Home Reviews Canon EOS M50 review: small wonder

Canon EOS M50 review: small wonder

The Canon M50 shows the brand's seriousness to make a mark in the mirrorless segment

Published On: December 20, 2018

Did you know that Canon is the leader in the camera segment, accounting for almost 50 percent market share?

But when the world is moving towards mirrorless offerings – where Sony has the lead thanks to its early-mover advantage – it seems the Canon is changing the tack to compete. Earlier this year, Canon introduced an affordable mirrorless shooter in the form of the M50, and I have been able to spend a couple of weeks with it. So let’s see whether the Canon EOS M50 packs in enough to entice prospective buyers looking for DSLR-like abilities, such as being able to switch lenses, among other things, in a small footprint.

Table of Contents

Specs at a glance

Measures 116.3 x 88.1 x 58.7 mm
Weighs 387g (including battery)
24.1 MP sensor
Digic 8 processor
143-point autofocus
3-inch LCD display
Records up to 4k videos
Supports ISO 100 – 51200 (extended)
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n

Design and build

Like me, if you’ve been using DSLRs, then the Canon EOS M50 will come across as a breath of fresh air. Thanks to its compact design, the device doesn’t require a dedicated camera bag to be carried on your trips. It can easily be held in the hand for long sessions without fatigue. I also particularly liked the grip of the camera and even with a polycarbonate body, it seems quite solid. Without an attached lens, the M50 tips the scales at 387g. While our unit came in black, you can also opt for the white colour (though that’ll be prone to getting dirty very soon).

In terms of the design elements, up top you’ll find the power toggle, mode dial, multi-function button, video recording key, the flash along with the hot-shoe mount, and of course, the shutter button. The front sports the lens mount mechanism, along with the lens release button. On either sides of the Canon M50, the shooter offers a strap mount, microphone socket, and NFC area, a micro-USB port, a mini-HDMI port, and Wi-Fi button. At the bottom of the device, there’s a tripod socket, and memory card / battery cover.

Canon EOS M50 design gallery

1 of 8

Coming to the most important area, you’ll be interacting with a 3-inch LCD display with 1.04 million dots resolution. The touchscreen is quick to respond, and is visible in direct sunlight as well. The best part is that the screen is vari-angle and you can not only open it up at a 180-degree angle, but swivel it sideways by about 180 degrees also. There’s electronic viewfinder with a 2.36-million-dot resolution as well above. Towards the right, the EOS M50 has the D-pad navigation buttons with the quick control button, surrounded by exposure control, flash toggle, the option to switch between autofocus or manual focus and the delete button. Above it, you’ll find the info button, auto exposure lock and autofocus selection button. Further below, you’ll find the playback and menu buttons.

With regards to shooting modes, you’ll get the usual options like intelligent auto, special scene, creative filters, video recording, manual mode along with aperture priority, shutter priority and program modes.

Camera quality and performance

The M50 features a 24.1-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, which comes with Canon’s famed dual-pixel autofocus. The camera can track up to 143 autofocus points. The device also offers the latest Digic 8 image processing unit and has 5-axis image stabilisation (in-camera as well as lens-based stabilisation). In terms of ISO, it can go from 100 to 25,600 (and 51,200, via an expanded ISO setting). The camera can continuously shoot at 10fps with single AF mode.

With regards to the lens support, by default, you get the shooter with a 15-45mm lens with an aperture of f/3.5 to f/6.3. But since the Canon M50 sports an EOS-M mount, you can opt for six more lenses, including the ultra wide-angle one (11-22mm), a zoom lens (55-200mm), macro lens (28mm), pancake lens (meant for portraits with 22mm focal length), an 18-55mm lens and the ultimate 18-150mm lens. The pricing for these lenses starts at Rs 15,995, and goes all the way up to Rs 35,995. However, considering that these options might be limiting or if you want to use your older Canon lenses with the camera, then you can buy the EF-M lens mount.

Quality-wise, the Canon M50 will surely be able to handle most situations. I used the device in both automatic and manual modes, and came away impressed with the pictures. The device reproduces colours well, and ensures that details aren’t lost either. Sadly however, even though you can increase the ISO levels, noise starts to creep in as you go higher. That said, the dynamic range is pretty good (though you can of course, use apps like Lightroom to enhance the RAW images).

Canon M50 camera samples

1 of 14

Click here to view Canon M50 camera samples in full resolution.

Speaking of which, the M50 can shoot in Canon’s latest RAW format – CR3, which takes less space on the SD card (as much as 30 to 40 percent). It can be switched on by going to the image quality settings and choosing the C-RAW option. I also liked the fact that EVF ensures WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), which is really handy while capturing landscapes or doing street photography. You can also enable various creative filters such as Grainy B/W, Fish-eye effect, and miniature effect among others.

With the rise in vlogging, the Canon M50 serves as a good option for those who want to record their day-to-day activities to share with their audience. To that end, the Japanese brand has ensured that you get 4k video shooting capabilities at 24fps. Sadly however, the videos are cropped with a 1.6x crop factor (which is on top of the 1.6x crop applied by the APS-C sensor, equivalent to 41-122mm with the kit lens), which means that the shooting area is smaller than a 1080p video (illustrated via a comparison below). Another issue worth highlighting is that the DPAF is disabled in the case of the 4K video, which means autofocusing isn’t as good. So while I appreciate the inclusion of UHD video recording, and quality is good too, it’s not without compromises. You can also shoot videos in full HD resolution at 24,30 or 60 fps, while the HD resolution lets you capture slow-mo clips at 120 fps (along with 60fps).

Thanks to the presence of Wi-Fi and NFC, you can quickly transfer images to your smartphones. The Canon Camera Connect app is quite refined and setting it up doesn’t take long.

While mirrorless cameras are loved for their compactness, their downside is a smaller battery. The M50 is fuelled by an 875mAh unit that can shoot up to a couple of hundred images. If you’re recording videos, then the device will run out of the juice faster. So it’s advisable to get a secondary battery, though you can also enable the Eco mode to extend the battery life in crunch situations.

Verdict

The Canon M50 is attractively priced at Rs 61,995 (available for around Rs 55,000 on e-commerce stores), and comes bundled with a kit lens of 15-45mm. Unfortunately, there are no bundled options for different lenses, though you can purchase them separately of course. For its asking price, the M50 offers great shooting across different scenarios along with good video quality as well, in a compact form factor.

When it comes to the competition however, things start to become quite difficult for the M50. Not only it’s up against mirrorless offerings, but full-fledged DSLRs too, available in this price bracket. First and foremost is Sony, with its Alpha 6300L, a mirrorless shooter that’s priced slightly higher but seems more capable than Canon’s offering. Other potent options in the mirrorless segment are the Olympus OM-D-E-M10 Mark II and Panasonic G7. Then there are DSLRs such as the Nikon D5600 and Canon’s own 750D, although they miss out on 4k shooting.

In a nutshell, the Canon M50 shows the brand’s seriousness to make a mark in the mirrorless segment – as the recently-launched EOS R (first impressions) will also prove. The M50 offers a feature-rich package at an affordable price for sure, and deserves to be in your shortlist while choosing a mirrorless camera.