Canon EOS 50D Digital Camera Review

Canon EOS 50D

Digital Camera Review

Sep 24, 2008 - By Richard Baguley
4.2 The Canon EOS 50D is smack bang in the middle of the range for Canon's SLRs. Priced at around $1399 (body only), it is more expensive then its Digital Rebel range, but costs much less than the recently announced Canon 5D Mark II. It's an upgrade to the highly popular D40 that increases the resolution to 15.5 megapixels, but keeps nearly the same shooting rate of 6 frames per second. In many ways, the 50D is a slimmed-down version of the significantly pricier 5D Mark II.
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Canon EOS 50D

Model Design / Appearance
Like all of the EOS SLRs, the 50D is functional rather than aesthetically pleasing. Not that it's an ugly camera; it's just not going to win any beauty contests. Fortunately, it delivers where it counts; we found that the body fits well in the hand, with the buttons falling right under the fingers and a wide, comfortable grip that makes it a pleasure to hold and use. 

Size and Handling
The 50D falls in the middle of the size and weight range for Canon SLRs; it is smaller than the 5D Mark II, but somewhat larger than the Digital Rebels. It measures 5.7 x 4.2 x 2.9 inches (145 x 107 x 74mm) for the body only; the size of the lens depends on which one you choose, of course. It's also no lightweight, with a body that weighs in at about 26 ounces (737g), plus the lens that can add a considerable amount to that. But the relatively large size and weight of the camera does not seem to translate into problems; we found in our hands-on tests at the Photokina show in Cologne that the camera fits well in the hand, and that the buttons fall under the fingers easily, both on the front and back of the camera. On the back, the thumb rests over the buttons for exposure lock and changing the focus point, and on the front the index finger falls on the shuttle, but can also easily reach the control wheel and the other buttons above the secondary display.


The 50D feels comfortable in the hand

 

Menu
The 50D uses the standard Canon menu structure, where the menus are divided up into a number of different categories, indicated by icons at the top of the screen. You navigate through the menus using the joystick control, and select options by using the scroll wheel and the set key. The overall design works well; navigating the menus is relatively straightforward and it is not difficult to find what you need. However, the choice of what appears in what menu is rather odd; the first options to appear when you press the menu button include things like setting whether or not the camera can take photos without a memory card being installed. We'd rather see more frequently used options (such as image resolution or white balance settings) included on this first page.




 


Ease of Use
Overall, we found the 50D very easy to use. Although it is a complicated camera, it is laid out in a logical way, and the menu makes it easy to find options. 
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