The Canon EOS R50 is a compact and lightweight mirrorless camera for vlogging that brings photography and videography to vlogs with its high-end specifications. The EOS R50 is compatible with Canon’s RF lens group, including the RF-S lenses designed specifically for APS-C sensors.Â
Canon R50 Design and Ergonomics
The Canon EOS R50 is a compact and lightweight mirrorless camera with a sleek body. It is 375g with a battery and memory card, so it’s fun to carry around. The camera’s top panel contains a PSAM mode dial, a main power switch, a settings dial, and a dedicated movie button. There is a small and hollow ISO button next to the shutter release. The back of the camera features a 3″ fully articulating LCD touchscreen with a 1.62 million dot resolution.
There’s just one control dial on top behind the shutter button. The back panel includes an info button, menu button, playback button, and a four-way controller with a Q/set button in the center. Two additional buttons are present on the camera’s side.
The electronic viewfinder (EVF) is an OLED type with 2.36 million dots and 0.96x magnification. A small built-in flash is at the top of the viewfinder stack. For connectivity, the EOS R50 got few ports on both sides. On the left, there is a 3.5mm microphone jack. The right side houses a USB Type-C port and a micro-HDMI output. The hot shoe on top allows for connection with microphones for digital audio input.
APS-C CMOS Sensor
The Canon R50 has a 24.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and DIGIC X image processor in a compact and lightweight body. The EOS R50’s sensor has a maximum resolution of 6000 x 4000 pixels to take detailed images with optional cropping. It offers various file format options to choose from, including RAW, CRAW (Compressed RAW), JPEG, and HEIF. At ISO 100, a CRAW file is only about 14MB, compared to the 27MB of an uncompressed RAW file, while maintaining nearly equal image quality.
The R50 offers a maximum of 10.57 stops of dynamic range to recover both shadows and highlights in post-processing. The sensor’s ISO performance is up to ISO 12,800. While the native ISO range extends to 32,000, it’s advisable to stay below ISO 12,800 for the best results.
Image Quality and Photography
The Canon EOS R50 image quality is perfect for both beginners and enthusiasts. You can capture at up to ISO 12,800 without significant loss in quality. Even at ISO 25,600, the results are pretty good. There is flexibility in post-processing for shoot in RAW. Correct the underexposed images by up to 4 or 5 stops at ISO 400.
The EOS R50’s autofocus system offers reliable AF tracking and subject recognition. The camera’s eye detection feature is perfect for portrait photography with the subject’s eyes are always in sharp focus.
The creative bracketing mode automatically applies four different creative effects to each image with multiple options. The creative bracketing mode and the camera’s built-in filters make it easy to create share-ready images straight out of the camera.
Canon EOS R50 Video Recording
You can record 4K UHD video at up to 30 frames per second. This high resolution shows stunning detail in your movies. If you need smoother motion or want to create slow-motion effects, you can shoot Full HD at up to 120 fps which can be recorded as 1/4-speed slow-motion movies. The camera supports two main video formats: MP4 with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoding for standard recording, and MP4 with H.265/HEVC encoding when HDR PQ is enabled to give options for balancing file size and quality based on your needs.
Color sampling is another important aspect of video recording. The EOS R50 offers YCbCr 4:2:0 8-bit color sampling for standard recording, and YCbCr 4:2:2 10-bit when HDR PQ is enabled. Bitrates vary depending on the recording mode and quality settings. For 4K UHD at 30fps the bitrates of around 120 Mbps for standard IPB compression, or 60 Mbps for IPB Light. Full HD recordings have lower bitrates between 12 Mbps to 120 Mbps depending on the frame rate and compression settings.
The EOS R50 also includes some handy features for videographers. You can extract 8.3-megapixel JPEG still images from 4K UHD footage. The camera also offers digital zoom from 1-10x when recording Full HD video at all frame rates without changing lenses. Focusing during video recording is perfect with the Dual Pixel CMOS AF II system with eye and face detection, as well as tracking for people, animals, and vehicles. You can also use Movie Servo AF for continuous autofocus or switch to manual focus for more control.
Autofocus Technology
The Canon R50 inherits the advanced autofocus technology from Canon’s high-end models. This technology covers approximately 100% of the picture area horizontally and vertically worrying about focus limitations. With up to 651 automatically selected AF zones, it’s very easy for your subject to be in focus regardless of where they are in the frame.
You can choose from People, Animals, and Vehicles, or simply use the “auto” mode for subject tracking. The feature to track subjects across the entire frame is particularly useful for action shots or when your subject is moving towards the camera. The EOS R50 performs best in low-light conditions. The focus system can operate down to -4 EV, which is quite dark. For video recording, the autofocus system uses slightly fewer AF zones (527 vs. 651 for stills) but maintains excellent performance.
Canon EOS R50 Touchscreen Display
The Canon R50 features a large 3″ articulating LCD touchscreen with a high resolution of 1.62 million dots. The touchscreen’s responsiveness is excellent for navigating menus and controlling various camera functions. You’ll find that Canon has designed this camera with touchscreen users in mind. The interface is quite user-friendly, with Canon’s menu design being one of the most intuitive to navigate by touch among camera brands. You can flip and rotate the screen to capture shots from various angles for vlogging.
Connectivity and File Transfer
The Canon EOS R50 offers great connectivity options to enhance your photography and videography experience. The camera’s USB-C port is a key feature for various functions, such as transferring data, tethering, and even streaming. When you want to move your photos and videos to your computer, you can use a USB connection. The EOS R50 has an HDMI port for video output to display your recording on an external monitor or use HDMI on your computer.
You can easily connect your camera to a wireless network using the Canon PRINT App on your iOS device for quickly transferring files or remotely controlling your camera. You can download Canon printer drivers and software for printing your photos directly from the camera. For scanning documents and photos, the IJ Scan Utility is available for both Windows and Mac users.
Canon R50 Battery Life
The Canon EOS R50’s battery life provides around 440 shots when using the LCD screen and 310 shots with the electronic viewfinder (EVF).
To give you a clearer picture of the battery performance, here’s a breakdown of battery usage in different modes:
- Recording Mode (4K video at 135Mbps):
- Estimated record time: 50 minutes
- Actual result: Battery at 10% after 30 minutes
- Fan not running during recording
- Standby Mode:
- Estimated record time: 57 minutes
- Actual result: Battery at 30% after 30 minutes
- Fan running continuously
- Media Display Mode:
- Estimated record time: 54 minutes
- Actual result: Battery at 70% after 30 minutes
- Fan running continuously
