Canon EOS R50 Assessment: Constructing a Higher Newbie Digital camera

Canon’s M50 APS-C digicam was launched in February of 2018 when Canon had but to actually enter the mirrorless digicam market, and its tiny new APS-C R50 is greater than only a substitute for the M50.

A preferred merchandise at massive field shops like Costco and Finest Purchase, the M50 — and the following M50 II — might be discovered equally within the palms of fogeys photographing their children taking part in soccer and on YouTube within the palms of creators vlogging their approach throughout the globe.

Creator’s Notice: Along with the evaluate and testing beneath, you possibly can hear extra of my ideas about this new Canon R50 in my video evaluate above, in addition to see its vlogging efficiency. 

The issue with the M50-series is that it doesn’t share the lens mount with Canon’s RF-based mirrorless cameras, which places the corporate in an odd house. Whereas it received’t launch gross sales information on the M50 digicam, when speaking concerning the variety of models bought, firm reps typically use phrases like “tons.”

It’s not exhausting to see why: the M50 and a lens might be had for nicely beneath $1000, a horny worth for a client trying to transfer up from their smartphone. Sadly, the corporate’s introduction of RF-based APS-C cameras in 2022 left the M50 in an odd house. The M50 is a pleasant mixture of affordability and energy, however with a distinct lens mount, the system is actually DOA.

For a few of the clients of the M50, a dead-end lens mount isn’t an issue as there’s little likelihood they’ll ever improve from their equipment buy. For Canon’s RF-lens mount clients, the M50 represents a missed alternative. The dimensions of the M50 is engaging, however with out a native RF mount, the advantages of a tiny digicam are nugatory.

That is the stage onto which the R50 arrives. Canon has moved nicely past its first tentative steps into the mirrorless world, and with a rising lineup of recent merchandise (see our protection of the Canon EOS R8, introduced on the identical time), this tiny digicam ushers the M50 to the wings and it takes its flip within the limelight.

Form of.

Canon made it clear it’s not ending the M50 lineup but, most likely for a couple of causes together with the time it can take to ramp up R50 manufacturing and the variety of clients that don’t even know Canon has a distinct lens mount obtainable and don’t care.

If it have been simply an RF-mount clone of the M50, the R50 would nonetheless be a more sensible choice for the buyer, however the R50 can also be filled with bodily upgrades that make it a more sensible choice for the M50 buyer and a good selection for present RF clients as nicely.

Canon EOS R50: Physique and Brains

Whereas the M50 options sq. traces with comparatively sharp angles, the R50 is curved and smoother, extra consistent with the present RF cameras. The R50 weighs 325 grams (11.5 ounces) body-only, which is round 20 grams (lower than an oz) lighter than the M50. The R50 can also be smaller in two dimensions than the M50 however is barely thicker than the M50, measuring about
4.58 x 3.37 x 2.71 inches (116.3 x 85.5 x 68.8mm).

Whereas I reviewed the black model, a white model of the physique will even be obtainable.

The brand new physique is extra snug than M50, with the rounded corners and edges feeling higher in my palms. Having only recently shrunken a pleasant wool sweater by placing it within the dryer, I assumed instantly that the R50 looks like I had by accident put a much bigger Canon within the dryer and ended up with a scaled-down model.

Unsurprisingly, the digicam has a single SD card slot as most client cameras do, which operates with the UHS-I card format as a substitute of the sooner UHS-II slot. The R50 isn’t designed to be a pace demon, so the UHS-I slot matches into the central theme of the digicam.

The physique has many buttons and controls of the bigger cameras however lacks a second dial (for aperture or shutter pace) and a joystick, but once more widespread particularly in Canon’s consumer-oriented cameras.

The improved subject-detection autofocus reduces some want for a joystick. In concept, so does the flexibility to make use of the LCD display as a trackpad when taking pictures through the viewfinder. Sadly, as a left-eye-dominant shooter with a large-sized nostril, I can’t use the contact display’s drag-to-select-AF options. As a substitute, my nostril picks a spotlight level to the best of the display.

The R50 continues the development for mirrorless cameras to eradicate a full mechanical shutter, with solely an digital shutter or an electronic-front-curtain (EFC) possibility. A standard mechanical shutter includes two separate shutters working at totally different elements of the publicity. EFC makes use of a mechanical second shutter however no entrance shutter. Digital Entrance Curtain isn’t as quick as a full-electronic shutter, however it could nonetheless allow flash images and eradicate the sparkle attributable to some lights.

Excessive-speed steady taking pictures is rated at 15 frames per second (FPS) with a completely digital shutter and 12 FPS for EFC. I discovered the buffer almost limitless when taking pictures JPEGs (a minimum of it ran so long as I felt like capturing any scene) and about seven pictures when taking pictures in RAW.

This is only one approach the R50 is designed to enchantment to a JPEG-centric photographer however remains to be able to extra highly effective efficiency. I shot in RAW plus JPEG for many of the testing.

