The Canon EOS 50D is a 15.1-megapixel

digital single-lens reflex camera A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between ...

. It is part of the

Canon EOS Canon EOS (Electro-Optical System) is an autofocus single-lens reflex camera (SLR) and mirrorless camera series produced by Canon Inc. Introduced in 1987 with the Canon EOS 650, all EOS cameras used 135 film, 35 mm photographic film, film until ...

line of cameras, succeeding the EOS 40D and preceding the EOS 60D.

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

announced the camera on 26 August 2008. The camera was released on 6 October 2008.

Overview and features

The 50D has many similar characteristics to its predecessor, the 40D. This includes various shooting modes, the ability to change ISO and white balance, a pop-up flash unit, and an LCD screen. The LCD screen is the same size (3.0") as the 40D but has a higher resolution (640 × 480 pixel or 307,200 pixels) than any previous model. It is also the final Canon xxD to use a CompactFlash or Microdrive for memory storage, along with the BP-511 series battery. The 50D has a higher pixel count (15.1 megapixels), hence higher shooting resolutions, than its predecessor and, like the 40D, has a 14-bit raw format. The camera has Live View, which allows photographers to use the LCD screen as the viewfinder. Because the sensor mirror needs to be in the locked position (see

Live preview Live preview is a feature that allows a digital camera's display screen to be used as a viewfinder. This provides a means of previewing framing and other exposure before taking the photograph. In most such cameras, the preview is generated by m ...

), shutter noise is reduced in this mode. * 15.1

megapixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...

APS-C Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and Ø 31.15 mm field d ...

CMOS sensor An active-pixel sensor (APS) is an image sensor where each pixel sensor unit cell has a photodetector (typically a pinned photodiode) and one or more active transistors. In a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) active-pixel sensor, MOS field-effec ...

* 3.0 inch VGA LCD monitor * LiveView mode * Wide 9-point AF with center cross-type sensors * Selectable AF and metering modes * Built-in flash *

Integrated Cleaning System *

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

100–3200 (6400 and 12800 with custom function) * Auto correction of vignetting * Continuous Drive up to 6.3 fps (90 images (

JPEG JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and imag ...

), 16 images (

raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

)) *

DIGIC 4 Digital Imaging Integrated Circuit (often styled as "DiG!C") is Canon Inc.'s name for a family of signal processing and control units for digital cameras and camcorders. DIGIC units are used as image processors by Canon in its own digital imagin ...

image processor * Canon EF/

EF-S The Canon EF-S lens mount is a derivative of the EF lens mount created for a subset of Canon digital single-lens reflex cameras with APS-C sized image sensors. It was released in 2003. Cameras with the EF-S mount are backward compatible with th ...

Lenses * Canon EX Speedlites *

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller, ...

video output *

File Formats A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary or free. Some file formats ...

include:

, sRAW1 (7.1 MP) and sRAW2 (3.8 MP) * Raw and JPEG simultaneous recording *

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...

2.0 computer interface * BP-511/BP-511A or BP-512/BP-514

Battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

Types (BP-511A battery supplied) * Dimensions 146 × 108 × 74 mm (5.7 × 4.2 × 2.9 in) * Approx weight * Retail price at time of release $1399 (body only)

Improvements

Changes over the 40D include a higher-resolution sensor (15.1 megapixel instead of 10.1 megapixel). The ISO goes up to 3200 in standard mode, and can be increased to 12800 through the use of a custom function. The

burst rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ...

is the same as on the 40D, 6.3 frames per second, though the 40D was advertised as 6.5. The camera uses Canon's DIGIC 4 image processor. The processor delivers more responsive operation, improved color rendition and near-instant start-up time. A new sensor cleaning system has also been introduced. The camera can also use the Canon Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E3/E3A. The 50D has a 3" screen – the same size as the 40D – but the resolution is 640×480 pixels, which allows it to show more image detail than any of Canon's previous 3" LCD displays. The 50D features two new Autofocus Modes in Liveview and an

port. The 50D was offered as a body only or in a package with a new EF-S 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IS lens or EF 28–135 3.5-5.6 IS USM lens.

Image quality and noise

The 50D adds 5 megapixels to an APS-C sized sensor (compared to the 40D), and as a result the size of the individual photosensors has decreased. To offset the increased noise that inevitably results from smaller photosensors, Canon eliminated the gaps between the

microlens A microlens is a small lens, generally with a diameter less than a millimetre (mm) and often as small as 10 micrometres (µm). The small sizes of the lenses means that a simple design can give good optical quality but sometimes unwanted effects ...

es covering the

photosensors Photodetectors, also called photosensors, are sensors of light or other electromagnetic radiation. There is a wide variety of photodetectors which may be classified by mechanism of detection, such as photoelectric or photochemical effects, or by ...

. Thus the microlenses are larger, and capture more light and direct it to the sensor sites.

Reception

The Canon EOS 50D received generally favourable reviews. ''Digital Photography Review'' concluded: "Looking at the specification differences between the EOS 40D and our test candidate it appears you pay quite a premium for the 50D's extra megapixels and as we've found out during this review you don't get an awful lot of extra image quality for your money. The Canon EOS 50D still earns itself our highest reward but considering its price point and our slight concerns about its pixel-packed sensor, it only does so by a whisker." Gordon Laing of ''CameraLabs.com'' had a slightly better view of the camera, noting that "Canon’s bold claims of matching the noise levels of the earlier EOS 40D were confirmed in our High ISO tests," and concluded by calling it "a very capable DSLR that handles confidently, delivers great results and is a joy to use. . . . utto exploit that high resolution you’ll need to couple it with a decent quality lens."

Magic Lantern video

As of 2013, there has been

Magic Lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a si ...

development of 50D video support. The 50D compares favorably to many later Canon APS-C models in terms of light sensitivity: "The camera is also a totally unbelievable low light performer. The 50D was designed before the megapixel race really took off. It has a 15MP APS-C sensor, so individual pixels are much larger than those on the later 18MP Rebel CMOS sensors.". In addition to raw video, the Magic Lantern firmware add-on also enabled high bitrate compressed

H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and distri ...

video at 30 frames per second. Other publications, while impressed, pointed out downsides such as no audio, expensive fast CF-cards and no Canon support for Magic Lantern firmware.

References

External links

Canon EOS 50D – Canon USA website

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