Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

I bought the Canon 50D Body as an upgrade to my 350D and 2nd body, mainly because of missed opportunities whilst changing lenses.
What a difference, it's a joy to handle. A little heavy but far more robust, the controls are easy to use and the large screen makes viewing images easier to see.

I've been using it for just over a month now, and am very pleased with the end results. With 15+ megapixels a larger card + spares are needed especially when shooting in raw as they fill up quickly.

When looking to upgrade from the 350D I did consider the 500D and the 550D but having previously handled a friends 500D I'm more than pleased. The Canon 50D a far better choice and in my opinion well worth recommending.

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

This is my first SLR for a number of years and my first DSLR. Already a Canon enthusiast, I added the 50D to the G9 I've been using as I wanted a more-or-less pro-spec body but couldn't run to the 5D - yet. I read a lot of reviews over a few months but nothing shifted me from my original inclination for the 50D - and I've certainly made the right decision for me. I like the extensive range of control that's available. I wanted a big, heavy solid body - and that's what I've got. I didn't want/need video or gimmicks - just a first class camera, beautifully engineered. I've got access to Canon's superb lens range, and I'll be investing in more of their quality glass. I've used the 50D for varied assignments over the last few months and it just does the job - extremely well. Having live view has worked well in particular for available-light situations where I also needed less camera noise than the full mirror cycle - and it's a great LCD.(I've tended to use manual focus for that kind of work). For new DSLR users I would suggest also buying a separate user guide as the instruction manual can require a bit of interpretation in places.

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

I have been a user of the 30D for many years now and wish I could afford this new model, the 50D. I am a photography student in Edinburgh so I get to play with a lot of the new toys for projects. This is one of them, but for some reason the uni' went with the idea of kitting them all with 50mm lens. The jump between the 30D and 50D is massive (I know there's the 40D but I've never even held one let alone used one). The build quality hasn't changed much, but there wasn't much to improve on, apart from a layout change which is easier, plus the larger screen with liveview at a touch of a single button is great for still life, landscape and awkward angles. But it will eat through batteries a lot faster, so be warned.

The image quality is great, at 15.1 mp, you'll have no problems with print sizes at an intermediate level, that is for sure. The ISO range is also a massive pull on this. On the 30D the image quality went down considerably from 400 ISO upwards, and long exposures from a few seconds plus really staredt to get muddy, most of all in the dark areas, details were heavily lost. 50D has worked out a lot of those problems with a much cleaner and crisper edge to the images.

Since the 50D is 15.1 mp, it's best to get yourself a 4 gig card and perhaps one or two backups, best to be safe than sorry. From shooting some pretty standard landscape stuff this weekend the JPEG's were around 5 MB which is pretty good, that's just a standard mind. The RAW files are pretty good as well, at around 20 MB for the same shots. So remember to back them up, as they will start to take up space compared to the older DSLR's.

If you have any of the 50D's predecessors my advice is to trade them in and get this model, it is totally worth it, in terms of quality and handling. When I have a little extra cash I will be getting myself one, even though I can borrow one from uni' as I know I'll be wanting it when I leave.

To quote Taxi Driver "You could hammer nails with it all day long, and it'll still shoot straight".

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

Had to decide between the 550D or the 50D and am glad I opted for the latter.

Great camera. Owned the 400D previous to this one and the difference in build quality is very noticeable. You really are going from amateur to semi pro quality. Really recommend you purchase the canon battery grip to go with this body.

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

I switched to Canon 50D from Sony a700 ( itself a marvellous camera ) to take advantage of the Canon L series image stabilised macro lenses. This review therefore compares the 50D with the a700 and also with the Nikon D90 which I have also used.

Build quality of the Canon, Sony & Nikon are very similar but the ergonomics are in my opinion best on the Sony - all the dials, buttons and controls are larger and more legible on the Sony. In particular the toggle switch on the back which accesses many of the features is bigger and better than the Canon version.

The 50D has the quietest shutter, fastest motor drive, most accurate metering, fastest and most accurate autofocus, and the best menu system. The control dials are not as legible as on the Sony, but compare equallly with Nikon. The buttons on the top plate of the 50D are a bit small and fiddly and difficult to distinguish compared with the buttons on the Sony and Nikon. The Canon is the heaviest and biggest, although that inspires confidence and makes handholding steadier.

Image quality is about the same on all 3 cameras, but the higher resolution of the Canon allows more cropping without losing quality. Noise control on the Sony is poor at 400 ISO or above, but much better on the Canon and Nikon. Live view is really nothing more than a gimmick as the autofocus operation is poor in live view, and the screen does not tilt.

