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About Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera
Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera is externally very similar to its predecessor, has the same rugged, conservative body as the DSLR EOS 40D; its only distinguishing mark is the silver bezel on its mode dial. Major changes to the DSLR Canon 50D digital camera include a new 15.1-megapixel APS-C image sensor, a faster DIGIC 4 image processor, an ISO rating of up to 12,800, new vignetting correction, and a high-resolution LCD display with 920,000 pixels
The EOS 50D's digital SLR camera starting with the new image sensor, 15.1-megapixel CMOS design raises the resolution significantly from the Canon 40D's 10.1 megapixels. As we've seen with other recent resolution increases in Canon SLR sensors though, a few changes have been made to the sensor design to keep noise low. First, the light-sensitive area of each photosite has been increased in size through more efficient cell design. There are also now no gaps between the microlenses that sit over each 4.7µm photosite; Canon calls them "gapless" microlenses
Couple this with Canon's new DIGIC IV image processor, which offers improvements in noise reduction, and we're told that noise levels from the EOS 50D's images should actually be noticably reduced compared to the same ISO sensitivity setting from the EOS 40D.A measure of Canon's confidence in the claim can be seen in the range of ISO sensitivities offered on the Canon 50D
Canon EOS 50D's ISO ranges from ISO 100 to 3,200 in 1/3 EV increments, and can be extended to ISO 6,400 and 12,800, using the H1 and H2 ISO settings. Additionally, the EOS 50D's High ISO noise reduction function can now be controlled in 3 steps: low, medium, or strong, or turned off completely. There's no effect on burst rate at either the low or medium settings, but using the strong setting will result in a reduced burst framerate.
The Canon 50D offers 6.3 frames per second burst shooting at the camera's full 15.1-megapixel resolution. While the speed is just slightly reduced from the 6.5 frames per second on the 40D, it nonetheless represents a dramatic increase in throughput to the memory card, given the significant increase in sensor resolution. Holding the frame rate steady in the face of a 50% increase in pixel count is quite an accomplishment. The buffer depth is close to unchanged in RAW mode, with the Canon 50D offering 16 shots versus a 17 shot burst-depth for the 40D.
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