Canon EOS 50D Digital Camera Review

Canon EOS 50D

Digital Camera Review

Oct 28, 2008 - By Tim Barribeau
4.2 Canon's new EOS 50D is the incremental upgrade from their 40D which debuted last year. Renowned for being solid, dependable cameras with a wide variety of controls and access to a considerable back catalog of lenses, we put the Canon through a considerable variety of tests. On average, it scored well but not amazingly. Full details follow. The 50D is currently available for $1399 (body only).
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Canon EOS 50D

Speed/Timing
With any camera, but an SLR especially, you want a minimal response time, a quick startup and the ability to take pictures rapidly. We time the camera's abilities, so that you don't have to, to make sure that it will respond with the speed and alacrity of a mongoose. 

Startup to First Shot (9.8)
This test times how long it takes from flicking the power switch on the 50D to it taking the first photo. Our test was slightly hampered by the placement of the power switch on the body. It's difficult to turn on the camera with your finger on the shutter button, unless you happen to be blessed with long fingers, which this reviewer just happens to be. On average, the camera took less than a quarter of a second to start up, an exemplary result. After hitting the power switch, the 50D will be ready to shoot by the time your finger reaches the shutter.

Shot-to-Shot (6.06)
Canon claims their high speed continuous shooting can capture 6.3 frames per second. In our testing we managed to take 6.1 frames per second, well within an acceptable variance.

Shutter-Shot (10.00)
Older digital cameras used to have the problem with an appreciable delay between pressing the shutter button, and the shot being taken. This is less common in current models, but we still check. As you would expect from a quality SLR, shutter delay for the 50D is so minute as to be immeasurable.

Processing (7.95)
Processing speed is a measure of time it takes to display the image for review after you've taken the picture. This reflects how fast the camera processes the image, and how quickly it transfers it to the memory card. We shot this test on a high speed CompactFlash card to minimize memory bottlenecks. The 50D took, on average, just a hair over 1 second to think about the picture before showing it to you. This is markedly slower than the Nikon D90's 0.7 seconds, but still, hardly a shabby result.

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