what’s up guys to gear and welcome to another tech gear talk today we’re going to compare two of the best beginner cameras from Canon the SL 2 and the m50 the SL 2 also known as the 200 d is a fantastic and extremely small DSLR which packs a ton of features on the other side we have the canon m 50 which is a super compact and powerful mirrorless camera from canon that offers 4k video we’re gonna talk about the strengths and weaknesses of each option when it comes to photography and video so that hopefully I can help you decide which option is best for you now my goal with every product comparison is to give you a detailed overview of the features of the product in a way that relates to real life use and if you find it helpful please let me know by giving it a like and then hitting the subscribe and notification buttons for more camera and tech reviews ok so let’s get going I’m going to get into the details for each aspects of the two cameras but to start out I want to go over some overall key features the Canon M 50 has a 24 point 1 megapixel aps-c CMOS sensor it uses canons super nice dual pixel autofocus system which is just awesome it has the brand-new digit 8 processor which
improves speed and performance as well as image quality it has a 3-inch fully articulating touchscreen LCD and can shoot video at up to 4k at 24 frames per second the m50 s combination image stabilization uses both five axes digital image stabilization and lens based image stabilization there’s a really nice OLED electronic viewfinder and it has Wi-Fi with NFC and Bluetooth so you can easily move images to your mobile device another nice feature of the m50 is that it has an external mic input and as a bonus you can now have full control over the camera for both photography and video using the Canon camera connect app moving on to the SL 2 the SL 2 has a twenty four point two megapixel aps-c CMOS sensor and it also uses canons dual pixel autofocus system with the SL two Canon implemented the digit 7 processor which again will help with speed performance and image quality it also has a 3-inch fully articulating touchscreen LCD and can shoot video at up to 1080p at 60 frames per second like the m50 the SL 2 also has an external mic input so you can use an external microphone and get better audio being a DSLR
the SL 2 uses an optical viewfinder and finally again we see Wi-Fi with NFC and Bluetooth so once again we can easily move images and video to your mobile device and then have control over the camera with a Canon camera connect tap ok to start out I want to talk about camera type so the SL 2 is a DSLR and the m50 is a mirrorless camera and if you’re not familiar with the difference let me take one minute and explain it the way a DSLR like the SL 2 works is the light passes through the lens and then hits a mirror that’s sitting right in front of the sensor it’s then redirected up the camera body where it hits another couple of mirrors which lets you see the image using the viewfinder when you take a picture of the mirror in front of the sensor flips up out of the way and then the shutter opens and the light can hit the sensor if you’re shooting video the mirror just locks in the open position and then light continuously hits the sensor now in a mirrorless camera like the m50 obviously there is no mirror so the sensor sits directly behind the shutter and the lens the
sensor is constantly being exposed to light and when you go to take a picture it’s covered and an uncovered again by the shutter now this is the main reason why mirrorless cameras are smaller than DSLRs because you don’t need to have a mirror in there the lens can be mounted much closer to the sensor and that’s why the body can be much thinner you also don’t need to have the whole prism leading up to an optical viewfinder so the body can be made much smaller now there are some disadvantages too but I’ll cover that whole topic in a more detailed video all right both the SL 2 and the m50 have a really impressive 24 megapixel aps-c CMOS sensor which i think is a great sensor for both DSLR and mirrorless cameras in general the bigger the sensor the better it is and a bigger sensor means better image quality because it’s able to use more information to create an image with more detail and better dynamic range it also gives you better performance in low-light these aps-c sensors are excellent when you’re shooting landscape portraits if you’re doing street photography if you want to take it with you while you travel
or if you just do family on lifestyle photography it’s also a great choice for shooting video creating content for YouTube or if you’re just a hobbyist it’s going to give you really nice and crisp video and of course canons color science is fantastic all in all the 24 megapixel aps-c sensors on the SL 2 on the m50 give you really nice performance at a very affordable price and because these sensors are essentially the same I’m gonna call it a tie as far as processors the SL 2 uses the digit 7 and the Canon M 50 uses the digit 8 both are great options but the advantage here goes to the m50 because of the newer processor together with the nice sensor both cameras will give you sharp images and video and good low-light performance again I’m going to give the m50 a slight edge here because the newer processor should lead to improved overall image quality there’s several other aspects that will impact your image quality aside from the sensor and the processor and we’ll get to them in a bit a general menu operation is fast in both cameras both have very quick start up in things like image preview and video playback are quick and responsive
one feature that I look for in every camera that I review is continuous or burst shooting you can just point the camera at a subject hold down the shutter and the camera will just keep firing this is a nice feature if you’re photographing kids running around pets sports or any fast-moving subjects now of course the more frames you can capture per second the more options you’ll have to choose from later on the m50 can shoot up to 10 frames per second and the sl2 can shoot it up to 6 frames per second so of course the edge here goes to the m50 ok next I want to talk about resolution and frame rates for photography both cameras offer 6000 by 4000 pixel images so as far as strict resolution goes it’s a time for video the sl2 can shoot at Full HD or 1080p at 24 30 and 60 frames per second the m50 can shoot at the same resolution option as the sl2 but it can also shoot at 4k at 24 frames per second so here again the advantage goes to the m50 because of the additional option to shoot at a much higher resolution of 4k now your choice of frames per second comes down to
