Since their announcement, the
Nikon D700 and
D90 had withheld the spotlight for sometime. Of course it didn’t take Canon too long to come up with its own innovation: Canon EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mark II. Besides the leap in pixel count (10.1MP to 15.1MP), the 50D does have some minor improvements here and there that make it one-step closer to the high-end EOS cameras. Is it a good buy? Let’s find out now.
Inside the hefty package there are the camera, a battery, a charger, a data cable, an AV cable, a CD-Rom and a user’s guide. The camera strap, which has red linings, indicates the 50D’s alignment to the high-end sector.
Like the 40D, the body is fortified by a magnesium frame inside. Canon claims that the 50D’s body is more dust-proof than the 40D due to better construction and smaller gaps.
It’s got a silver dial! This is probably the most significant cosmetic difference between the 40D and the 50D. Also new to the 50D is the Creative Auto mode that allows you to specify the depth of field and auto-exposure compensation and let the camera decide the rest.
The top of the camera is a bit crowded with 4 small buttons and a secondary display. The secondary display provides a lot of useful information at a glance so you can safely turn off the main display most of the time.
Compact Flash (CF) or Secure Digital (SD)? I like SD cards more since it can offer the same capacity and speed as the CF cards with less space and weight. Unlike the 1D/1Ds Mark III, you can’t choose the storage medium on the 50D and you are stuck with CF cards.
The live view is a bit clumsy to use, you need to turn on live view mode with the live view shooting button and then press the AF-ON button to focus. There are three modes of focusing in live view mode: live mode, quick mode and face detection (upto 35 faces). Focusing under live mode takes about 1 second, which is pretty long compared to the snappy focus speed under normal mode.
With the EF-S 60/2.8, the EOS50D makes a lightweight, compact macro kit that takes very sharp pictures.
The new 3” TFT display has 920,000 pixels and 160 degree viewing angle, making it very ideal for live view and picture preview. Images are sharp, clear with accurate color on the new display.
The new and old connectors at a glance: the PC Sync flash terminal, video out, standard USB 2.0 port and wired remote control connectors are still there. HDMI port can also be found for exporting your masterpiece photo collection to your HDTV at home.
Here are the test pics taken with the new
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens, detailed commentary can be found on the lens review page.
The EOS 50D fits squarely in the high-end sector. The excellent sensor found in the 50D demonstrates Canon’s prowess of keeping noise level down while increasing pixel count. Canon added some high-end features such as light fall-off correction and auto-focus correction for lens. These features allow you to fine-tune the lens to achieve the best results and are absolutely necessary for a camera with “that” many pixels. If you have decided to buy this killer camera, don’t forget to check out our high-quality lens selection at Plemix!
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