The R50 has a DIGIC X processor, which is far more highly effective than the DIGIC 8 within the M50 II. This processor not solely improves the efficiency of the digicam but additionally permits a high-performance AF system that barely lags behind the extra highly effective Canon cameras within the system. Extra on the autofocus in a second.

The LCD display is a 3.0-inch full-touch TFT show with round 1.6 million dots and 100% protection. As is typical with Canon, the display can be utilized for AF level choice, contact shutter, menu choice and entry, viewing, and extra. It may also be used for a brand new mode that makes use of faucet to not focus however to change between acknowledged topics.

One function conspicuously absent within the R50 is picture stabilization. It is sensible for Canon to give attention to the small and consumer-friendly worth of the R5; it signifies that photographic customers will have to be extra cautious about shutter speeds and that video customers will need to pair this with an image-stabilized lens.

Sadly, Canon’s lens lineup for APS-C isn’t totally rounded out, and the corporate has taken authorized actions to stop third-party producers like Tamron and Sigma from making Canon-compatible lenses.

Canon calls APS-C-based lenses within the RF mount RF-S, and whereas a couple of of those lenses (together with the brand new RF-S 55-210mm lens, introduced alongside the R50), there isn’t a wide-angle alternative for vlogging. The present RF-S18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM is the widest-angle APS-C lens, however with the full-frame efficient 27mm focal size, it’s too lengthy for many selfie-style vlogging. Hopefully, we’ll get one thing within the 10 to 11mm vary earlier than too lengthy.

The R50 comes as body-only at $680 or with the XXX equipment lens for $800. Almost all clients will want new lenses for the R50, so the equipment will probably be the commonest buy. As of writing, the R10 is on sale for $880 ( down from the common $980), so the R50 equipment is available in decrease than the body-alone of the R10.

Canon EOS R50: Glorious Autofocus

The Autofocus system on the R50 is surprisingly glorious. Whereas not almost as profitable at topic recognition because the R8 or R6 Mark II, it’s far more succesful at topic detection than some other APS-C digicam available on the market. Canon launched subject-recognition AF within the Canon EOS R6 Mark II, and the R50 has inherited these capabilities.

Had Sony not launched the unreal intelligence-powered a7R V on the identical time that the R6 Mark II launched, Canon’s topic recognition expertise could be one of the best available on the market. Canon’s new “Servo AI” mode is competent at discovering and monitoring widespread photographic topics, and within the R6 Mark II, during which it was launched, it’s amazingly highly effective.

The R50 doesn’t sustain with transferring topics to the identical diploma the R8 and R6 Mark II do, which is comprehensible contemplating the value and the scale. Nonetheless, the R50 and the brand new subject-recognition expertise do a a lot better job at autofocus than I anticipated.

Among the efficiency comes all the way down to processing, not AF detection capabilities. In a single occasion, I photographed a hawk sitting in a tree that took off and flew throughout a subject. It took longer for the R50 to detect the chicken amongst the leaves than the R6 Mark II would have, however then it locked onto him (her?). The photographs of the chicken within the timber have been in focus, however when the chicken flew from the tree, the AF lagged a bit behind the chicken. I may see the main target factors within the EVF not maintaining with the hawk.

What was admirable was how the AF stayed monitoring the hawk, even when the chicken moved sooner than it may deal with. A lesser AF system would have jumped to the timber or vehicles behind the chicken because of their distinguished vertical traces, however the R50 tracked the chicken, albeit imperfectly.

Canon EOS R50: ‘A+ Mode’ Scores a Failing Grade

The M50 additionally has a brand new set of inventive instruments that Canon says are designed to offer extra inventive management to hobbyists and inventive photographers. Whereas there’s some good in these new instruments, they’re in the end extra complicated than useful and can undoubtedly be ignored by most clients.

These new instruments are discovered within the digicam’s new A+ computerized mode, a setting on the publicity dial with a stylized, inexperienced A+ icon.

Canon defined that the A+ mode is designed to use some computational enhancements to the taking pictures course of, though it stopped in need of outright calling this “computational images.” Firm representatives additionally defined that that is the primary of some steps designed to offer a few of the energy of smartphone images to a extra conventional digicam, however right here I feel the engineers missed the purpose.

Smartphones are widespread as a result of they’re ubiquitous and chronic — only a few folks go away house with out their telephones today. Smartphone images is widespread and widespread not simply because the cellphone is current however as a result of images with the cellphone is sort of friction-free.

Take the night time modes within the iPhone and the Google Pixel as examples. Each cameras can detect when mild is low sufficient to learn from the image-stacking methods used to boost night time skies and low-light portraiture. There are buttons to inform the digicam to shoot in low mild mode manually, however for essentially the most half, the cellphone can detect this by itself.

However, filters are utilized in a click on or two after a photograph is taken, often as somebody is sharing their photos.

With Canon’s new A+ dial setting, there’s some computerized performance, however this dial setting unlocks two extra buttons on the LCD.

The usual A+ settings “shoot with settings that go well with the scene” in keeping with the digicam—simply because the Auto mode on cameras has achieved for years.

