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Auto Mode
Turn the mode dial to the green rectangle, and the camera turns into a point-and-shoot with all of the options controlled by the silicon brain of the camera itself. We weren't able to test photos taken in this mode at the Photokina show, but we have generally found that Canon cameras do a good job of choosing the right settings in auto mode. Those who prefer to make some of their own choices will prefer the program mode, where the camera still makes the choices, but the user can control aspects such as the ISO setting, focus mode and point, etc.
Movie Mode
Unlike the 5D Mark II, there is no movie mode on the 50D. However, the 50D does have both an analog and an HDMI video output, so you can look at photos on an standard definition or high definition TV.
Drive / Burst Mode
Thanks to the newer and faster Digic 4 processor in the 50D, Canon claims it can shoot at up to 6 frames a second. We weren't able to do our usual timing test on this, but it certainly seemed to be a speedy camera, so we would anticipate that the 50D would live up to Canon's promises. Canon also claims that the 50D can capture a burst of 60 JPEG and 16 RAW images, which would mean about 10 seconds of capture at 6 frames a second. Again, we were unable to verify the veracity of this claim, but it sounds plausible. We'll know more when we get the camera into our lab to review. However, it is worth noting that this is actually a slight reduction from the earlier 40D, shot at 6.5fps, so the extra resolution comes at a slight cost. This should not be a big issue for most users, though; 6fps is more than enough for general use.
Playback Mode
The 50D playback mode is straightforward, but has the features most users are likely to need. You can view up to 9 images on the screen, and we found that we could quickly zoom in and out, both looking at multiple images and zooming in on a single shot to check the fine details. The two buttons on the back right corner of the camera allow you to zoom in up to 10x; enough to check focus on an image. All of the usual features are also present for examining the metadata saved with your images; you can look at histograms of luminance for white and RGB, check the settings at which the photo was shot, etc.
Custom Image Presets
The 50D offers a number of scene modes for shooting, all of which are available on the mode dial. Canon calls these "programmed image control modes," but the effect is the same; they set the camera up appropriately to take photos in a particular situation. The available modes are portrait, landscape, close-up, sports, night portrait and flash off. A mode called Creative Auto (CA on the dial) is also available, which puts the shutter and aperture on automatic, but allows the user to tweak settings such as color and sharpness.
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