Canon EOS C50 Review

The EOS C50 is Canon folding its cinema line and its mirrorless line into one small box. It uses a brand new 7K full frame sensor, records 12-bit Cinema RAW Light internally at up to 7K 60p, and still turns out a 32 megapixel photograph, which makes it a genuine hybrid rather than a video camera that grudgingly saves a JPEG. At about 680 grams it is the smallest and lightest Cinema EOS ever, with a detachable top handle that adds two full size XLR inputs when the shoot needs them and comes off when it does not.

The sensor brings Canon's Dual Base ISO at 800 and 6400 in Log 2, so low light does not collapse into noise, and Dual Pixel autofocus that remains the easiest reliable tracking in any cinema body. Oversampled 4K pulled from the full 7K readout is where most footage will live and it is clean and detailed. The honest caveat is that this is not a stacked sensor, so fast pans and hard whips show rolling shutter skew, and long internal RAW takes ask real questions of your cards and your heat budget.

Priced at 3,899 dollars with an RF mount that opens onto Canon's whole lens catalogue, it undercuts the idea that internal RAW is a luxury feature. It is not the camera for an operator who needs a global shutter or 8K deliverables, but for a documentary shooter or a one person crew who wants cinema files and photographs from a single body on a gimbal, nothing else at the price is this complete.