AF: Allows shutterbugs to constantly maintain focusing during the recording of videos.

Canon dSLR lens compatibility: Shutterbugs can mount their existing Canon EOS EF and EF-S dSLR lenses to the EOS M ILC and maintain full-AF coupling as well as functionality.

Hands-on

We handled the camera for a while at the event and felt that it had a robust build quality. This may be attributed to the camera's stainless steel front panel coupled with its full magnesium alloy body. Its size can be compared with svelte ILCs such as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF5 and the Sony Alpha NEX-C3.