Canon EOS R50. Is it worth it?

[Marceline]

Hey all.

So, it’s time for me to get a new camera. I may or may not have accidentally drenched my current camera in cum lube, and even after thoroughly cleaning it, it’s still having some wonky sound and the external mic input is also jacked up. The only real option for me to continue using this camera is to set up an external source for audio and then merge the two, which I honestly don’t want to do. Especially since I’ve had this camera for years and it’s time for an upgrade.

I’ve been using a Canon EOS M50. I’ve been researching the R50 for the last hour and it looks like it may be a good fit for me. I don’t use my work camera for any sort of actual photography, it’s solely for video creation.

My main priorities with a camera are:

1. Facial detection/tracking. That’s why I originally went with a mirrorless camera. It’s absolutely essential that my face can remain in focus even if I’m moving around and changing the distance from myself and camera. The Canon EOS M50 does a decent job at doing this, so I’d like something similar or better.

2. Acceptable built in microphone audio quality. I’m not against using an external mic, like a Rode or something, but I usually don’t like to set it up, so I want something I can essentially use as is for content. Current camera has acceptable audio, but it does give a bit of a feedback.

3. And obviously good video quality. I can always go in and fiddle with shadows/lighting/contrast/whatever when I’m editing it, but I like to be able to have a good starting point. One of the things I’m not particularly fond of with my current camera is that no matter how well I light my filming areas, the shadows are always too dark and it gets a bit wonky, so I always have to seriously edit my videos so they look good.

4. Built in WiFi or Bluetooth capabilities so I can pair it with my phone/camera app and use my phone as a viewfinder and remote when I’m filming further away from the camera. The EOS M50 has this option, and I use it so often, I can’t imagine how tough it would be for me to film without it.

I’d like to stay with Canon, just because that’s what I’m the most familiar with. The EOS R50 seems to be pretty similar to what I currently have, just with some upgrades.

Does anyone have experience with this camera and if so, what do you think about it?

I have to make a decision pretty quick, because I need to be able to film again as soon as possible. Hoping to make a decision by the end of tonight, so hopefully I can have the new camera by mid week.

 

[KingMarti]

Havnt got any experience with them. Here's a direct comparison between them though (if you havnt seen it already)

 

[Marceline]

Havnt got any experience with them. Here's a direct comparison between them though (if you havnt seen it already)

That was actually the first video I watched! Super informative, and I’m usually bad at keeping my attention on review videos like that, but he did a great job explaining the differences.

I’m more than likely going to go with the R50. I prefer the smaller builds for work videos. It also looks like the R50 is much sharper when zoomed in, which is an issue I’ve had with the M50.

I’m also trying not to get anything too expensive and the R50 does look like it’s a good price for what it does. Thankfully, my partner said he’d get me a new camera, and I don’t want to take advantage of him by getting something more than what I actually need.

Still, nothing beats the fact that I got my M50 for less than $100 brand new when there was that 15 minute site glitch during Prime Day years back, haha.

 

[KingMarti]

That was actually the first video I watched! Super informative, and I’m usually bad at keeping my attention on review videos like that, but he did a great job explaining the differences.

I’m more than likely going to go with the R50. I prefer the smaller builds for work videos. It also looks like the R50 is much sharper when zoomed in, which is an issue I’ve had with the M50.

I’m also trying not to get anything too expensive and the R50 does look like it’s a good price for what it does. Thankfully, my partner said he’d get me a new camera, and I don’t want to take advantage of him by getting something more than what I actually need.

Still, nothing beats the fact that I got my M50 for less than $100 brand new when there was that 15 minute site glitch during Prime Day years back, haha.

Thats such a lucky buy, I have been looking at the m50 here, but for what it costs here I can buy the blackmagic 6k and if I am spending that much I'll go black magic because then I get a free upgrade on my video editing software too. Watching that video (maybe it's just me) but I thought the colors looked better on the r50.

BTW if you're blind like me and need to see a bigger viewfinder, tv works great I had so many shots where I was squinting at the camera trying to check I'm in focus before I started using the tv

 

[Marceline]

Thats such a lucky buy, I have been looking at the m50 here, but for what it costs here I can buy the blackmagic 6k and if I am spending that much I'll go black magic because then I get a free upgrade on my video editing software too. Watching that video (maybe it's just me) but I thought the colors looked better on the r50.

BTW if you're blind like me and need to see a bigger viewfinder, tv works great I had so many shots where I was squinting at the camera trying to check I'm in focus before I started using the tv

It’s been years and I’m still kicking myself in the ass for not buying a bunch of better and more expensive cameras during that glitch. I had already been eyeing the M50 and planning to purchase it if it was going to be on sale, so I had logged into Amazon the second the Prime Day deals started that year. When I saw it was under $100 I bought it right away. Then, I realized literally every single camera, lens and equipment was all the same price under $100. I debated on buying more stuff, because I was worried that I might get charged the normal price after. Said fuck it and went to purchase another camera that was normally a few thousand, but they fixed the glitch right before I bought it, haha. But, Amazon did honor all the sales made during that glitch.

The colors of the R50 definitely look better in that video when compared to the M50. However, I am guessing that he didn’t edit much of either video, because you can make the M50 footage look really neat and polished if you edit it well enough. My biggest gripe is it does tend to look a bit funky in low lit shots. My bedroom and work room in my new place doesn’t get much of any natural sunlight and for some shots, especially low angles looking up, it does something a little weird to the colors that requires a lot of fine tuning during editing.

I did like my M50 and I made hundreds of videos with it, but I honestly wouldn’t recommend purchasing it. The M series is discontinued now, so they’re not making any new lenses for it and everything you’d get for it would have to be second hand, which could be hard to find.

I may have to try the tv tip! I was looking at another video where the guy was using an external viewfinder and had it mounted on top of his R50, and that seems like a nifty solution too. I can’t see for shit anymore without my glasses, which I never wear because I’m big dumb (especially during videos because I don’t like my lights reflecting off them), so I just have to have absolute faith in my camera’s face tracking abilities that it’s actually focused on my face.

 

[KingMarti]

I may have to try the tv tip! I was looking at another video where the guy was using an external viewfinder and had it mounted on top of his R50, and that seems like a nifty solution too.

Yeah, same idea but I'm cheap and have an abundance of screens here and I shoot from my phone so I just cast the screen onto the tv, but if / when I upgrade my camera I'll be doing the same over hdmi, honestly a 55 inch viewfinder is pretty awesome.

You should be able to get cages for the r50 (I know they had them for the m50 and they are pretty common accessory) that you can mount things like hard drives, battery packs, lights, mics and monitors too.

I can’t see for shit anymore without my glasses, which I never wear because I’m big dumb (especially during videos because I don’t like my lights reflecting off them), so I just have to have absolute faith in my camera’s face tracking abilities that it’s actually focused on my face.

Same but I now also cant see shit with my glasses because I never ware them, it's slightly better but if I actually thought I would ware them and not lose them every time I put them down I would go and get new ones... come to think of it I have no idea where they are, dont think I have seen them in months