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Canon ESO M50: What you need to know

The Canon EOS M50 is the brand’s beefier entry-level mirrorless camera, slated above the comparatively compact EOS M100. Both sport APS-C sensors and single control dials, but the M50 provides a 2.36M-dot EVF, hotshoe and more substantial grip (similar to the EOS M5). An articulating touchscreen adorns the back and Canon’s stellar Dual Pixel autofocus is available when shooting stills and video (in most settings… more on that later).

We’ve had time to develop some first impressions of the camera. What follows is a distillation of the keys takeaways – everything you need to know about the Canon EOS M50.

Same 24MP APS-C sensor, new Digic 8 processor

It uses the same 24MP sensor as many of its siblings including fellow M-mount cameras like the M5, M6 and M100 as well as SLRs like the EOS 80D. But it makes use of the new Digic 8 processor, giving it a few advantages over other Canon interchangeable lens cameras.

A faster burst speed is one of them: with autofocus the M50 can shoot at 7.4 fps (10 fps with focus locked). That’s a big jump from the M100’s 4 fps burst with autofocus, and even faster than the 80D’s 7 fps burst rate with AF. The one caveat is that the buffer is limited to about one second.

Another major advantage the new Digic 8 chip provides is the ability to shoot Ultra High Definition Video, making it the first Canon mirrorless camera to do so. But…

It shoots 4K but…

…don’t throw the confetti just yet, because the implementation of 4K leaves much to be desired, due to several limitations.

The most notable limitation is that you can’t use Canon’s excellent Dual Pixel autofocus when shooting 4K, which is a real shame. We love Dual Pixel AF for its ability to stick to a subject without hunting, even if the subject moves. With the M50, there’s still an option to use autofocus in 4K, but it’s Contrast Detect, so will need to ‘hunt’ and is more prone to some wobbles.

The other big limitation is a 1.6x crop when shooting UHD video – that’s on top of the sensor’s 1.6x APS-C crop. Thus, a 22mm F2 becomes the equivalent field of view to a 56mm lens. Hardly ideal.

But it’s not all caveats and bad news on the video front: the EOS M50 can shoot 1080/60p and 720/120p high frame rate capture with Dual Pixel AF. And there’s no pesky additional crop (unless you use digital stabilization).

New CR3 Raw format with a better compression setting

The M50 is the first Canon camera to offer the latest CR3 Raw format, another product of the new Digic 8 processor. Why introduce it in an entry-level camera? Because it includes a new and improved compression option that might appeal to users wishing to dip their toes in shooting Raw, but don’t want the large file sizes that come with it.

With the old CR2 Raw files, if you want to save memory card/hard-drive space, there is an option for downsized ‘small’ and ‘medium’ Raw files that are lower resolution than an ordinary CR2 file. With CR3 there is a new compression option called C Raw: a compressed, full-resolution Raw file that can be as small as half the size of a full CR3 file. And, if Canon has been sensible about it, it should offer effectively the same quality.

Increased Dual Pixel AF point coverage, Eye detect mode

There’s a couple of improvements in the autofocus department of the M50: there are now 99 selectable points to choose from, up from 49 on previous M cameras. Point coverage is still 80% x 80% when using most M-series lenses, users just now have more point precision.

That said, with some lenses – specifically the 18-150mm, 28mm macro and 55-200mm – that coverage jumps to 88% x 100% with 143 points selectable. Canon representatives gave us no concrete reason for why some, but not all, lenses offer expanded coverage. However, we’re hopeful any newly-introduced M-glass will offer the updated spread.

The M50 also introduces a new ‘Eye Detection’ AF option. We’re huge fans of Sony’s Eye AF feature, with its impressive ability to track the eye of a moving subject. Sadly, Canon’s implementation seems less useful as it only works in AF-S – better hope your subject remains still.

Better wireless connectivity

This is not the first Canon ILC to offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC, but it is the first to feature a ‘send to smartphone after each shot’ function. We had a little bit of time to play around with this new feature during a demonstration of the camera and found it to work well, once paired. And like other entry-level Canon ILCs, the M50 has a dedicated Wi-Fi button (visible above).

Articulating touchscreen, high-res OLD EVF

A 1.04M-dot touchscreen can be fully articulated for selfies/vlogging and flipped inward against the body to protect it from damage – the back of has a lovely faux leather texture.

There aren’t a whole lot of control points on the camera but the touchscreen somewhat makes up for it: you can use it to change quite a few settings, access the Q menu and move your AF point, all with a tap of the finger. Plus, Canon’s touch implementation is excellent on the whole: the screen is responsive and common gesture controls like swiping between images are recognized.

The 2.36M dot OLED EVF is lovely to look through and on par with the best you can get at this price point.

Mediocre battery life

Battery life isn’t stellar: at 235 shots per charge (CIPA rated), you’d be wise to carry a spare battery (though if you switch it into ‘Eco mode,’ battery life jumps to 370 shots). As always, you’ll often get more shots than the number given in the rating but it does give a good impression of longevity, and 235 shots isn’t great.

The M50 uses the same LP-E12 as the M100: a second one will cost you about $ 50 (on brand). Fortunately if you do pick up a second, the M50 ships with an external charger, so you can top it off while you’re out shooting. There is no in-body charging.

Ports, hotshoe and pop-up flash

In terms of wired connectivity, the M50 offers a 3.5mm microphone socket: a real rarity in entry-level products. There’s also a Micro-HDMI and Micro-USB port, though again, the latter does not support charging.

We like the M100’s pop-up flash because you can use your finger to direct it to bounce off the ceiling – with the M50, you can only fire the flash directly at your subject. However, unlike the M100, the M50 offers a hotshoe for use with an accessory flash.

More buttons than the M100, plus Canon’s Guide Modes and a new silent mode

We already mentioned that the M50 doesn’t have a lot of buttons, but it does have more control points than the smaller, more affordable M100, despite also being fairly point-and-shoot in nature. These additional controls/buttons include: an AE lock button, AF frame selector button, mode dial and custom function button.

And like the Canon SL2 and T7i, the M50 offers Canon’s helpful Guide Modes. These were omitted on the M100 and we’re glad to see them make their way into an entry-level Canon mirrorless product.

The M50 also gains a new silent scene mode, which sounds useful for a variety of scenarios like photographing sleeping babies or a documenting a school play. You won’t be able to control exposure settings when using it – such is the case for all ‘scene modes’ – but it’s a nice beginner-friendly feature.

What do you think?

There you have it, the EOS M50: the first Canon mirrorless camera with 4K and the new auto send-to-smartphone feature. It’s also the first Canon camera to use the new Digic 8 processor which brings about the updated CR3 Raw format. And to top things off, it has expanded Dual Pixel AF coverage (with some lenses). That’s a lot of ‘new’ to pack into an entry-level product.

So what do you think? Is the EOS M50 a sign that Canon is taking mirrorless seriously, or are you upset about the 4K limitations? And for those impressed, would you still buy the M50 despite the limited lens family (7 M-series lenses as of writing), especially when compared to that of Fujifilm X-mount or the Micro Four Thirds system? Let us know all of your thoughts, good bad and weird, in the comments below.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)