PHOTO QUALITY. This 24-megapixel mirrorless camera captured images with very good quality. Pictures were very sharp, which means you can see even tiny details and very subtle patterns in the image. In low-light situations without a flash, pictures were sharp. We judged this model very good for outdoor performance, such as shooting landscapes in the daytime; very good for indoor performance, such as photographing a well-lit basketball game in a gym. And very good for low-light performance without a flash, such as capturing a birthday party. Photos taken in our low-light performance tests displayed little image noise; subjects retained most of their correct detail and color.
FLASH. The EOS M50 w/EF-M 15-45mm IS STM with the 15-45mm kit lens captured flash shots that were good. In our distance test, we found the camera's flash could illuminate most subjects that are closer to the camera, but had some problems with distant subjects. The flash also has fair, somewhat uneven coverage.
LENS. This camera has a standard 3x optical zoom lens. The lens also has very wide-angle (24mm) capability that's very useful for landscapes and group portraits, although you may notice a bit of distortion when you're shooting faces up close, for instance.
IMAGE STABILIZATION. This is an important feature; taking hand-held shots at the telephoto end of the zoom range can generally blur or soften images due to the slight movement of your hands. Shooting telephoto in well-lit scenes, this model did a very good job of minimizing the effects of camera shake. In low-light settings, it performed very well and rarely produced blurry photos. Overall, the shake reduction results from our tests were very good.
SPEED. In terms of performance, the Canon EOS M50 w/EF-M 15-45mm IS STM powers up very quickly. It has a very short interval between shots, which can be important when shooting fast-moving or unpredictable subjects.
VIDEO. The Canon EOS M50 w/EF-M 15-45mm IS STM takes very good video. It also captures 4K-UHD video at 3840 x 2160 60p or 24i. As for sound, it captures good audio in stereo.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. Like most mirrorless models, this camera does include an electronic viewfinder, which means you have flexibility when composing your photo or video; this viewfinder has excellent quality. The display also swivels; this can be helpful when shooting self-portraits or hard-to-reach shots.
