Canon EOS R50 might be the best beginner camera in 2023
Canon EOS R50 might be the best beginner camera in 2023
Canon EOS R50 might be the best beginner camera in 2023

Canon EOS R50 might be the best beginner camera in 2023

Canon has launched a plethora of devices ideal for beginners and experienced photographers alike, including the new EOS R50. This camera sits at the start of the R line and just above the enthusiast-oriented M series.

It is surprisingly light, almost like a toy camera. And yet, it is equipped with many additional features. This includes shooting uncompressed 4K video and subject detection autofocus, making it more than suitable for a variety of situations. In the Canon EOS R50 review, we will look at all the main features and characteristics of the camera.

Design

Canon R50 review

 

The first thing you notice when picking up the Canon EOS R50 is how tiny and light it is. Without a lens, the camera feels weightless. It has roughly the same dimensions as the M50 MII . It also weighs 50 grams less than the R10. Despite the small size, the handle of the camera is decent.

It’s a little on the small side, which is to be expected, so people with large hands may need a wrist strap or something to carry the camera around. One small quirk is that the battery/memory card door doesn’t close by itself – you have to move the lock.

The design of the Canon EOS R50 is a somewhat simplified version of Canon’s more advanced cameras. The mode dial is on the right, where the exposure dial is on most cameras. Many will probably automatically rotate it, trying to adjust the aperture. If you’re not used to anything else, this most likely won’t be a problem.

The R50 doesn’t have a joystick, which means you’ll have to rely on the touchscreen for everything. This is good and certainly the usual way to interact with the camera if you are working from a smartphone. It is also intended for use in automatic shooting modes, which sometimes do not allow manual selection of the AF point. There is a dedicated record button for videos.

 

Image quality

The Canon EOS R50 is capable of shooting raw files. But since no typical RAW image processing program can handle these files yet, most people using this camera will likely shoot in JPEG format. For the most part, jpeg image quality on the EOS R50 is impressive.

For entry-level status and low price, the device produces well-detailed and clear images. While not a high resolution show stopper, there is a slight softness when zoomed in. True, you can print these large files without any major problems. The Canon R50 definitely shows more noise than a full frame camera, but shooting at ISO 5000 is fine in most situations.

As far as the image processing pipeline of the new Canon R50 is concerned, this model is essentially the same as the Canon R10 . Both use the same new 24.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and the same latest generation DIGIC X image processor. Both cameras also offer the same ISO range of 100 to 32000, expandable to ISO 50 and ISO 51200.

Canon R50 - design

 

Automatic shooting modes

When using the Canon R50 camera, you will definitely notice the fully automatic shooting mode. By default, it is what you would expect from any camera. However, the most interesting are the Creative Bracketing and Advanced A + modes. Creative bracketing takes three shots each time the shutter is pressed, resulting in images with different exposure levels and white balance.

Advanced A+ mode is the setting that most closely resembles smartphone mode. If the camera detects a problematic scene, such as a backlit or high-contrast scene, it takes several shots at once and combines them together to create one evenly exposed and already processed file.

Canon doesn’t specify exactly what the camera is doing during all of this, but the images look like it’s even applying some perspective correction and alignment. The disadvantage of Advanced A+ is the busy message that appears after you take a picture. It can last for a few seconds, which is not so short.

Display and viewfinder

The Canon R50 has both an electronic viewfinder and a vari-angle LCD touch screen. The EVI in the R50 is almost the same as in the R10, with a 0.39-inch 2.36 million-dot OLED panel. The magnification factor is 0.95x and provides an approximately 28-degree field of view.

 

For an entry-level camera, the viewfinder looks pretty good in the field, with decent sharpness and seems quite large for this class. The LCD panel is also similar to that of the R10, although the R50 has a slightly higher resolution of 1.62M dots compared to 1.04M dots. It is still a 3.0-inch dimmable TFT LCD.

Autofocus and performance

Although the EOS R50 is aimed at entry-level photographers, Canon hasn’t given up on using a pretty impressive autofocus system, including intelligent subject detection modes. Like almost all current Canon mirrorless cameras, the new EOS R50 features Dual Pixel CMOS AF with on-sensor phase detection autofocus.

Autofocus coverage and face detection cover the entire sensor area. The camera has 4,503 selectable AF point positions (79 x 57), and for automatic AF area selection, it offers 651 areas in a 31 x 21 grid. Low-light AF is rated below -4EV.

In addition to manual subject tracking, the EOS R50 also has the same intelligent subject detection modes as higher-end cameras. The system here is not as advanced as, for example, the EOS R7 or R6 II , but the R50 can automatically detect and track people (faces, eyes), animals (dogs, cats, birds) and vehicles (cars, motorcycles).

 

In terms of burst performance, the Canon R50 is pretty good, but as you can imagine, it’s not a speed demon. It’s just not that category of cameras. Like the R8, the Canon R50 lacks a fully mechanical shutter mode. The camera uses only the first-curtain electronic shutter mode and the fully electronic shutter mode, providing 12 and 15 frames per second, respectively.

Canon R50 - switching

Video Features

The EOS R50 can shoot 4K without cropping, a first for an entry-level camera. 4K@30p frames are resampled from 6K and should be very sharp. The camera also delivers 60p in Full HD. There’s also a new close-up video mode that’s perfect for showcasing products, and there’s live streaming via USB.

The video autofocus features are carried over from the R6 Mark II. The camera uses Dual Pixel CMOS AF and can track faces, animals, and vehicles. It is possible to provide access to object detection only, so that the focus does not shift abruptly if the object leaves the frame or moves behind something.

One thing you won’t find on this video-focused camera is in-body stabilization. Which is a shame, but that’s really to be expected at this price point. However, the camera takes advantage of Canon’s built-in digital stabilization at the expense of tighter framing, or you can rely on the optical image stabilization in the latest RF and RF-S lenses.

Connections

The R50 comes with the usual array of ports including micro HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack and USB-C port. There are also a range of wireless connectivity options with built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, UVC. There is also a multifunctional shoe.

Conclusion

The Canon EOS R50 is the ideal companion for vloggers and travelers looking for a small, easy-to-use camera. The APS-C sensor combined with interchangeable lenses will be a step up in quality compared to any compact camera or phone used to create online content.

Canon has also gone a long way to make connecting your camera to your phone or laptop as easy as possible. Several different wireless file transfer methods are used to remove barriers that could previously slow down workflows so that content can load faster on the Internet.

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