Having used all 3 cameras I can tell you there is very little to choose between them, although each has its own attractions. Nikon D90 has the best flash system, Sony a700 has the best ergonomics, and Canon 50D has the best autofocus and metering system.

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

I bought this camera as an upgrade from a 400D. The decision to upgrade was down to the handling and build quality, rather than the extra megapixels. Indeed, the jump for me from 10 to 15 mega pixels hasn't been startling. There is certainly more detail in images, but it only makes a difference at very large print sizes. Noise is certainly very good upto 800ISO, with 1600 being good. From 6400 upto 12800 there is an awful lot of noise (as would be expected).

One thing I have noticed is that the 50D is very unforgiving of lenses, and so an investment in some L series or equivilant should be a goal if you are considering this camera. The images from this camera are also pretty big, an 8bit Tiff at the full resolution weighs in at 43Mb. So additional CF cards might also be required.

The 50D is robust and well made. It feels much better than the 500D/550D standards of construction and has better weather sealing too. This does mean that you'll never forget you're carrying it about.

When it was first released this camera was aorund £1100. The current prices therefore represent a bit of a bargain.

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

I will keep this reasonably straightforward. This camera is brilliant. I upgraded from an EOS 400d after spending 2 years 'learning' and felt that I needed to broaden my photography experience and range. This camera fitted the bill perfectly giving me exactly what I need as an amateur photographer. If you have used a canon before then this proves to be an easy piece of kit to navigate and understand. the extra features that I really wanted was a wider ISO range and live view, the live view being so valuable in many situations (I do a bit of band photography and for 'above the crowd' shots it's great).
I am nowhere near having used it to its full potential as I have only had the camera for about 3 weeks, but as it stands, I love it!

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

I upgraded from a 30D which to be honest was getting a bit long in the tooth. The natural choice was the 50D, although I was also evaluating the 7D, however I decided in the end to go with the former and use the cash saved to buy another lens.

Physically the body remains much the same as its predecessors, although it is a fraction larger than the 30D. Image detail is very nice (as should be expected from a 15 mega-pixel sensor) but to be fair the extra 5 mega-pixels over the 40D don't give as big a detail boost as some might think. Still, the images retained a lot more detail than my old 30D.

Image quality overall is excellent, although typical of Canon cameras it does have a noticeable red bias under certain light conditions. Images straight from the camera with the default settings toned down are very clean and crisp, without looking 'over-processed'. This will please those who prefer to manipulate their images post-capture.

Focus and metering are decent and pretty-much the same as other cameras in the XXD line - it's a touch disappoining however to find that the same 9-point AF hasn't been upgraded since the 20D. Small grumble though and generally the camera is very responsive. The 6.3fps continuous shoot - while not being quite as fast as the 40D - is impressive bearing in mind that it's got a whole lot more data to shift!

Build quality is as you'd expect from a camera on this tier - not as good as the higher end models but feels solid enough. The (limited) weather sealing of the 40D has been carried over and is apparently more effective on the 50D. I'm not however willing to test this theory!

The new high-resolution screen allows for mind-blowing detail and the anti-glare coating is certainly a nice touch. Far from being a gimmick it's very effective and helps the screen to faithfully reproduce colour and contrast in images.

Finally, the 50D incorporates live view, which I actually found useful for the first time the other day. Again, it's no gimmick and the shot wouldn't have been possible had it not been for this often over-looked inclusion.

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

brilliant camera, extremely fast focusing and shutter, easy to use plenty of features, most people say this camera is really heavy but to me it doesn't seem heavy at all, great battery life even with live view.

Comments about Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera Body:

I had been using a Canon 400D for about 3 years and was looking to generally upgrade my camera and lenses. So why did I go for the 50D?
I wanted a good substantial body to work well with such lenses as the canon 100-400 IS L, at the same time a working well with, say a Tokina 11-16, for wide angle and e.g.. a Sigma 24-70 Macro as my standard.
The camera had to have the ability to make sutler changes not only to standards like f stops, shutter speed and white balance, but be able to allow me to indulge in high definition photography and get the extra inch out of the camera. I felt I did not want to spend money on one of the full frame models, but I wanted the technology. I also am very much against putting video, which I don't want and don,t want to pay for onto a photographic high-end camera, so some of the newer models are not for me.
I have taken sometime getting used to using the 50D, which has included a trip to Central America photographing scenery and wild life in the Mangrove swamps and I can only say the 50D has performed excellently. I am extremely pleased with my purchase and it will most probably be a long time before I look to changing this camera.