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Camera Package of Excellence
- Reviewd on:
2009-01-06
By: J. Stevens
I purchased the Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens just over a month ago. It is by far the best camera I've ever had. The quality of the pictures is fantastic and the one lens does all is even better.
I've had the Digital Rebel with multiple lenses which I loved but this is much better. Prior to that I had a Canon sure shot digital prior to that and a Minolta Maxxum 7000 film camera with multiple lenses before going digital. The 50D is a more professional camera with multiple functions and ease of use. I am still learning all its features. I bought an Aputure remote to go with it and I all ready had a Canon 430EX flash which works great as well.
This is a great camera!
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Superior build and excellent image quality
- Reviewd on:
2009-01-06
By: Arthur P. Haviland Jr.
I upgraded from a 20D to the 50D and did not wait for the 5D2. As others have remarked, all of my 20D accessories will work with the 50D including flashes, batteries and remote triggers.
My primary use is for aviation photography. This camera is quickly become the standard for sport shooting because of its fast (6.3 fps) shutter rate and large buffer. Unless you are using raw (recommended), you can shoot continuously with jpg. You need to be careful. With the 20D, it was easy to take single shots with the shutter in continous shooting mode. With the 50D, the fast shutter will zip off numerous images with just a light touch.
The 1.6 crop factor works in my favor when shooting distant subjects, making a 400mm lens an effective 640mm. This has been an advantage for me even when using wider lenses. My 17-40L is fine for portraits on the long end at an effective 64mm. My 50mm 1.8 has produced some tack sharp images. Anyone who complains about this camera being "soft" has not been using quality glass.
The high resolution screen is amazing. I am not a big chimper, but I do like to check my images from time to time, and to review them after a shoot. I have not been a big fan of liveview, but this camera has advanced face recognition in that mode that will come in handy for the times when you need to hand the camera to a novice so you can get in the picture.
The 40D had a build quality that was similar to my 20D but the 50D seems to be a step up with better weather sealing. Working outdoors around airport ramps, my cameras get some hard use. The 50D looks like it is up to that task.
Be prepared when you buy this camera for large file sizes. My shots have averaged 20gb for raw and 10gb for jpg. That will fill up your memory cards, and hard disks, in a hurry. For the wonderful images that this camera produces, that is a small trade-off.
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Read the reviews and still purchased the 50D
- Reviewd on:
2009-01-02
By: Ruth A. Bevilacqua
I am totally impressed. It is crisp and super fast. Very user friendly. I was worried from the reviews, but after reading what others posted I decided that maybe some of the dissatisfaction was from a glass/lens problem rather than a camera body issue? I say that humbly, I don't know. I use L series lenses and I'm thrilled with the upgrade to the 50D. Like butter. SMOOTH. Amazing results.
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Some of the feature functions I like.
- Reviewd on:
2008-12-30
By: Bakari
Before the year is out, I thought I'd upgrade my Canon 30D to the Canon 50D, to take advantage of, among other reasons, the little tax right off. and the financing deal offered by Circuit City. But my financial objectives are not the reason I'm writing about Canon 50D.But my financial objectives are not the reason I'm writing about Canon 50D.
Since there are a plethora of articles already written about Canon's most recent EOS camera, I thought I'd point out some some function features of the camera that I have already found useful. Keep in mind, I've only had the camera less the 24 hours, but since this is my third Canon DSLR camera (in addition to owning the Canon Powershot G9), the features of this newest model are not foreign to me.
If you do a quick Google search about the 50D, you'll see that many reviews rightly compare the camera to it's predecessor, the 40D. There have been mixed reviews about how much better the 50D is than the 40D. I won't get into that because I never purchased the 40D. But if you're a 20 or 30D owner like myself, stepping up to the either 40D or the 50D is almost a no brainer, especially if you're a serious amateur or professional photographer.
The features of the 50D (which can also be said for the 40D) are very useful for shooters who take lots of pictures, especially in demanding situations. Canon has greatly streamlined the 50D, making controls and features easier to get at. And though image quality is of course primary in selecting a camera, the function features should not be overlooked. When you pay for a camera like this, you should definitely know and use all its features to your advantage.
So here a list of my "first impression" features that I would like to share. As I get more time to play around the camera, I will try to share others.
