Digital cameras can take stills and movies, but some are better for one thing than others. With Canon’s C50, it has pro and enthusiast filmmakers considered more than most.
Phone cameras may well keep getting better, but if you need more control and higher image fidelity, there’s a good chance you’re still turning to a dedicated camera.
Your phone will definitely give you a solid shot in a pinch, but a proper body is where many in the world of professional photography and filmmaking still reach for when they need to get film-quality video out.
Cameras aren’t clearly the same from every manufacturer, and even from inside a manufacturer’s range. That’s largely how companies like Canon can keep different ranges existing.
Take its EOS R cameras and EOS C cameras, two distinct ranges of mirrorless cameras focused on different types of media: stills and video respectively. Both can handle each type — images and video — but the EOS R is mainly made for stills, and the EOS C for video, with that “C” standing for “Cinema”.
In the world of the EOS R, Canon has a lot of different cameras made for varying sizes and price points, but with its cinema cameras, there’s less to choose from, and most of it carries a high price and a large size.
Not so with the company’s latest body.
Built for a slightly more enthusiast and up-and-coming filmmaking crowd, the EOS C50 brings a full-frame sensor to a more compact body ready to be placed into the sort of peripherals that make filmmaking a little easier all around.
The sensor in question is a new full-frame 7K CMOS sensor capable of capturing at 60p, which can oversample for 4K 120p and 2K at 180p. Folks who want to snap a photo or two will find the C50 captures 32 megapixel images when needed, supporting up to ISO64000.
Perhaps one of the more exciting aspects of the sensor isn’t how it can capture ultra HD video, but rather how it can capture both vertical and standard horizontal video. The sensor supports a full-frame 3:2 mode that can be edited from the same footage. For some lenses, particularly anamorphic lenses, it may mean a wider and more cinematic look when capturing in a tall vertical shot.
Videographers will also be able to use a clever “Simultaneous Crop Recording” function, which will crop out a secondary vertical or square image out of the any video, creating formats for social media and advertising quickly.
If this sounds like a camera geared for the needs of a modern creative, it may well be what Canon has delivered, though filmmakers and live streamers are also factored in. There’s support for 60p live streaming over a USB cable, access from the Canon app on phones, and two slots covering CFexpress and SD, allowing recording to both in different formats.
Like other recent EOS releases from Canon, this one will EOS R lenses, making it a potential upgrade path from someone going from another stills camera into the world of video, and will fetch a recommended retail price of $5899 in Australia when it launches in November.
