You’re going to be surprised at how big of a punch this camera packs. The brand new Canon EOS M50 Mark II takes its predecessor, the EOS M50, and adds functionality that made it suitable for professional work. And if branding is your thing, the new camera now also comes in white if that’s more your style.
To start off, this camera is entry level, but with some new tech behind it that makes it perfect for vloggers, hobbyists, food photographers, and much more. It’s a mirrorless camera with an APS-C sensor (about a 1:6 crop) that’s lightweight and compact. Yet, full of image quality and easy to use.
Canon EOS M50 Mark II ()
The foundational specs of the camera are the 24.1 MP CMOS sensor (supporting dual pixel CMOS AF) with a DIGIC 8 processor, built-in flash and one SD card slot. You’ll be able to shoot RAW, C-RAW and JPEG along with a max of 4k 23.98 fps for videos and 120p for full HD included. Video shooting is available in auto or manual exposure modes.
The main upgrade I think photographers will be happy about is on the focusing side. The EOS M50 Mark II has upgraded AF performance that catches your subject’s eye and face when they’re even further away in the frame than before. In addition to the improved eye and face detection, AI servo has now been added to video mode which makes self-filming for vloggers a cinch. Touch and Drag focus, one-shot and manual focus are also supported with 143 zones AF points for images and 117 for video shooting.
I personally used the camera for a bit of vlogging and had complete confidence in the AI servo AF capabilities. I also put the improved eye and face detection to the test by grabbing a few shots of my kids playing in the backyard (see that below). It kept up with my 2 year old, and that’s not easy! It’s so great being able to photograph children playing, rather than asking them to sit still and smile, and still coming out with tack-sharp photos.
The ISO range for stills is 100-25600 and 100-12800 for video. On One Shot AF, the continuous shooting bursts at 10 frames per second. The camera can shoot as fast as 1/4000 sec and has a sync speed of 1/200 sec. Personally, I enjoyed throwing the Canon EL-100 flash on it for easy indoor flash photos in a compact camera and speedlite combo.
Another new feature for the Canon EOS M50 Mark II (compared to the EOS M50) is the clean HDMI out. No more annoying information display overlays through the USB Micro-B HDMI port. This made it easy to plug a Ninja right into the camera and record video while viewing the image on a bigger screen.
If you’re using the camera for videos, you’re really going to enjoy the new direct to YouTube live streaming**. The built-in WiFi and Bluetooth v. 4.2 (low energy) make it also possible to remote trigger the camera through the Canon Wireless Remote Control BR-E1. Then, you can transfer your photos to other compatible devices. Not only can you easily bring the photos and video clips over to your phone by using the Canon Connect App, but you can take advantage of image.canon’s cloud storage as well.
I have to say, the image quality coming out of this camera is surprisingly good. I was hired to photograph some food photography on V-Flat World’s upcoming Duo Boards. There, I opted to use the Canon EOS M50 Mark II. The color, clarity and incredible detail from the camera was truly remarkable. I know any product photographer looking to bring their social photos to the next level will enjoy using this camera.
The EOS M50 Mark II takes the ultra-compact and portable EF-M mount lenses. And with an adaptor, it can use EF lenses seamlessly. The EF-M lens line is well rounded so you’ll easily find a lens that works with your shooting style. As a fan of prime lenses, my personal favorite was the Canon EF-M 32mm 1.4. It was able to get in super close to my subjects and give me a whimsically shallow depth of field.
This new Canon camera comes in at for the body alone, or for the body and 15-45mm lens kit, making it very accessible for a wide variety of photographers to grab it, and maybe even leave a little room in the budget for Canon’s new sling backpack, the EDC-10 I know I enjoyed the cross-body ergonomics of the bag and had plenty of room to pack what I needed.
To see the hands-on video I created using the Canon EOS M50 Mark II throughout a typical day, and more images I shot with the camera, head over to YouTube. I hope you enjoy!
** The live streaming service available with this product is for live streaming on YouTube only. To use live streaming, you need to have an active YouTube account and an image.canon account. Please be aware that YouTube may change, stop, or terminate its services, including live streaming, at any time without notice. In accordance with YouTube’s “Restrictions on live streaming” users must have a minimum of 1,000 channel subscribers in order to live stream from a mobile device (including camera products with live streaming capability). For up-to-date information from YouTube on restrictions, please visit https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853834?hl=en. Canon makes no representations or warranties with respect to any third party product or service, including live streaming.
Feature photo by Charles King, with a Canon EOS R5
