Canon has announced a new APS-C mirrorless camera, with a video-first design. The Canon EOS R50 V is, as its name suggests, based around the same core components as the SLR-style EOS R50. But it employs a box-shaped body with a control layout that prioritises movie shooting, and has plenty of advanced video features built-in, too.
Canon EOS R50 V at a glance:
- $649 / £729.99 body-only
- £959.99 with 14-30mm powerzoom lens
- £999.99 Creator Kit with 14-30mm lens, microphone, and Bluetooth remote control tripod grip
- 24MP APS-C sensor
- 4K 60fps video recording
- Vari-angle touchscreen
Physically the EOS R50 V is strikingly small, measuring just 119.3 x 73.7 x 45.2mm, and weighing in at 370g including battery and card. In part this is because it doesn’t have a viewfinder or flash built-in, instead making use of a vari-angle touchscreen for composing and viewing your shots. The handgrip is smaller than Canon’s SLR-shaped mirrorless cameras, too.
Video-first design
Video-centric design features include two record buttons, one on the top and the other on the front, with no separate shutter release. The grip is designed to make it easy to hold the camera either way around. You get two tripod sockets, with one on the grip for easy vertical shooting. Even the shooting mode dial flips Canon’s usual approach, featuring a whole array of video positions, plus one for shooting stills.
Canon says the camera can record 4K video for 2 hours without overheating. You get 4K 30p from the full-sensor width, downsampled from 6K, or 4K 60p with a 1.5x crop. Full HD recording is available at up to 120fps.
Conventional 3.5mm stereo microphone and headphone sockets are on board, while the Advanced Shoe on top supports digital audio input with certain accessories. It also enables 4-channel recording, but as this is a video camera, there’s no legacy Speedlite (flash) support.
A red tally lamp on the front of the camera indicates when it’s recording. You get LUT support, plus false colour, zebra and peaking displays for setting exposure and focus. The camera can live-stream via USB-C and works as a plug-and-play webcam too, supporting 4K 60p output. The battery can be powered via its USB-C port, which is also used for charging the battery.
Subject detection autofocus is on board, including eye detection for people and animals. As usual for Canon, the sensor supports Dual Pixel AF for phase detection at every single pixel.
If you want to shoot stills, then in principle the EOS R50 V offers much the same features as the EOS R50. Unlike the Sony ZV-E10 II, it retains a mechanical shutter, which avoids image distortion from using an electronic shutter. But fundamentally, if you’re most interested in photography, you’d probably be better off with the EOS R50 instead, unless you specifically want a super-small camera.
Canon EOS R50 V: Pricing and availability
Canon is offering the EOS R50 V in three configurations. Body-only, it’ll cost £729.99, while a basic kit with the new Canon RF-S 14-30mm F4-6.3 IS STM PZ powerzoom lens is £959.99. There’s also a Creator Kit which adds a stereo hot-shoe microphone and a tripod grip with a detachable Bluetooth remote control. This costs just £40 more, which looks like great value. On its own, the 14-30mm lens will cost £379.99.
Both the Canon EOS R50 V and the Canon RF-S 14-30mm F4-6.3 IS STM PZ lens are due to go on sale at the end of April.
Related content:
- Canon PowerShot V1 review – video first, but stills-friendly too
- I’ve been using the new Canon V1 compact camera and it’s not just for video
- Canon RF 20mm F1.4 L VCM announced: premium large-aperture wideangle prime
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Canon EOS R50 V full specifications
| Sensor | 24.2MP CMOS, 22.3 x 14.9mm |
| Output size | 6000 x 4000 |
| Focal length mag | 1.6x |
| Lens mount | Canon RF / RF-S |
| Shutter speeds | 30-1/4000sec (mechanical); 30-1/800sec (electronic) |
| Sensitivity | ISO 100-32,000, extendable to ISO 51,200 |
| Exposure modes | Movie, Still, S+F, 3x Custom |
| Metering | Evaluative, partial, spot, centre-weighted average |
| Exposure comp | +/-3 EV in 0.3EV steps |
| Continuous shooting | 12fps (electronic first curtain), 15fps (fully electronic) |
| Screen | 3in, 1.04m-dot vari-angle touchscreen |
| Viewfinder | None |
| AF points | 651 |
| Video | 4K up to 60fps, Full HD up to 120fps |
| External mic | 3.5mm stereo, advanced shoe |
| Memory card | UHS-II SD |
| Power | LP-E17 Li-ion |
| Battery life | TBC |
| Dimensions | 119.3 x 73.7 x 45.2 mm |
| Weight | 370g with battery and card |
