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Dustin Abbott has completed his review of the Canon EOS RF R50 Mirrorless camera.
This is what I would personally consider the entry-level APS-C camera in the RF lineup, as we all know what I think about the R100. Dustin has a really well detailed look into the R50 in his review, and I actually enjoyed reading it.
It should be noted that Canon has relaxed its third-party position, and Sigma and Tamron are both going to start producing third-party lenses for the RF mount this year.
The Key features of the R50 include;
- 24.2MP APS-C CMOS Sensor
- DIGIC X Image Processor
- UHD 4K 30p Video Recording
- Dual Pixel CMOS AF II with 651 Zones
- 2.36m-Dot Electronic Viewfinder
- 3.0″ 1.62m-Dot Vari-Angle Touchscreen
- 15 fps Electronic Shutter
- Movie for Close-Up Demos Mode
- Vertical Movie Mode
- Multi-Function Shoe, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth
According to Dustin, the pros and cons of the R50 are;
Pros;
- One of the cheapest APS-C mirrorless cameras on the market
- Responsive touchscreen with good resolution
- Better viewfinder position than Sony APS-C models
- Very useful burst rate with either EFC or Electronic shutters
- Autofocus system is the best out there at this price point
- Tracking is impressively good for a budget camera
- Love the “auto” mode for subject detection
- Good dynamic range
- Good color science
- Great price for a full frame camera
- Decent video specs
- Oversampled 6K for 4K30 footage – looks great
Cons:
- Very few RF-S lenses available
- No AV mode in video
- More penalty at high ISO than expected
- Canon’s third party lens policy
Dustin concludes;
At $680 USD (currently $580 USD) the Canon EOS R50 will almost certainly sell well for Canon because it offers a reasonable amount of quality features for the very low price point. The only cheaper APS-C mirrorless camera is the Canon R100, and that camera comes without the articulating LCD screen and has an older focus system.
Please take a moment and check out Dustin's full review here.

Is that him confusing the R50 or did that one slip in during summarising?
it certainly would!
It's coming today in the mail, we'll see how bad it is in a few hours... :-D
RF-S 18-150 will cover most of the consumers' needs. e.g. Short holidays, kids&pets
RF-S 10-18 for casual video.
Pancake RF28 puts overpriced Fuji X100-series to shame.
Other silvering primes that despise by the Internet works perfectly.
And the GOAT, RF 100-400. For the low cost you get a stabilized, optically acceptable, light, fast focusing telephoto zoom. Put it on APS-C camera you get 160-640mm. It's just unmatched nor there's equivalent competition. Sony 70-350 lacks that 600mm FF/135 equivalent mark.
I run it with RF16, RF28, RF100-400 and adapt EF Sigma 17-70 contemporary most of the time. With the Viltrox speedbooster with EF Tamron 35-150 & 17-35 as back up.
Its IQ is definitely inferior to my R6 Z7, but the best camera is the one always on your hand. And for me it's R50. My only wish for the successor is use the LP-E6NH battery, I can live without IBIS, but not the LP-E17 that unable to show state of charge. I have to be very careful with battery management which hinders me from taking it for long trips.
Now I'm praying there's no R7ii this year, otherwise my GAS will haunt me again 😛
I believe I would buy a FF cam with that form factor at once and use it for travel.
Apart from that, again a really good review from Dustin.
And I already was really thinking about this for travelling light.
This review made my thoughts become even more specific.
Problem is not lack of touch control per se, I have touch disabled on both my cameras from the moment I unboxed them, but both R6 and R have enough dials and buttons to be fully controllable without touch, while the R100 has only one wheel and very few buttons (and she'll adapt her EF-S 18-135 with a "plain" adapter, no control wheel, she won't even benefit from the control ring on the lens, as we'll resell the kit RF-S 18-45 to make some money back).
She's using it almost entirely in Program, so I don't really think she's going to mess too much with controls, she just uses it at concerts to have pictures of herself and friends, and some band pictures even when far from the stage (that's why she'll hang on her 18-135).
But I am sure your wish for an LP-E6NH will not be fulfilled. But maybe something better than the E17.
I know.... Still I believe Canon should overhaul the low-end battery design, E17 is holding them back.
Imho, 3 bar is still not much better than 2 bar... It works like 100~33% > 15% > DEAD
I have two Canon adapters (one for each camera, as 5 out of my 7 lenses are still EF), both with the control wheel; on the R6 is actually unused (it already has three body wheels, so aperture, shutter and iso are all covered; I actually set the adapter wheel to exposure compensation, but given I only shoot manual, then it's practically useless), while on the R, that has no back wheel, the adapter wheel is set to Aperture control, and the same was set when I had the R10 in lieu of the R, so I can have all the exposure triangle on wheels. R10 wouldn't actually allow to set ISO on the top wheel, so that one was set with aperture on the top wheel, and iso on the adapter wheel, and was messing with my muscle memory when switching between cameras during a wedding. With the R is so much better because shutter and iso wheels are set same as the R6, and it's only the aperture that changes, but as the R totally lacks the back wheel there's no risk of mismatching one wheel function with another.
Well Fuji has the 70-300 which takes the 1.4x teleconverter making it a 98-420mm f5.6-f8 . So pretty much the same. Good optics too.
I would like to see a compact aps-c canon with ibis sooner rather than later (with all the non ois sigmas and tamrons coming it would be welcome). As well as a couple of small rf-s primes. The 22mm f2 ef-m was great and should have been an easy port over. And the 32mm f1.4. Shame canon don't seem to care much about aps-c as anything other than a stepping stone to FF. I don't really like the chunky styling of the current aps-c line up though. Hoping they will eventually launch something more akin to the m6 ii. I guess I still lament the end of the old mount.