Canon EOS 50D preview

Canon’s EOS 50D is the company’s latest semi-professional DSLR. It comes one year after the popular EOS 40D, but doesn’t replace it – as yet anyway. Both models will co-exist in the market at different price points, at least for the rest of 2008.

Externally the EOS 50D greatly resembles the EOS 40D. The dimensions are identical and there’s only a slight difference in weight with the new model coming in a few grams lighter. Most of the major differences are internal, with the headline feature being a significant boost in resolution from 10.1 to 15.1 Megapixels using a newly designed APS-C CMOS sensor. This takes the EOS 50D comfortably beyond the 12.2 Megapixels of the cheaper EOS 450D / XSi which itself had leapfrogged the EOS 40D.

Squeezing 15.1 Megapixels onto an APS-C sensor also makes it the highest pixel density from Canon to date – which understandably raises concerns over noise levels and dynamic range. Canon has countered this by implementing gapless microlenses to maximise sensitivity, while additionally optimising the placement and size of the photodiodes.

Confident in its new sensor’s greater efficiency, Canon’s additionally boosted its maximum sensitivity from 3200 ISO on the 40D to 12,800 ISO on the EOS 50D, complete with four levels of High ISO Noise Reduction; the sensor also now features a Fluorine coating which Canon claims offers greater resistance to dust. So has Canon really managed to match or even improve on the 40D’s performance while delivering 50% more Megapixels and four times the maximum sensitivity? We’ll find out in our upcoming full review.

more : cameralabs