Pros & Cons
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- Records 10-bit 4K30 with full sensor width
- More than a dozen color profiles and C-Log3 support
- Dual tripod mounts for widescreen and vertical recording
- Clear sound from three-capsule mic system
- 24MP stills with mechanical shutter for flash sync
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- Cropped angle of view at 4K60
- Image sensor isn't stabilized
- May overheat during long-form recording
Canon EOS R50 V Specs
| Battery Type | Canon LP-E17 |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth |
| Connectivity | Headphone (3.5mm) |
| Connectivity | micro HDMI |
| Connectivity | Microphone (3.5mm) |
| Connectivity | Remote (2.5mm) |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi |
| Dimensions | 3.4 by 4.6 by 2.7 inches |
| Display Resolution | 1.04 |
| Display Size | 3 inches |
| Flat Profile | |
| HDMI Output | 4:2:2 10-bit |
| Lens Mount | Canon RF |
| Maximum ISO | 51200 |
| Memory Card Format | SDXC (UHS-II) |
| Memory Card Slots | 1 |
| Minimum ISO | 100 |
| Sensor Resolution | 24 |
| Sensor Size | APS-C |
| Sensor Type | CMOS |
| Stabilization | Digital |
| Touch Screen | |
| Type | Mirrorless |
| Video Resolution | 4K |
| Viewfinder Type | None |
| Weight | 13.1 |
Canon, a household name in photo gear, puts its video expertise on display at center stage with the EOS R50 V ($699.99, body only). The camera is built for vloggers and content creators specifically, and while it is capable of stills, its body style, three-capsule microphone, and color profiles are all geared toward movies. It rolls full-width 4K30 footage with 10-bit color and effective digital stabilization, pushes to 4K60 for slow motion with a crop, and works with a wide range of Canon RF lenses. It's a more versatile tool than the fixed-lens DJI Osmo Pocket 3, and far more affordable than Sony's full-frame ZV-E1. That makes the EOS R50 V the best vlogging camera for creators who don't have an unlimited budget, and an Editors' Choice winner.
Design: Dual Tripod Mounts for Widescreen and Vertical Video Capture
Like other interchangeable lens cameras made for vlogging, the EOS R50 V's body style omits an electronic viewfinder and flash in favor of a large articulating touch screen and a three-capsule microphone. So despite using a large APS-C format image sensor, the R50 V is a small camera, just 3.4 by 4.6 by 2.7 inches (HWD) and weighs 13.1 ounces without a lens. By volume, it's a bit larger than Nikon's similar Z 30 (2.9 by 5.0 by 2.3 inches, 12.3 ounces), but practically speaking, there's not that much difference in size between the two rival cameras.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)Inside, the R50 V uses the same 24MP image sensor and Digic X processor as the EOS R50. The R50 is a capable video camera, but its body style is better suited for photography as it includes an electronic viewfinder and pop-up flash, both missing from the EOS R50 V. On the other hand, the R50 V includes tripod threads both on its bottom plate and right side, so it's easily mountable for both widescreen and vertical video recording.
Vloggers and content creators will be happy to make the trade as the R50 V includes a three-capsule microphone for clearer audio than you get with most stills cameras, plus it has a 3.5mm jack for an external mic. It's missing a built-in flash, but it works with external strobes via its hot shoe, so you're not out of luck if you want to try out flash photography, which is currently in vogue with Gen Z and Alpha creators.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)The EOS R50 V's construction is in line with other cameras in the price class. Its exterior is polycarbonate, with magnesium and aluminum alloys underneath. Weather sealing is not included, but it's not expected for the price either. It's a more durable camera than the DJI Osmo Pocket 3, which is more fragile because it mounts its lens and sensor on a very breakable 3-axis gimbal. The Pocket 3 wins points for stabilization, however, as its gimbal does a better job of keeping video smooth and stable.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)You can buy the EOS R50 V as a body only and choose your own lens, or get it in a kit with the RF-S 14-30mm F4-6.3 IS STM PZ for $929.99, a $120 savings versus buying them separately. Canon didn't have a 14-30mm available for me to use with the camera, so I recorded my test footage and images with the Sigma 12mm F1.4 DC Contemporary ($629.99), a recent third-party addition to the RF lens system. Canon has a small line-up of RF-S lenses for the APS-C format, supplemented by third-party options from Sigma and Tamron, and you can use full-frame Canon RF lenses with the camera as well, so there are plenty of options available. I expect vloggers who self-record in the field or studio to like the 12mm F1.4 for its wide angle of view and bright, background-softening optics, while the Sigma 10-18mm F2.8 DC DN Contemporary or Tamron 11-20mm F2.8 Di III-A RXD are good picks if you prefer a zoom.
