Canon EOS R50

The Canon EOS R50 is the rebirth of the M50 in the RF-S mount – with some big all-round improvements. Gareth Bevan and James Artaius give it a test run

Price: £789/$679

To cut a long story short, the Canon EOS R50 is a newer, cleverer replacement for the M50 line, even though the M50 will continue to be sold and the EOS M system will still be supported. It’s clear that the Canon EOS R50 is the spiritual replacement for the Canon EOS M50 Mark II, released in 2020 and it’s also obvious that the R50 manages to supersede its predecessor in almost every way.

The fact it shares the same RF mount as EOS R cameras like the Canon EOS R5 and Canon EOS RP (rather than the far less populated EF-M mount, which limits the EOS M range) gives the R50 access to a rich, cutting-edge and ever-increasing line of lenses.

Though at the same time, this creates an issue where a small camera has to use lenses designed for much bigger bodies.

The Canon EOS R50 produces 24.2MP still images using its APS-C-sized sensor, which is the same one featured in the Canon EOS R10. It is also capable of a continuous shooting speed of 15 frames per second using the electronic shutter, which is incredibly quick and would have been unthinkable for a camera of this size and cost a few years ago.

The R50 has no in-body stabilisation but can use Canon’s digital stabilisation system, or employ the optical stabilisation present in most of Canon’s lens lineup. The camera also features Canon’s insanely good Dual Pixel Autofocus, but it is a pared-down AF and does not have the latest subject-tracking additions from Canon’s higher-spec cameras.

If you didn’t think the EOS R10 could shrink down any further, then think again. The EOS R50 is an even more miniature version of that camera, and it sits very much in the EOS R family of styling, dropping the more boxy hard edges from the M50 for smooth curves.