Canon EOS 50D Review

The new Canon EOS 50D is apparently not intended to replace its predecessor the 40D though, and will sit alongside it as a 'sister' model.

Apart from a new silver bezel on the Mode Dial, the 50D has inherited virtually the same beefy magnesium alloy body as its older sibling. There are several significant new developments under the bonnet though, chief among them a 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor boasting a whopping 50 per cent increase in pixels.

Bespoke sensor

With the sensor size itself remaining unchanged, the burning question is whether this high pixel count results in increased noise.

Not so say Canon, who claims that the bespoke sensor design 'allows more pixels to be fitted on the CMOS sensor without compromising image quality', and offers 'improved high ISO performance and low noise'.

In fact, so confident is the Japanese imaging giant that it's not only raised the maximum ISO speed to 3200, but also added expansion to 6400 and 12800 ISO via the Custom Menu.

Test results

Testing for ISO noise throughout the range we were very pleasantly surprised to find practically no noise at ISO 100 and 200; and only the slightest increase at ISO 400 – a level at which several SLRs are already struggling. ISO 800 shows a marked increase (particularly in the shadows), but the good news is it's mostly luminance noise rather than chroma noise, giving it a more film-type grain appearance.

At ISO 1600 noise in the shadow areas becomes visible at normal viewing distances, but overall the results are still impressive and very usable, which is great news if you need to handhold in low light on occasion.

At ISO 3200 the noise is apparent throughout and chroma noise more significant, but it still doesn't take over. When you consider that the noise on the EOS 20D is twice as bad at each ISO setting and that much of it is the more destructive chroma noise, it's clear just how far Canon have come in this area. That said, there's always room for improvement – the two extra ISO settings are excessively noisy and best reserved for emergencies!

Although we'd have liked to have seen a bit more definition in the fine details of unsharpened RAW files, overall image quality is solid, with good dynamic range, punchy colours and of course noise levels up to ISO 1600 very well contained. Furthermore, with 15 million pixels to play with you can happily print up to A3 and beyond, plus you've really got the upper hand when it comes to creative cropping.

More power to you

So far so good, but how does the poor 50D's processor cope with these bumper file sizes? Very well indeed. Thanks to the brand-new DIGIC 4 Image Processor, you can still blast off a staggering 60 consecutive JPEGS or 16 RAW files at 6.3fps in a single burst. What's more, the camera is ready to start shooting again within seconds.

The other major change is the new 3-inch LCD, which now has 920,000 pixels instead of 230,000 and features a new anti-reflective coating. Image previews are fantastically clear, crisp and detailed and you can now confidently assess sharpness by zooming in to 100 per cent. The anti-reflective coating is also extremely effective, making the monitor a pleasure to use both indoors and out.