Controls: The Power Zoom Rocker Highlights a Video-Minded Button Scheme
The R50 V's button layout is far more like an EOS C cinema camera than an EOS R stills body, so creators who work primarily in the video discipline will feel right at home. My eye leans toward still scenes, so I had to make a little bit of an adjustment before getting comfortable behind its lens.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)The camera includes a record button on the front, at the bottom right corner (with the lens facing you), so you can easily start and stop clips when self-filming, a plus since many vloggers work double duty as on-screen talent and camera operator. A red tally lamp is nearby to give you a visual indication that you're rolling. It's a thoughtful control, but I'm a little disappointed that the front Record button works for video only; it has no function when you're taking stills, which is a shame as it'd be handy for selfies.
There's also a Record button on the top plate, but it also works for photos since it's in the same place as the shutter release on most cameras. It's collared by a zoom rocker that drives power zoom on compatible lenses. Nearby, you'll find the Live button, which pops up a menu to change streaming settings, and a control Lock that disables most buttons so you don't accidentally change them while recording.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)The Command and Mode dials round out the top controls. The former is used to change exposure settings, while the latter swaps between capture modes, but you won't find the standard PASM options that you do on photo cameras. Instead, the dial has one slot for stills (you swap between program, aperture, shutter, and manual exposure options via the touch screen), and seven different slots for video. Video modes include full auto, manual, slow and fast motion (S&F), and a trio of custom slots that let you save and recall your favorite settings.
Menu and Play are on the rear, at the top left corner just above the LCD. The remainder of the controls run down in a column on the right side. There you'll find AF-ON to drive autofocus on demand, a Color button to swap between different profiles, and Info to toggle what's shown on the rear display. There is also a flat command dial with four directional presses (ISO/Delete, Self-Timer/Drive, White Balance, and AF/MF) and the Q/Set button at its center.
The on-screen Q menu is where you'll go to get quick access to commonly used settings. This lets you make changes in the moment without diving into the full multi-page menu system. You can change the recording mode, color profile, focus settings, and toggle stabilization from Q, among other sundries.
Display: A Vari-Angle Screen Faces Forward for Self-Recording
The R50 V uses an articulating 3-inch display with 1.04 million dots of resolution for monitoring. The screen shows good detail, and the articulation is helpful for recording from waist-level or in front of the lens. The screen is decently bright; I have no problem seeing it outdoors on cloudy to moderately bright days at its default brightness, and you can pump up the backlight for better visibility in bright, sunny weather. It's tough to see if the sun is glaring right off the screen in any instance, so you may need to adjust its tilt or shade it with your hand when working in bright light. Pros can opt for an external monitor, as the EOS R50 V includes a micro HDMI port to send a live feed out to an external display.
Power and Connectivity: Good Battery Life, Easy Live Streaming
The EOS R50 V uses the long-running LP-E17 battery pack for a CIPA-rated 390 pictures per charge, or around 70 minutes of 4K30 video recording. If you vlog at 1080p, you can expect around 140 minutes. If you're interested in very long-form recording, you should take caution, however. The EOS R50 V overheats after around 54 minutes of 4K30 capture in room temperature conditions.
(Credit: Jim Fisher)The camera includes USB-C for charging, data transfer, and UVC/UAC live streaming. It supports 1080p streaming with simultaneous charging or 4K without. There is also a micro HDMI port to connect to an external monitor or recorder, a 2.5mm remote control port, and discrete 3.5mm jacks for a microphone and headphones.
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There's no built-in flash, but you can mount a Canon Speedlite, a third-party flash like the Godox V1, or a wireless transmitter in the hot shoe. It includes a mechanical shutter (something you don't get with every vlogging camera) to sync with flash at speeds as short as 1/250-second.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are built in. The R50 V pairs with smartphones using the Canon Camera Connect app, a free download for Android and iOS devices. The app requires that you create an account, but since you can log in with Google, Apple, or Facebook credentials, it's quick to set up and get going. Wireless transfers aren't as snappy, though: It takes about two and a half minutes to copy a 30-second 4K30 video clip to my iPhone 13, so you're better off using a card reader when offloading a significant amount of media.
Autofocus: Reliable Eye Detection and a Product Demo Mode for YouTubers
The R50 V uses the same Dual Pixel CMOS AF II system as the standard R50 and pricier Canon models like the high-speed EOS R7. Dual Pixel focus is a type of phase detection that splits each pixel into two halves for focus that's fast, smooth, and accurate. It's a great system for video as it supports slower racks between subjects, and for photos, the camera drives in an instant.
The focus system covers nearly the entirety of the sensor, so you have freedom in framing subjects. It includes face and eye detection for people, plus subject recognition for animals and vehicles. YouTubers who present product reviews will appreciate its product demo focus mode too—this setting puts focus priority on foreground objects and falls back to face and eye detection when there's nothing between you and the camera. This makes it easy to show off what you're talking about without having to obscure your face and eyes. All and all, the autofocus system is capable and didn't let me down during testing.
