A Comprehensive Review of the Canon EOS R50
The R50 is Canon's smallest and lightest APS-C camera yet. It's tiny but can still take good-quality pictures. In Canon's lineup, it's just below the top-notch EOS R10 and has the same sensor.
The R50 is made for beginners who want to start with mirrorless cameras. If you're more advanced in photography, the R50 camera might not be enough. But if you're upgrading from phone photography, the R50 is a good choice, especially for using in auto mode.
In the UAE, EOS R50 camera is selling within price range of AED 3,000 to AED 3,600 just for the body making it one of the most affordable APS-C cameras. Keep in mind that the price reflects what it can do and its features. Don't expect all the fancy features on such a cheap camera, but it handles the basics well. You have to spend more to get both the 18-45mm and 55-210mm lenses
You can get it in black or white, and the white one might look a bit like a toy since it's mostly made of plastic. Also, there might not be many silver lenses available when they expand their lens lineup.
Canon EOS R50: Design
When you first hold the R50 camera, it might surprise you with how small and light it is, weighing only 375g with the battery and SD card.
The controls on the camera are simplified, which can be either good or bad depending on your preference. For instance, there's only one control dial, which is great for auto or priority modes but not ideal for manual settings. There's no focus joystick or AF-ON button, but you can use the screen to set the focus.
The electronic viewfinder (EVF) and LCD back screen are decent for a small and affordable camera, with 2.36 million dots and 1.62 million dots, respectively. It's not extraordinary, but it gets the job done.
This Canon camera has only one card slot, which might not be an issue for most users since dual card slots are mainly for professionals needing backups.
It uses an RF lens mount compatible with Canon's RF or RF-S lenses. Currently, there are only three RF-S lenses, and they are basic kit lenses. Canon needs to improve its selection of compatible crop-sensor lenses. You can use full-frame RF lenses with this camera, but there will be a 1.6x crop factor.
Canon EOS R50: Specifications:
- Sensor: 24.2MP CMOS (APS-C) sensor (22.3 x 14.9mm)
- AF points: 651-point array
- Video: 4k 30p
- Viewfinder: 2.36m -dot
- Memory cards 1 x SD/SDHC/SDXC UHS-I
- Max burst: 15fps
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, USB-C
- Size: 116 x 88 x 69mm (4.57 x 3.39 x 2.72″)
- Weight: 375g (with card and battery)
Canon EOS R50: Performance
Canon has been getting better at autofocus, especially with the R50 camera. The R50 has autofocus modes for people, animals, and vehicles, making it easy to capture different things.
There's also a cool 'auto' tracking mode where the camera figures out what's in the frame and tracks it automatically. This is handy for quick, unexpected moments, although it's more accurate if you set it manually.
You can't use only a mechanical shutter with this camera; your options are electronic or electronic with 1st curtain. But for the typical shooting style with this camera, it's not a big deal. In electronic mode, the camera can shoot at 15 frames per second, and it goes down to 12fps in electronic 1st curtain. Keep in mind that the camera doesn't have a deep buffer, so consider that if you plan to shoot a lot in burst mode.
A cool feature on the Canon’s R50 camera is subject detection. If there are multiple faces in the scene, you can tap the screen in subject detection mode, and it will cycle through all the faces. This is handy since there's no focus joystick on the camera, and the touchscreen usually determines the focus point.
Canon EOS R50: Image and Video Quality
Considering the price of Canon EOS R50 camera, it's not surprising that it doesn't have IBIS (in-body image stabilization). For beginners, it might not be a big problem.
The image quality is like the R10 camera, having the same 24MP sensor. It can shoot 4k/30p videos oversampled from 6k, but for vlogging, the options are limited. If you want IBIS, you'll have to spend more. There's a digital image stabilization setting, but it crops the image a lot and isn't perfect. Since there are few RF-S lenses, even the widest 18-50mm kit lens isn't great for vlogging.
In low-light performance and when pushing the ISO up to 4000 in some cases you may find too much noise in the images for them to be usable. However, the images in good light are impressive for such a small camera.
Canon EOS R50: Battery
The EOS R50 uses a small LP-E17 battery, having 7.5Wh of power. It's not a lot for a mirrorless camera. It's okay for taking occasional photos during the day, but if you spend a lot of time taking pictures or shooting videos, you might suddenly see a low battery warning.
In standard ('Smooth') mode, the camera is supposed to give you about 370 shots using the LCD and 230 shots through the viewfinder on a single charge. But these numbers can be a bit low based on how you use the camera. Energy saver mode increases the numbers to 440 and 310 shots, respectively.
The good thing is, you can charge the EOS R50 with a USB PD (power delivery) charger. This makes it easy to recharge when you're in a car, hotel room, or if you have a modern power bank. Just be aware that USB sockets in hotels and cars won't charge it.
Final Thoughts
If you're a beginner or just want to make cool videos for social media and take some photos, the EOS R50 is a great package. It might seem a bit expensive for a beginner's camera, but choosing the cheaper EOS R100 wouldn't be a good idea. The R100 camera is mainly for very casual, automatic photography, not much else.
If you're already experienced and want advanced features for better videos and photos, consider spending more on models like EOS R8 or Fujifilm X-T5. If you're on a budget, EOS R10 might be a good choice.