Canon EOS R50: Compact, light and accessible for dental photographers?

Canon EOS R50: Small and Cheap. What else?

Dental photographers can choose a new addition from the Canon’s family! Will one of the smallest and cheapest cameras be enough for a dental photographer?

The EOS R50 effectively replaces the EOS M50 II and marks the transition of the series to RF. The camera is said to replace the M50 Mark II, due to the use of the company’s now-standard RF mount lenses.

The camera has a 24.2MP APS-C sensor, advanced subject detection technology known from the Canon R6 Mark II and the new Canon R8, and uses the company’s newer DIGIC X processor. There’s no in-body image stabilization in the R50, but thanks to its light weight keeping the balance shouldn’t be an issue.

Impressive burst shooting 

The R50 is surprisingly adept at burst shooting for such a small camera!Itcan grab clips at up to 12 frames per second using its electronic/mechanical shutter mode, or 15 frames per second in fully electronic mode (with the risk of moving subjects appearing distorted if there’s too much lateral movement).

Battery

The EOS R50 uses the same LP-E17 battery as Canon’s other small ILCs. It’s a 7.5Wh battery which isn’t a lot to power a mirrorless camera. It’ll do well for snapping occasional photos as you go about your day, but if you devote any length of time to photos, always keep a spare battery while shooting your patient in a dental office with you to avoid unpleasant surprises. There’s nothing more stressful than your battery with your patient waiting on the chair!

Wi-Fi

Canon has also gone a long way to make connecting a camera to a phone or laptop as simple as possible, with several different methods of wirelessly transferring files.

Our verdict

Writing as a keen dental photographer, though, it’s hard to wholeheartedly recommend this camera. In my opinion, it can be the right choice for a beginner in the dental photography industry; due to its lightweight, you won’t be tired too quickly.

What about the lack of stabilization? Well, we’d recommend purchasing the right lens to ensure your intraoral photos will be spotless. Choosing the more expensive one will be smart, as you can always resell it and go to the next level.

You’ll need to keep in mind that changing settings – with no C1, C2 or C3 modes – will take more time than usual, and switching from portrait to intraoral photos is tricky and can cause a mistake. Searching for the right setting in the menu takes additional time and with your patient waiting it’s easy to choose the wrong option.

Definitely, this is a low-budget camera for beginners, so if you’re able to pay more, take the R10 or R8 under consideration.

If you’re a vlogger, this camera will be suited for you. Streaming your webinars online won’t be a problem!

EOS R50 Specs & Price:

• OLED viewfinder with 2.36 million dots and a .96x magnification
• LCD screen is a TFT color liquid crystal display with 1.62 million dots and is touch-control capable
• electronic front curtain shutter and an electronic shutter (no full mechanical shutter in the R50)
• JPEG and HEIF in addition to RAW and C-RAW recording
• It can connect to smartphones wirelessly or via a USB cable for transmission. WiFi is the older 802.11b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.2 LE
• single SD card slot
• Lens Mount RF (natively supporting RF and RF-S lenses) EF and EF-S lenses can be attached using Mount Adapter EF-EOS R, EF-EOS R Control Ring Mount Adapter, Drop-in Filter Mount Adapter EF-EOS R EF-M lenses are not compatible
• ISO Sensitivity Auto 100-32000 (in 1/3-stop or whole-stop increments) ISO can be expanded to H: 51200
• Built-in Flash GN (ISO 100, meters) 6

The camera costs $680, or, the RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM and RF-S 55-210mm f/5-7.1 IS STM lenses, is available for $1,029.

You’re a beginner in dental photography? No worries! Check out our online Dental Photography Fundamentals online course!