Canon Digital EOS

Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR

Canon EOS 50D: Modes and features
As a replacement to the 40D, it's good to see a camera with some upgrades worth talking about. Changes available are the flash options, background, exposure, picture style, resolution, image quality and drive.

A vignette correction feature has been fitted which Canon have called Peripheral Illumination Correction. Noise can be generated by pixels heating up and if you're performing long exposures then this can become a problem. The picture styles can also be altered by registering on Canon's Image Gateway on their website.

To get your camera and chosen lens to perform to its optimum level, the Canon EOS 50D has an AF micro adjustment feature to calibrate lenses if they're having a problem with front and back focus.

As well as a higher resolution screen which is a carbon copy of the D300 and higher, the EOS 50D also has equivalent ISO settings available. The higher ISO settings are not defaulted to on such as you'd find on the Nikon models which sport a similar function.

Canon EOS 50D: Build quality
The Canon EOS 50D can bask in its own glory being being built from magnesium alloy. As with all Canon cameras, image stabilisation is in the lens and the 17-85mm f/4-5.6 comes with IS fitted. The kit lens is also the EF-S version and is noticeable by the white square indicating where the lens and body should align to fit together. This lens won't fit on a body that doesn't support EF-S fit but regular EF lenses will fit the EOS 50D.

Canon EOS 50D: Performance
The sensor is larger by 0.1mm which only serves to aid in the quest to abolish noise. The colour chart shows boosts to the primary colours and nicely settled earthy colours. I took two versions of the landscape image using the 50mm f/1.4 lens and one using the standard 17-85mm lens that comes in the kit. I originally took the shot just on the kit lens and thought it looked soft so took it with the 50mm lens too.

On the Canon EOS 50D, live view is activated by pressing the button to the left of the viewfinder with the camera screen icon above it. Three focusing modes are available in live view which are quick AF, live AF and face detection AF. Focusing is nice and fast thanks to the Ultra Sonic Motors (USM) fitted to the lens. The EOS 50D comes with four metering options of Evaluative, partial, spot and centre-weighted. Spot metering does the opposite of centre-weighted and takes a reading from the very centre of the image only using around 3.8% of the image. Evaluative metering is Canon's version of Nikon's Matrix or Minolta's Honeycomb metering.

Canon EOS 50D: Noise test
The Canon EOS 50D has 16 sensitivity settings before the two equivalent settings are added. I'm impressed with noise control at the low ISO ratings. ISO100 shows no noise at all in any area of the image, especially the black square which shows it up first. ISO6400 has coloured banding and white spots across the whole image although it's more prominent on the darker squares.
It's worth remembering that the two settings with the most problems aren't true ISO settings.

Canon EOS 50D: Plus points
-New DiG!C IV processor
-Good noise handling
-Nice colour rendition
-Nice new menu system
-Better screen
-Typical Canon ease of use

Canon EOS 50D: Minus points
-Bad fringing on supplied lens
-New CA mode for the ultra lazy (no I didn't use it)

source: ephotozine.com