The R50 V is a speedy photo camera. Its mechanical shutter supports 12fps continuous focus drive, while you can push to 15fps with its silent electronic shutter. Canon's specs indicate that the buffer is small, good for only 7 Raw or around 50 JPGs, but I got much better results in my tests. I got around 60 compressed C Raw, 44 uncompressed Raw, and 90 JPGs before the rate slowed, with only around 4 seconds required to write all of them to a Sony Tough 299MBps UHS-II SDXC memory card.
Image Quality: 24MP APS-C Pictures in JPG, HEIF, or Raw Format
The R50 V's photo quality is an exact match for the EOS R50 and R10, as all three use the same 24MP CMOS APS-C format image sensor and Digic X image processor. The R50 V supports 8-bit JPG, 10-bit HEIF, and 14-bit Compressed Raw (C Raw) and Raw capture. Raw files provide ample leeway to edit color and exposure without quality loss, while JPG and HEIF images are processed by the camera at the time of capture and are ready to share, but don't leave as much headroom for editing.
If you use any sort of Raw, Raw+JPG, or Raw+HEIF capture, you're restricted to one of the camera's basic color modes, which are the same as you'll find on just about every camera (Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Fine Detail, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome). If you opt instead for JPG or HEIF capture without a Raw sidecar, you'll be able to apply any of the in-camera video color profiles to photos (there's more detail on those in the next section of this review).
The sensor supports a wide sensitivity range, ISO 100-51200, so you can tackle brightly lit scenes and take pictures in dim interiors. You'll enjoy the best image quality at the lower end of the register; the camera records superb detail with very little noise from ISO 100-1600. I see some smudges around the edges of crisp lines in my test target at ISO 3200-12800, but I wouldn't hesitate to use these settings as details still shine through and colors are rendered faithfully. Picture quality takes a significant step back at ISO 25600-51200 as most fine detail is smudged away.
Video: 4K30 With Pleasing Color and Clear Audio
The R50 V provides a few different encoding options for movies, but doesn't overwhelm you with choices, as is the case with some cinema-grade cameras like the Panasonic Lumix DC-GH7. It supports 4K30 and 4K24 at a 16:9 aspect using the full width of the image sensor, and goes to 4K60 with a 1.6x crop. If you drop down to 1080p, you can push the frame rate all the way to 120fps for slow-motion capture.
You can choose between 10-bit or 8-bit HEVC (H.265) or X AVC (H.264) encoding and your choice of 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 color sampling with bit rates in the 100-250Mbps range for 4K and 35-100Mbps for 1080p. Higher bit rates and color depth take up more room on your memory card, but provide better-looking video that can handle some color correction in the editing room.
There are several in-camera color options. You can choose from any of the standard photo profiles or 14 creative color modes for more stylized footage. The dedicated Color button comes in handy here, making it easy to swap between the different looks. I used Tasty Cool for my sample reel, and it gives video a stylized look without being garish. There's also a Tasty Warm option, plus Amber, Blue, Green, Magenta, Purple, Sepia, and Teal & Orange looks.
Pros can switch to C-Log3, a flat profile with low contrast and color saturation. C-Log3 looks bland out of camera but gives colorists a neutral starting point so they can apply a grade in the editing room. I used Canon's standard Rec.709 LUT to give my C-Log3 test clip a finished look in Final Cut Pro and tweaked contrast and saturation to taste. Creators who are experts in the editing room will appreciate the C-Log3 option, while non-experts can fall back to a built-in profile.
The R50 V's sensor does not include physical stabilization, so handheld footage isn't as smooth or steady as the DJI Osmo Pocket 3, which puts its camera on a 3-axis gimbal, or the Sony ZV-E1, which mounts its image sensor on a 5-axis stabilizer. Canon includes digital stabilization, however, and I'm pretty happy with how well it works. The digital stabilizer crops in a little bit, but it is still useful for wide-angle coverage. I recorded all of my test footage handheld with a non-stabilized lens (the aforementioned Sigma 12mm F1.4 DC Contemporary) and am impressed with how good it looks. It doesn't match the floating steadicam look you get with a powered gimbal mount like the DJI RS 4 Mini, but I didn't spot many instances of jitters and jumps either.
As for audio, the 3-capsule microphone system is excellent. It picks up voices near the camera clearly and avoids the tinniness you hear from most in-camera mics. You'll still want to use a studio mic or a lav for the absolute best sound, but you're not out of luck if you don't want to fumble around for a quick grab or b-roll with ambient sound. It would have been nice if Canon made a windscreen for the camera, but popular accessory maker SmallRig sells one for just $14.99.