Canon Launches New EOS 50D

In addition to its bevy of point-and-shoot digital cameras announced today, Canon has introduced its new Canon EOS 50D. Based on Canon's marketing pitch, it's the successor to the current 40D, and is intended to address the growing enthusiast market by offering a bump over the 40D's spec--at a fair savings over the 5D, a professional model.

Due to ship in October, the 50D carries an attractive $1400 price (body only). Specs step up to 15.1 megapixels--a sizable increase over the 40D's 10.1 megapixels, even though the sensor size remains the same. I'll be interested to see how the higher megapixel count impacts the noise level--according to Canon, the new 50D is the first SLR to use the company's DIGIC 4 image processor, which the company says has improved speed and noise performance. The camera can handle ISO 100 to 12800, another big chnage (previously, the 40D topped out at ISO 3200).

This model also carries a rating of 6.3 frames per second (a wash with the 40D's 6.5 frames per second), and a burst mode of up to 90 JPEGS using UDMA CompactFlash cards (the 40D is rated for just 75 consecutive JPEGs).

The 50D's body is largely identical to the 40D, with a few small tweaks (for example, Live View mode now has a dedicated button). The metering and autofocus systems are identical to the 40D, but the 50D becomes Canon's first SLR with face detection mode (in both normal and Live View modes), and it features auto-focus fine-tuning to match your lens. Another, much-needed improvement: The 3-inch VGA LCD viewscreen has bumped the resolution up to 920,000 dots-per-inch.

The specs and pricing appear aggressive. The proof, will come in how this model performs. Look for our review when it ships in October.

Comments

When do you think the replacement for the 5D will happen?

samsmith

August 25, 2008

10:11 PM PT