Extra importantly, this mode permits a button for a mode known as A+ Help which is comprised of three picks “Inventive Help,” “Inventive Bracketing,” and “Superior A+.”

After days of utilizing this digicam and a number of conversations with Canon reps and the opposite journalists, I nonetheless wanted assist explaining exactly what these settings do.

Inventive Help is a regular scene-evaluation mode the place the digicam determines settings. Inventive Bracketing’s description signifies that it makes a inventory picture and different photos with inventive results. This doesn’t appear to offer any profit. The ultimate setting, “Superior A+,” makes use of picture stacking and HDR to boost picture high quality.

There’s no method to know what the digicam is doing, nor does it seem to be the outcomes are enhancements. After capturing a picture within the Superior A+ mode, the digicam shows nothing however the phrase “Busy” for a seemingly random period of time. The longest the phrase held on the display for me was eight seconds. “Processing” is perhaps a greater phrase alternative, however in any case, at no time have been the outcomes from this mode higher than merely taking pictures with normal digicam settings.

For instance, when taking pictures timber at night time, the Superior A+ mode created a flat picture that was a bit out-of-focus. Taking pictures the identical scene at f/3.5 on the Aperture precedence mode created a greater end result.

The second set of instruments discovered on the LCD whereas within the A+ mode does nothing greater than apply filters earlier than taking pictures; a few of the filters are weird. I’m undecided I’ve ever checked out a picture and thought, “this could be good if there have been extra ‘lime’ shade within the scene.’’

Extra problematic for the buyer is that the addition of the A+ menu now offers the digicam three totally different dial-based choices for taking pictures with some inventive management.

I can’t think about a buyer prepared to study the assorted inventive controls of the types, results, and A+ modes, nor one that will take a look at these varied controls and suppose, “that is higher than my smartphone.”

It looks like I’m making quite a lot of these new options and their confusion when it’s potential to disregard them, and that’s true. However I’m assured that these options shall be a part of the Canon ecosystem for a while, and it will behoove Canon to re-evaluate them in the event that they’re going for use as a essential differentiator with competitor methods — as a result of this ain’t it.

Canon EOS R50: Video

The R50 is a succesful video digicam as nicely, with the flexibility to seize at 4K UHD 30/25/24p and Full HD, in addition to seize full-HD time lapses.

Sadly, with video use restricted to image-stabilized lenses, the standard of video on the R50 is virtually moot with out an acceptable lens. It’d make a great studio digicam if locked down on a tripod, however within the subject, it’s virtually ineffective because it lacks built-in picture stabilization.

In a single handheld video take a look at, I recorded a topic strolling throughout the road whereas I captured them with a non-IS lens at across the 35mm equal focal size. Within the viewfinder, I may see the AF system lock onto the topic’s eye, and I watched as that AF level tracked the topic as they walked a couple of dozen meters towards the digicam.

The flexibility of the AF system to trace the topic in video mode was spectacular, however the footage was unusable as a result of huge shake.

The answer is to purchase the R50 with one of many few obtainable equipment lenses, just like the RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM. Nonetheless, the standard of that lens is way beneath the efficiency and picture high quality capabilities of this digicam.

Canon must create a broader vary of client and pro-quality APS-C lenses or to permit third-party producers to finish its missing lineup.

Canon EOS R50: Battery Life

There’s one closing compromise on the R50: battery life. Each the R50 and the simultaneously-announced R8 use Canon’s smaller-sized and smaller-capacity batteries. In my testing, getting an informal day of images was potential, however video use killed the battery in a short time.

Anybody taking the R50 on a visit ought to be ready to carry further batteries and cost them often.

Canon EOS R50: A Good Digital camera, Made Higher

The Canon R50 takes the scale advantages of the M50 and M50 Mark II and combines that with the autofocus enhancements discovered on the R6 Mark II. Whereas this new compact APS-C digicam maintains most of the limitations of the M50 our bodies, the mixed bundle remains to be of super worth.

Are There Options?

The Canon M50 and M50 II are nonetheless obtainable and are options to the R50, although with the deathbells ringing for that system, it’s solely a good selection for a buyer who has no intention to improve or increase their system.

Elsewhere within the Canon ecosystem, the R10 gives an thrilling mixture of options and a barely sooner body charge at a slightly larger worth. Since each the R10 and the R50 lack physique picture stabilization, it makes the R10 costlier whereas providing related efficiency to the R50.

The R7 is Canon’s different APS-C mirrorless digicam and has a lot better specs, together with a 35-megapixel sensor and in-body stabilization. At double the value of the R50 although, the R7 is geared toward a distinct viewers, and the R7 is the higher alternative for somebody in search of a pro-level APS-C digicam.

There are quite a few APS-C opponents in Nikon, Sony, and Fuji methods with varied strengths and weaknesses. None of those are a part of the Canon ecosystem, so that they make sense primarily for the first-time digicam purchaser.

Ought to You Purchase It?

Sure, in case you are a sure kind of photographer. If you happen to’re in search of one of the best mixture of small and efficiency, the Canon R50 is a superb alternative and would be the gateway for a lot of newcomers to the Canon system.