A Canon M50 Review: Has 4K on Canon Mirrorless Finally Arrived?

The subject of Canon and 4K is a hot-button topic for quite a few videographers out there, but with the release of the M50, the company finally has their first 4K mirrorless camera out in the wild. The 4K implementation isn't perfect, however, and this review takes a practical look at how good it is.

Coming to you from cinema5D, this video takes a look at the new Canon M50 and examines its 4K mode and if it's a viable option for filmmakers. While at first, the idea of pairing 4K with Canon's highly lauded dual pixel autofocus (DPAF) technology seems awesome, it's unfortunate news that DPAF is not available in 4K mode, with the camera switching to contrast-detect only autofocus, causing a noticeable decrease in performance. It's also important to consider both the high crop factor in 4K and the rolling shutter as well. Nonetheless, the camera is not without some strong points worth considering. So, while the 4K implementation does indeed seem to be underwhelming and with some serious difficulties for vloggers and filmmakers, the review does conclude it's a solid option if you're satisfied with 1080p resolution. Check out the full video above for more. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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7 Comments

another disappointment...

Too little, too late. The one advantage they could have brought to bear (dual pixel AF) would have equalized everything.

Is the 2.56 crop on 4K video a cynical marketing ploy,given in the hope that people will buy it as soon as they see the magic spell 4K without looking any closer? Or is it because there is a physical limitation imposed by the processor or some other piece of hardware or software?

neither of those, this is just to ensure the small guy doesn't eat the big guy (mark dx and 1x series)

https://www.dpreview.com/interviews/1807023531/canon-interview-increased...

Thanks for the link.So it could shoot 4K uncropped if someone like Magic Lantern could unlock it?

Probably... so far they (ML) are not successful in reverse engineering, may take another year before they could come up with something.

I'm disapointed too - not due 4K (fullhd is ok for me - it's similar as was stupid megapixel race leading to noise and not to better photos, 4K leads to huge files and many problems nowdays - I prefer high quality fullhd) but because M50 is not serious APS camera (at least while it's so small that is problem to use it with adapter and EF-S or even EF lenses) and because M lenses are slow and low optical quality. I saw many photos from M50 in last days - both in review and from people - and I can hardly say there were some photos I would say it's a great one. In opposite there were many really bad photos (strange noise, bad colors, CA, vignetting - especially from zooms 15-45 and 18-200).