Canon EOS M50 Short Film/Test

[torresfilms]

Thanks for sharing the sample. It looks a lot better than I thought it would. I'm curious about this camera for gimbal work. How's the moire situation? Does Canon finally have it under control?

Regarding the DPAF, are you able to control the speed of the focus transitions like you can with the 80D? And how smooth/responsive are the transitions when adapting an EF-S lens to the EF-M mount? Do you lose anything?

Not to sure about the Moire situation. I haven’t really done tests or have seen much Moire from any of my videos. I also haven’t tried to control the DPAF speed but I’m pretty sure there is no control over that. I’ve looked through the menu pretty hard and have seen nothing of that nature.

The responses to adapted EF lenses are perfect and accurate. I haven’t seen any issues with the DPAF at all so I don’t think anything is lost.

Thanks for your comment!

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

Nice short movie! I saw it months ago on Youtube, when I was trying to find info about the camera.

Personally I like the camera, but only in 1080/24p mode. I only tested it once in 4k, and I didn't like what I saw (from jello, to crop, to bad AF), so I never switched the camera back to 4k again. Given enough light, ND + IR CUT filters outdoors, stabilization, and the right pictured profile, the camera is capable of a nice image in 1080p -- as long as you don't pan (jitter). I usually use a flatter version of VisionColor CineTech profile ($20), which gives me the film look without much color grading (and without losing dynamic range compared to Cinestyle or the third party C-Log), because when I try to push that 30mbps h.264 footage in DaVinci Resolve, it breaks apart. So whatever can be done in-camera, rather than in post, is most beneficial. I shot a test with the M50 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYYTJsIzRAw

I have a Blackmagic camera too, and yet, if I'm to shoot run and gun (e.g. a kid's birthday, as I did recently, with kids running around in random directions), the M50 is perfect, because its AF keeps up. I could never keep up with manual focus in such a situation. For a more controlled environment, e.g. a music video or short movie, another camera might be a better solution though.

[Rainer]

I bought an M50 as replacement for a 60D. No-one complains about the IQ. Handles well on my FeiyuTech A1000 gimbal. No jitter in 1080p if you turn off the IS. With the f2 22mm lens the camera fits into a coat pocket. With an adapter (I bought the excellent Vitrox, less than half the price of the Canon) you can use all your Canon EF/EF-S lenses without losing anything. For budding and budget cinematographers, the 4K crop means that with a $3 adapter you can use cheap fast Chinese C mount cinema lenses. You can own a whole set of cinema primes for under $500. Don't know why anyone would buy an 80D when this is available - offers so much more at a cheaper price.

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

No jitter in 1080p if you turn off the IS. With the f2 22mm lens the camera fits into a coat pocket.

Actually, the jitter I get when panning (even slowly) is with all in-camera IS off (lens IS was ON in one sample problematic footage, but OFF on another -- the problem remained). My guess is that the problem is the codec, as it's trying to guess frames instead of actually recording real frames 24 times a second. That guessing creates artifacts when panning, or when an object is moving fast (e.g. a car) as the algorithm either is not good enough or can't keep up. Or it doesn't have enough bitrate (30 mbps), who knows. The problem does not happen with my ProRES LT BMPCC camera (100 mbps).

I have the f/2 22mm lens (footage with it linked above) in addition to 2 more EF-M Canon zoom lenses, lots of EF lenses + adapter, the Rokinon 12mm f/2 EF-M manual lens, and two 12.5mm f/1.4 C-mount lenses. The one I end up using the most is the 15-45mm EF-M zoom because it's the most versatile, although it does have a very ugly bokeh. Sample footage of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_J-By_LWUw