Photo — The kit
#photo/gear · Note 1 of 7 · part of Photography
Canon EOS R50
- APS-C, 24.2MP, RF mount, DIGIC X
- Crop factor 1.6× — this matters constantly, see below
- Dual Pixel CMOS AF II with subject detection (people, animals, vehicles). The autofocus is genuinely excellent and is the best thing about this body.
- ISO 100–32000 native
- Mechanical shutter to 1/4000; electronic to 1/8000
- No in-body stabilisation. The single most consequential limitation.
RF 35mm f/1.8 IS STM Macro
- f/1.8 maximum aperture — this is the aperture, not the ISO. Aperture controls light and depth of field; ISO is sensor gain. See Photo — Exposure, plainly.
- A full-frame lens on an APS-C body, so the field of view is 35 × 1.6 ≈ 56mm equivalent — a "normal" lens, close to how the eye frames a scene. Not wide. This is worth internalising before blaming the lens for a cramped landscape.
- Hybrid IS in the lens — roughly 5 stops. Since the body has none, all stabilisation comes from here.
- 0.5× macro, which is a genuinely useful bonus and largely why this lens is the one to own first.
What this combination is superb at
- Low-light static subjects — see Photo — Low light
- Portraits at a natural focal length, with real subject separation at f/1.8
- Close-up and detail work, thanks to the macro
- Anything where autofocus needs to just work
What it cannot do
- Wide landscapes. 56mm equivalent is not a landscape lens. You will be stitching panoramas or backing up a long way.
- Reach. No telephoto — see Photo — Telephoto for what I'd add.
- Moving subjects in low light. IS stabilises the camera, not the subject. A stabilised 1/8s of a walking person is a sharp blur.
- Long handheld video. No IBIS means walking footage needs digital IS, which crops.
→ Next: Photo — Exposure, plainly · Series: Photography