Canon M50 - The Best Camera For Content Creators, Beginners & Online Business Owners

In my last post, I delivered my personal recommended list of cameras for beginners; categorised by price. In this post, I decided to whittle down the list to one single camera. A camera which took all factors into account; price, image quality, video specification, versatility etc. After all things considered, I decided on the Canon EOS M50 as the one for the people.

In this post, I'll be detailing why the Canon M50 is my best all round camera for beginners, vloggers, Instagram posts and general leisure.

Once you receive your Canon M50, unboxing it will reveal a number of essentials including the camera itself, charging unit and cable, lens, a neck strap – for ease carrying it around as well as an instruction manual (which I never read personally).

It is important to note that some online sellers do not include the lens with the camera, so make sure to get one with the lens included as they can be quite expensive.

Another essential for using the camera that doesn’t come with the box is a memory card, the SanDisk brand comes highly recommended because of its durability, good price and the ease with which content lost on the card can be recovered, as compared to others.

Setting up the camera – it is quite easy to assemble on your own, but if you’re having any difficulty you can check the instruction manual or watch my recent YouTube video above.

Let’s get into why this camera is good for the "people".

1. Price – The camera averages at about £400 brand new. This is a steal based on the many pro-like features it comes with. It easily challenges cameras in the £800+ segment (from the same brand) when tested on image quality and video specifications. The price point makes it accessible for beginners who are serious about the craft, and even professionals who just require a backup camera. If you already own an online business, this should be a light purchase for you 😉.

2. Size – Getting a camera that is compact and easy to carry around is a good idea, especially for individuals who run business that require a lot of movement/mobility, or individuals who already have to carry around a lot equipment. I can imagine an adverse situation where a make up artist who already has to travel with a large trunk having to also deal with a separate camera bag. This would never be an issue with the Canon M50 as it is small enough to be easily slipped into the pre-existing equipment case/trunk.

3. Professional Settings – The Canon M50 provides all the settings and configurations found on a "professional" camera to allow you to also achieve professional results. Configurations like ISO, shutter speed and aperture can all be adjusted to help get the perfect image. If you do not know what these are, I'll be explaining them in detail in a future post/video. For now, you can just put the camera in the "Auto" setting and hope for the best. 🙃

4. Image Quality - The camera features a 24 megapixel sensor which provides a crisp, sharp, well detailed image. It holds up very well against much more expensive cameras such as the Canon EOS R (a £1,400 camera) which comes with a 30 megapixel sensor. Your average joe consumer would never be able to tell the difference between the image from both cameras; and the difference would be virtually impossible to spot once both images have been uploaded to Instagram as most social media platforms compress the image anyway (this is what people mean when they say "Twitter ruined the quality" 🤣). All in all, just expect pro quality images.

5. Video Settings – For those looking to shoot video, you will be pleased to know that the Canon M50 shoots in 4K. Again, if you don't know what that mean, don't worry, it simply means the image looks amazingly clear and sharp. You can also shoot 1080p up to 60fps meaning you can create some nice slow motion videos in full HD quality. All in all, for the price, you cannot go wrong with these video specs.

6. Autofocus – The Canon M50 incorporates Canon dual pixel autofocus technology. I'll be honest, I don't know what that means exactly, however I do know that whenever I use the autofocus feature in the M50 camera, it is faster than my £1300 Panasonic cameras when I need it to lock onto a subject and deliver a clear image. This is true for both video and photo. Therefore you just need to understand that if you’re shooting a moving target, this model is smart enough to lock onto it deliver excellent focus to produce sharp pictures and video for you. This makes it ideal for vlogging as you would never have time to adjust focus when you are holding it towards your face and talking to it.

7. Flip Out Screen – This flip out screen is a non-negotiable factor for me personally, while rather self-explanatory is great for shooting videos and vlogging as it allows to view yourself or the subject while recording so you can take note of your settings and prevent fails like the camera dying mid-shoot while filming.

8. Battery Life – Reviews suggest that while continuously shooting on the Canon M50, it’ll average about an hour and a half of battery life before shutting off and can take about 230 shots in between, which is quite good for a professional camera. Batteries are also available separately and relatively inexpensive so it’s easy to get a backups just in case. As am amateur shooter, you probably won't be clicking away all the time, therefore the 230 shot count and 1.5 hour video shooting time should suffice. If you are taking pictures of your product for your business, unless you own a massive warehouse full of products, you probably wouldn't need 230 shots in one go.

9. Menu and Learning – The canon M50 provides a very use friendly menu. It packs all the settings under three easy to follow titles, with bright illustrative images and explanations. Each actual configuration also comes with a short explanation on what it does. These factors help to deliver the ideal environment for learning about your camera and learning about photography. My Canon EOS R does not provide this... I literally have to guess what everything means or learn by trial and error.

10. Connectivity – Finally, the camera comes equipped with connectivity features like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. This is ideal for two reasons:

1. It allows quick transfer of images from the camera to another device (phone, tablet etc) so that you can directly share the images on social media or with a client.

2. You connect the camera to your phone/tablet and see what the camera is seeing/control the camera remotely. This is perfect for when you want to record yourself and want to stand far from the camera. You can use your phone to see yourself and press start/stop from a distance away.

These are my 10 reasons why the Canon M50 is my recommended camera for 2020, for beginners, content creators and online business owners. The Canon M50 provides you with outstanding value for your money. I would seriously consider it during your search for "The One".

Should you decide that this camera is not for you, you can still benefit from this post by using the key points as your search points.