Canon broke with its tradition of upgrading the line every 18 months, introducing the EOS 50D just 12 months from the introduction of the 40D. The move has helped Canon catch up with the Nikon D300, which made quite a splash in the market. With the same rugged, conservative body as the 40D, the Canon EOS 50D’s only distinguishing mark is the silver bezel on its mode dial. There are a few minor changes to how the buttons and controls are used, but for the most part the Canon 50D’s body is unchanged.

he 50D features a proprietary CMOS sensor with an effective 15.1 megapixels of resolution (an increase from the 40D’s 10.1 megapixel sensor), a new DIGIC IV 14-bit image processor, a new menu system, and better weather sealing where the various parts of the camera body come together. The 40D’s bright viewfinder with interchangeable screens and nine-point auto focus system return, with the addition of live view with enhanced contrast-detect AF. The 50D also gets a new “Clear View” 3.0 inch LCD with improved resolution and greater visibility in direct sunlight.

LCD size, resolution, and sunlight readability is particularly important for the 50D since it sports a live view system, allowing the screen to be used for shot composition. The 50D’s live view implementation is a significant improvement over the first-generation live view feature on the 40D, with the addition of a contrast-detection AF mode that allows the camera to auto focus without interrupting the on-screen preview as on the 40D.

The Megapixel-count may have increased by around 50%, but there’s only a fractional drop in continuous shooting performance with the EOS 50D boasting 6.3fps to the 40D’s 6.5fps. Image processing is courtesy of the latest DIGIC 4 which offers ‘Peripheral Illumination Correction’ on JPEGs to reduce the effect of vignetting where the image darkens towards the corners. Staying on the subject of lenses, the EOS 50D also features the welcome facility of fine-tuning the AF on lenses, inherited from Canon’s pro range.