While Canon offers some of the best high-end cameras in the market, they also have a line-up of APS-C shooters targeted towards the budget market. We got a chance to try out the Canon EOS M50 Mark II mirrorless camera that features a compact design, a Vari-angle display, an APS-C sensor, and more.
Design
The popularity of mirrorless cameras has increased over the years, thanks to portable form-factor as compared to traditional DSLRs, and the Canon EOS M50 Mark II offers great performance for the price. The camera features a dimension of 116.3 x 88.1 x 58.7mm and the device (without the kit lens) weighs only 387g with the battery included.
Canon managed to keep the weight of the camera the same as the previous generation. The camera also retains the same traditional design as compared to the previous model. On the top portion, there is the shutter button and a ring around it that is used to adjust the parameters while shooting.
The video record button is placed next to the shutter button so users will be able to reach it easily. On the left side of the shutter button is the M-Fn function, and beneath is the dial mode to switch between Intelligent mode, Manual, Av, Tv, Video, Scene Selector, dual-mode and more. There is nothing on the left side except for the EOS M50 Mark II branding that slightly faces towards the rear side.
Looking from the rear side, there are a series of buttons such as the INFO button, the Playback, MENU, the directional buttons along with dual shortcuts for Focus type selector, Exposure, Select button, and more. These buttons can easily be accessed by your thump. The camera also features a dedicated AE lock button that doubles as a magnify function and another button for AF point selection.
The camera houses a 0.39-type OLED Electronic Viewfinder with 2,360,000 dots as the resolution. The viewfinder is placed in the middle-top of the rear side. The EOS M50 Mark II features a 3-inch TFT Vari-angle touchscreen display with a resolution of 1,040,000 dots. The Vari-angle form-factor enables vloggers to record videos easily and for those who want to get creative with images at different angles. And since the camera is easy to hold, you can take selfies with the camera and its vari-angle display flipped to 180-degrees.
The camera has different connectivity options such as a 3.5mm external microphone input on the left side (something that is needed for vloggers) and a micro HDMI port on the right side to connect to a bigger display, along with a micro USB port for charging or data transfers. Under the right-sided port compartment is a dedicated WiFi button that can be used to quickly pair with the network to stream live sessions or to connect to your smartphone or laptop. The SD card reader is located in the battery compartment underneath the camera. The card reader supports SD, SDHC, and SDXC UHS-1 memory cards.
The battery used here is the Li-ion Battery LP-E12 that is capable of offering up to 250 captures via the viewfinder and up to 305 shots when using the display. The camera is also capable of recording FHD videos up to 130 minutes on a single charge and 4K videos up to 95 minutes of time.
Specification
The Canon EOS M50 Mark II features a 24.1MP APS-C image sensor that is capable of capturing images in great detail. The image sensor is supported by the DIGIC 8 image processor to produce good images with lower noise. The camera has its own Optical Image Stabilizer that only works with compatible lenses. For video stabilizations, the camera uses the Digital Image Stabilization and shakes can be reduced further with the Dynamic Image Stabilization.
You can record 4K videos with the M50 Mark II but only up to a maximum of 25fps. However, 60fps videos are easy to record when choosing Full HD and HD video modes. For fast-moving subjects, the sensor can capture continuous images at 10fps.
The EOS M50 Mark II takes advantage of the Dual Pixel CMOS AF system that features both phase-detection and contrast-detection AF points. There are a total of 3975 AF positions where a maximum of 143/99 points are dedicated for Face+Tracking mode. The sensor also brings support for Eye AF.
The ISO sensitivity range starts with a minimum of 100 and the maximum can be configured between 400 to 25,600. The ISO can be extended further to 51200 to lit up darker situations. For 4K video recording, you can only select ISO ranging between 100 to 6400. And for FHD videos, you can select ISO that ranges between 100-12800. The shutter speed of the system can be set between 30s to 1/4000 seconds.
Canon also ensured that the camera can also be used as a webcam for your video call sessions with high-quality videos, thanks to the EOS Webcam utility if you want to get rid of your average laptop webcam. Vloggers will also be able to stream live YouTube videos from the camera to the network using any WiFi signal.
The Canon EOS M50 Mark II that we reviewed came with the Canon EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM kit lens that features a compact and collapsible design. The lens operates silently, thanks to the STM stepping motor technology along with Optical Image Stabilizer. The weight of the lens is hardly 130g. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get hold of any prime EF-M-based prime lens to check the full capability of the camera. That said, we had taken the camera for a spin and took some shots outside. Take a look at some of the samples below.
Image Quality
Shot on Canon EOS M50 Mark II with EF-M 15-45mm IS STM kit lens, Focal length 45mm, ISO 3200, Aperture f/6.3, Shutter speed 1/2000s
Shot on Canon EOS M50 Mark II with EF-M 15-45mm IS STM kit lens, Focal length 40mm, ISO 3200, Aperture f/6.3, Shutter speed 1/1600s
Shot on Canon EOS M50 Mark II with EF-M 15-45mm IS STM kit lens, Focal length 45mm, ISO 3200, Aperture f/6.3, Shutter speed 1/800s
Verdict
If you are planning to upgrade your old DSLR or buy a new camera, then the Canon EOS M50 Mark II is a good option for both beginners and also for those with a limited budget. The mirrorless camera design is lightweight to carry around and the kit zoom lens features a compact design with a range between 15-45mm of focal length, which is a major selling point for vloggers.
The 24.1MP APS-C image sensor and the DIGIC 8 image processor helps to produce clean images and the camera is capable of recording 4K videos at 25fps and Full HD videos at 60fps. The mirrorless shooter also offers 10fps continuous shootout for fast-moving situations such as sports or wildlife photography and vloggers will be able to stream live YouTube videos or use the camera as a webcam with the help of the articulating vari-angle display.
