Replace Canon 7D with M50 - Is Mirrorless Good Enough Yet ?
Discussion
After almost 10 years with my 7D, I think I can justify an upgrade - the lack of native wifi/bluetooth frustrates me and I read that the high ISO performance of the current sensors is much improved. I've very tempted to go for an EOS M50 rather another DSLR.
I'm aware that at least one poster here has done exactly this and would be very interested in impressions of how it's worked out. I'm particularly interested in views of how AF performance compares with current DSLRs both with native EF-M lenses and with EF and EF-S with the adapter.
I've been an EOS user for a long while and have had several generations of bodies going back to the film days - I've bought and sold a lot of lenses during that time and have finally settled on a bagful that I'm very happy with ( EF-S 10-22, EF-S 17-55, EF 70-300L, EF 35f2) - and I'm loath to give them up.
I bought an original EOS-M a few years ago bundled with an EF-M 22, EF-M 18-55 and the EF adapter because it was cheap and I was curious - I still have it but barely use it. I very much like the build quality and compactness of both lenses and body, the IQ with both native and EF/EF-S lenses is great but the AF speed is awful with native lenses and worse still with EF lenses - I found it unusable for anything except static scenes.
My photography is general travel and family stuff. I take my camera to the occasional motorsport event or airshow but my interest is casual and not serious.
Has the technology come far enough for an M50 to be a genuine DSLR replacement for my purposes ?
I'm aware that at least one poster here has done exactly this and would be very interested in impressions of how it's worked out. I'm particularly interested in views of how AF performance compares with current DSLRs both with native EF-M lenses and with EF and EF-S with the adapter.
I've been an EOS user for a long while and have had several generations of bodies going back to the film days - I've bought and sold a lot of lenses during that time and have finally settled on a bagful that I'm very happy with ( EF-S 10-22, EF-S 17-55, EF 70-300L, EF 35f2) - and I'm loath to give them up.
I bought an original EOS-M a few years ago bundled with an EF-M 22, EF-M 18-55 and the EF adapter because it was cheap and I was curious - I still have it but barely use it. I very much like the build quality and compactness of both lenses and body, the IQ with both native and EF/EF-S lenses is great but the AF speed is awful with native lenses and worse still with EF lenses - I found it unusable for anything except static scenes.
My photography is general travel and family stuff. I take my camera to the occasional motorsport event or airshow but my interest is casual and not serious.
Has the technology come far enough for an M50 to be a genuine DSLR replacement for my purposes ?
Edited by Seight_Returns on Friday 11th October 12:11
When I upgraded my 7D to an EOS R I also upgraded my daughters camera from the EOS M to the M50. While I haven't shot very much on the M50, so I can't really comment on the usability of the M50, I do do all her processing for her so can comment on the image files. I would say that the higher ISO stuff is much cleaner than the 7D was by at least a full stop (1600 being as usable as 800 was on the 7D) and image quality through her M mount 18-55mm is pretty good, and with the adaptor and my ef lenses (primarily ef50mm f1.8, ef100mm f2.8 and a Youngnuo 35mm f2 (surprisingly good considering the price) is certainly better than I was getting with my old 7D. It's certainly a nice camera to hold and shoot with and also makes a great second camera for shooting video with.
Of course the EOS R is something else all together!
Of course the EOS R is something else all together!
It can't compare the EOSM 50 against the 7D, but, bought a second hand M50 a few weeks ago, although it's much better than my EOSM it's still nowhere near the performance of my 5mkiii. The SLR is quicker to respond when you need to quickly grab a shot and low light performance is much better (as you would expect with a FF sensor). The EOM50 is ok at higher ISOs but again, the 5D is much better even though it's now an old camera. The 15-45mm stock lens has better IQ than the 18-55 (less chromatic aberration and a bit sharper) although the build quality isn't as good. The EOSM is a good little camera but for anything meaningful is be using the 5D
I've still got my 7D because the crop sensor handy for sports photography and it's still a damned good camera although high-iso as you say isn't great. I have upgraded to an EOS-R which is great.
You really do notice the difference when using full-frame vs crop when photographing sport (eg motorsport or airshow) in your case. It also is surprising the difference in 'feel' / sound the mirrorless is when shooting especially in continuous mode!
However, I also have an M5 (having also got/had M, M3) and very happy with that especially for travel and family stuff.
Really depends what size of camera you want to carry around (and of course whether you care about using adapters for EF on the RF (EOS-R) or EF-M mounts.
I've had no issue with AF speeds with either the EOS-R or the M5 using adaptors and EF 100-400Mk1 etc. You'd probably be happy with the M50 but it's the size and handling that's probably the biggest difference to using the 7D so you should definitely try one and see what you think before worrying about image differences. My 20D still took great shots printed at A4 so the "amazing ability" of modern sensors isn't everything!
You really do notice the difference when using full-frame vs crop when photographing sport (eg motorsport or airshow) in your case. It also is surprising the difference in 'feel' / sound the mirrorless is when shooting especially in continuous mode!
However, I also have an M5 (having also got/had M, M3) and very happy with that especially for travel and family stuff.
Really depends what size of camera you want to carry around (and of course whether you care about using adapters for EF on the RF (EOS-R) or EF-M mounts.
I've had no issue with AF speeds with either the EOS-R or the M5 using adaptors and EF 100-400Mk1 etc. You'd probably be happy with the M50 but it's the size and handling that's probably the biggest difference to using the 7D so you should definitely try one and see what you think before worrying about image differences. My 20D still took great shots printed at A4 so the "amazing ability" of modern sensors isn't everything!
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