1. Custom Menu: The 50D comes with a feature called "Registering My Menu" (page 185 in the Manual) which enables you to create a set of six of your favorite or most used menu items. After you select and set up the items, you can push the Menu button on the back of the camera, and your custom set of menu items will be the first to appear. So for instance if you use the Format, Quality, and Auto Bracketing menu items a lot, they will be included in your custom set which means you don't have to scroll to get at them. This little feature doesn't have anything to do with quality photos, but it does save you scrolling and clicking time. (By the way, have you ever stopped and wondered how many times you click and scroll on your computer everyday? It's worse than changing channels on your television.)
2. Auto Rotate: With my Canon Powershot G9, you can turn the camera in a vertical position and the image displayed will rotate into full screen viewing. When you tilt the camera back to horizontal position, the selected image will turn back to that position. It's totally sweet. Well, you can't do that with the 50D, and I'm bummed out about that. However, I did discover that you can turn off the auto rotation of vertical images on the 50D so that images will appear full screen in playback. You can do this so that the images only rotate on your camera and not on your computer. If you don't this, you simply don't get the full advantage of viewing your vertical images on the 3 screen. This is described on page 146 of the camera's manual.
3. Quick Control Screen: Though I haven't used it much yet, I think I will like the Quick Control Screen feature of the camera. This feature displays camera settings on the LCD monitor. You can select items and change settings while viewing them in the monitor. This may prove quicker than viewing some of the exposure settings on the top side of the camera, or having to go into the menu and change settings there.
4. Highlight Alert: I think all the digital EOS cameras have had a feature called Highlight Alert. When enabled, this alert (when viewing photos in playback) will point out areas of the selected image that are overexposed. Some camera users call this the "blinkie" feature. I used this feature all the time on the 30D, but you have to push the Info button to get at it, and the selected image in playback is almost thumbnail size, preventing you from getting good assessment of what is blown out. Well, that problem has been corrected in the 50D. Now you can get Highlight Alert while the image is played back in full screen mode. Totally lovely. Page 133 of the manual.
5. Custom Mode Dials C1 and C2: Similar to the custom menu feature I discussed above, this feature allows you to register a set of camera settings (shooting mode, menus, etc.) as presets and dial them up anytime you like simply by turning to the C1 or C2 positions on the camera's mode dial (page 186 of the manual). I use this feature on my Canon G9 and it's great. I've read that the 40D has three, instead of just 2, of these preset positions. Canon took away one of the positions on the 50D and replaced it with what they call Creative Auto mode. I haven't played with that mode yet, so I can't say if it's worth getting rid of one of the positions. But I do know that once you get your camera presets the way you want, these C1 and C2 positions can be quite handy. You could for example, have one position set for shooting outdoor photos and another position set for shooting indoors. Perhaps I'll write more about this later in another blog entry.
Well, that's my five function features that I like so far. I would have included the Live View feature in the list, but I haven't played around with it enough to like it. It's more clunky and difficult to use than on the G9, in which I use the Live View all the time.
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50D versus 40D: Six of One, a Half-Dozen of the Other
- Reviewd on:
2008-12-27
By: J. Wong
I'll echo the comments of many others regarding the 50D when compared to the 40D: in my view, the 50D's not better, it's different.
I sold my 40D to a friend before purchasing my 50D. Half of me says it was the right thing to do, and half of me says it was a mistake. Under the right conditions, the 50D's resolution is very impressive. It has produced some very nice shots. The extra pixels not only mean finer detail, but also, greater smoothness.
The 50D also, however, generates more noise and captures less color and tone contrast than the 40D. The dpreview dynamic range tests show the 50D lagging behind the 40D by over 2/3's of a stop in the shadow end. Many of the images I've shot with the 50D clearly reflect this weakness; hair, for example, can take on that matted, muddy look.
The 50D's greater resolution gives me more freedom with cropping. I can shoot a scene "big" and know I can trim it later and still produce a high quality image. Color and tone accuracy and balance are typically Canon-like. But my 40D did a much better job in mid and low light, and the tone curve it produced was easier for me to work with in Photoshop.
I understand now why Canon announced the 50D as a companion to the 40D, rather than a replacement. I do like the 50D's increased resolution, but the 40D is arguably the better or more versatile photographic tool. The 50D will excel in good light situations, but the 40D will produce a better image in high contrast situations and low and mid light.
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