Canon EOS 50D

Viewfinder (8.75)
The 50D eyepiece offers 95% coverage at 0.95x magnification, which is about standard for an SLR, and means that you won't be able to see quite as much of the scene as will be captured by the camera. The included eye-cup is comfortable, and easily removed and replaced. Unfortunately, there is no built-in shutter to block light coming through the viewfinder from behind while shooting on a tripod, but a slide-in light stop is attached to the neck strap. The diopter adjuster is on the upper right corner of the viewfinder, and can be altered from -3.0 to +1 m-1.

The 95% coverage viewfinder is comfortable on the eyes

Live View
When shooting normally with an SLR, the light from an object you are looking at shoots up the barrel of the lens, through a series of mirrors, into the viewfinder and into your eye. This is why what you see through the viewfinder is so accurate. An increasing trend with SLR cameras is the addition of Live View. In Live View mode, the mirrors are raised and the light goes straight back and hits the image sensor, which transmits the data to the LCD, much the eway a compact camera works. It's handy if you're shooting via a tripod so you don't have to use the viewfinder, and it eases the transition to SLRs for people new to them.

The 50D has a very competent Live View mode for an SLR. For the first time, we are seeing a Canon camera where the Live View controls are not buried deep in the bowels of the Custom Function menu, but rather on one of the main option pages. Another excellent addition is a dedicated Live View button on the camera, rather than using the Set button, as with the Rebel XS and XSi. However, to focus you still need to press the AF-On button on the camera, rather than just depressing the shutter control as you usually would. We were also impressed by the refresh rate of the screen: there's no feeling of lag between how you move the camera and what's shown to you.

The camera's focusing abilities in Live View also feel faster and more accurate than its predecessors, but still doesn't compare to focusing while shooting with the viewfinder. You can choose between three levels of auto focus: Quick mode, Live mode and Live Face mode. Quick mode is the fastest of the three, briefly turning off Live View, lowering the mirror into place, focusing normally, then returning to Live View. While fast, it interrupts the flow of information to the screen, and can be slightly disconcerting. Live mode and Live Face mode both work within Live View to use contrast-based auto focus in a manner similar to a point-and-shoot camera. While still not as fast as we'd like, there's a definite speed and accuracy improvement from previous Canon cameras using this technology. The ability to enlarge the focal point is also a boon, as it enables you to visually check your focus quickly and accurately, which is of great help while manually focusing.

Keep in mind, your battery will drain significantly faster while shooting in Live View.

While shooting, pressing the Info. button toggles between two screens of data on the LCD. Pressing it once takes you to the shooting info, which gives you information on the two custom shooting modes; the color space; white balance shift/bracketing; color temperature; auto display rotate; amount of space and number of pictures remaining on the memory card; and the date and time.  Pressing it a second time will take you to the  shooting functions menu, which lets you navigate and change shutter speed; aperture; ISO; exposure compensation; flash exposure compensation; auto focus point; picture style; white balance; metering; image quality; auto focus mode and drive mode. It also displays information on battery level; shooting mode; white balance correction; maximum burst number and shots remaining. This screen can also be accessed by clicking the joystick, or can be bound to either the Func. or Set buttons.

During playback the Info. button changes display information to four different levels. The first shows image name, f-stop and shutter speed; the second adds image quality and number of recorded images; the third adds a histogram, shrinks the playback image into the top left corner, and adds full shooting information; while the final removes some of the EXIF data, but has histograms for RGB in addition to brightness.

The 50D also has a small, 1.5' monochrome LCD on the top of the camera's body. This tiny screen shows white balance; shutter speed; aperture; shots remaining; image quality; metering; focus mode; battery level; sound level; burst mode; exposure level and number of shots remaining. Helpfully, for shooting in low light conditions, there's a button which turns on a small orange backlight, so you can see the settings in the dark.

Flash (8.25)
The 50D's built in flash sits about 3.5 inches above the center of the lens when deployed. In auto mode it springs up of its own volition as needed, but in other modes is activated manually via a small button on the left of the camera mount. In our brief, unscientific tests, the flash seemed incredibly bright and quick to recharge, with minimal darkening around the edges of the shot. The 3.5 inch clearance from the center of the lens to the center of the flash is a sufficient angle to minimize both the shadow cast by the lens, and the appearance of red-eye.

Canon rates the flash range as 7.5 feet at ISO 100 and f/5.6 up to 137.8 feet at ISO Hi2 (12,800) and f/3.5. The flash exposure compensation can be set at ±2 in 1/3 stop-increments. The flash can also be set to 1st- or 2nd-curtain. 1st-curtain fires the flash as soon as you press the shutter button; where 2nd-curtain fires two flash bursts, one when you press the button, and a second just before the shutter closes. 2nd-curtain can be used to create light trails and other visual effects.

The 50D can interface with multiple types of external flash. The hot shoe on top of the camera can be used with any industry standard flash, but has additional functionality with Canon's Speedlite series. Their EX Speedlites will function almost identically to the built-in flash, and will have their intensity controlled by the exposure system, while non-EX flashes can only be used on full power, and in Manual or aperture priority mode, but not shutter priority. For non-Canon flashes, the 50D can sync at 1/250 second and slower.

In addition to the hot shoe, the camera has a PC input on its left side, where external flash units with sync chords can interface with the 50D.

The relatively high flash position helps minimize red-eye.

Canon's wide range of lenses is a major drawing card