Canon’s EOS M50 seems too good to be true…because it kind of is

For video enthusiasts, Canon is pretty much the camera industry’s biggest tease. Their cameras have great colour science, great auto-focus, great image quality, good battery life, and proper fully articulating LCD displays, but if you wanted 4K video recording, you were limited to either their gigantic Cinema EOS series or the something like the 1D X.

Well, not anymore. Canon has finally brought 4K video recording to something more accessible for your average joe. Meet the Canon EOS M50. But, of course, it’s Canon, which means there’s a catch.

The EOS M50 isn’t a high-end camera. It’s actually one of the company’s more affordable mirrorless cameras and that definitely shows in the price tag. In Malaysia, you can get just the body for RM2,799, or with two other kit lens combos:

EOS M50 — RM2,799
EOS M50 + EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 — RM3,199
EOS M50 + EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 + EF-M 55-200mm f/4-6.3 — RM4,299

That also means you get a plastic body that feels pretty cheap, unlike the far more premium EOS M5. However, it’s not really the kind of plastic that feels like it’s going to fall apart. If you’ve ever used an entry-level Canon DSLR like something from the 1000D series, you get that same kind of dependable/industrial feeling with the M50. It also comes in white which I guess adds some pizzazz to the otherwise black lineup, but I think it makes it look even cheaper because of the glossy finish.

Still, it’s a camera so the most important thing is its photo and video capabilities. At first glance, they look pretty solid on paper with a 24.1-megapixel APS-C sensor with Canon’s DIGIC 8 processor under the hood. It also has a 3″ 1 million dot fully-articulating touch display and a 2.36 million dot OLED electronic viewfinder.

I think the best part about this camera though is the fact that it has Dual Pixel autofocus which is almost always very fast and very accurate. But, the highlight feature for videographers is the fact that this tiny affordable shooter from Canon is capable of shooting 4K video.

Unfortunately, there are some limitations. For example, framerate at 4K resolution is limited to 25fps while it can go up to 60fps in Full HD 1080p. That said, the biggest drawback when shooting in 4K is that you lose the excellent Dual Pixel AF that’s available in every other video resolution. Instead, you have to rely on contrast detection AF.

These are honestly pretty big bummers because it’s like Canon gave you what you wanted but at the same time, they didn’t. I suppose it’s not that surprising considering the price tag on this camera — it’s an affordable body so trade-offs are expected.

What do you guys think of the Canon EOS M50? Would you get this camera? Let me know in the comments below.