what kind of look you want your video to have if you like a more cinematic look then you go with 24 frames per second but if you prefer a more crisp and sharp look then you can go with 60 frames per second I shoot all of my videos at 30 frames per second because I like to go somewhere in between now if you edit your videos at 30 frames per second like I do you can play your 60 frames per second video from either of these and then slow it down by 50% and it gives you a little bit of an option there to do slow motion if you want to do additional slow motion both the sl2 and the m50 have an HD or 720p options for shooting at 120 frames per second and this lets you slow things down even more but you are giving up on some resolution so to sum things up I’m giving the m50 the edge here when it comes to resolution because of the option of shooting 4k video I want to mention that this is only an advantage if you actually plan on using this feature so you should ask yourself if you want to store these larger files if you have a computer
that’s powerful enough to edit 4k footage before you decide that that’s an advantage that matters to you all right so let’s move on to lens options now the SL 2 can accept both EF and EFS mount lenses while the m50 uses the EF m mount this means that right out of the box the SL 2 has a significant advantage over the m50 because you have a much more extensive selection of lenses to choose from the EF M mount lenses are definitely limited especially when it comes to really fast lenses when I say fast I don’t mean how fast the shutter speed can be but rather how much you can open each lens to let more light in the SL 2 lets me use all of my L Series glass from Canon so I have much more flexibility now if you still want to use EF and EFS mount lenses on the m50 you can buy an adapter from Canon or a number of third-party providers this does open the door for more at the cost of having to buy and carry another piece of equipment I’m still giving the advantage to the SL – because natively it accepts a much larger selection of lenses both from Canon and other manufacturers if you’re looking for some of my favorite lens recommendations for each camera I’ll be doing a follow-up video but for
now I’ll go ahead and put them in the description of this video one thing to remember is that because both cameras use an aps-c sensor and not a full-frame sensor there is a crop factor of 1.6 X which means you have to take the focal length of the lens and then multiply it by 1.6 in order to get the 35 millimeter equivalent if you have any questions about this please let me know in the comment section below and I’ll do my best to explain this in more detail alright next let’s talk about the autofocus and this is something that you definitely want to consider when choosing a camera and the good news is that both the SL 2 and the m50 use canons dual pixel autofocus which is absolutely killer this is definitely one of the best autofocus systems on the market at any price for photography it can track a person using eye detection which is a super nice feature especially if the person is moving around or if you just want to reframe your shot without having to change the focus point now for video great continuous autofocus is critical if you’re vlogging and walking around with the
camera you can always set your focus manually unlock it but when you’re walking you’re moving you’re changing hands and the camera position always changes in distance between you and the camera is gonna change which is going to impact the focal plane and if you’re using manual focus while moving the camera around you’re not gonna get great results and a lot of people don’t realize how much even slight movement can impact focus like I said in the past about Canon cameras that use this system the dual pixel autofocus system just crushes it it will automatically detect your face and then you can just watch it follow you as you move through the frame and even if you move forward and backwards it does an awesome job for the purpose of creating YouTube content shooting interviews or just video in general I think good continuous autofocus is definitely a feature that you’re gonna want another thing that I can do with both cameras is click on different items
on the screen and then easily change the focus so I can get a really cool transition where in my video I talked about one thing and that I want to shift the viewers attention to something else I can just click on that item and then bring it into focus I do want to point out that for the m50 the dual pixel autofocus does not work when you’re shooting in 4k instead the m50 uses contrast detection to maintain focus and it doesn’t do a bad job but it’s not as good as the dual pixel autofocus system for me it’s essentially a tie since boat system used a dual pixel autofocus and the SL tube can’t shoot in 4k something else that I love both about the SL to any m54 video and why I think there’s such great options is that they both offer 3.5 milimeter mic input that’s a great feature if you want higher production value because it allows you to use an external microphone instead of the built-in omnidirectional one and that way you get much better sound so I can easily connect a shotgun mic or a lavalier microphone to either of these and I’m ready to go and this is a really nice and compact setup in both cases it’s light and I’ll get great video and awesome audio it’s just perfect for vlogging shooting talking head video and really any time where you want a more directional sound pickup
instead of the omnidirectional microphone that will pick up sound from everywhere there are a lot of outstanding microphone choices on the market and I’ll put links in the description to some of my favorites I also did a comparison of some of the most popular shotgun microphones on the market to help you pick a great option within your budget and I’ll link to it up in the corner and again in the description now as far as using a lavalier microphone I can use a wire level ear if I don’t mind being tethered to the camera or I can even go wireless if I want I can connect my Sennheiser AVX with an XLR to 3.5 millimeter adapter to either of these cameras and now I’ve got great audio and I’m not tethered to the camera I can move around and I’m always gonna get perfectly crisp audio so as far as audio goes it’s going to be a tie between the SL 2 and the 50 next let’s talk about size weight and build quality these cameras have similar body qualities Canon definitely focused on creating pretty solid camera bodies with good and secure grips on both the SL 2 and the m50 the SL 2 for a DSLR is crazy light and even with the 18 to 55 it still
weighs under 2 pounds now of course the m50 being a mirrorless camera it’s a lot smaller and even lighter and it weighs just a little bit over a pound with the 15 to 45 millimeter kit lens as far as portability goes I’m gonna give the advantage to the m50 because it is smaller and lighter than the SL 2 next I want to talk about the viewfinders the SL to being a DSLR has an optical viewfinder and on the other hand the m50 uses an electronic viewfinder and what I like about optical viewfinders is that they give you a sense of being in the scene if a good optical viewfinder can also be a great option when you’re shooting in very low light and the responsiveness and resolutions don’t suddenly drop on the other hand an electronic viewfinder gives you a larger view of the scene and it helps with immediate feedback when you make changes to your exposure I’m not gonna give either one of these in advantage because for me it’s less about which is better and it’s more about how you use it and what you prefer let’s move on to the screen both the SL 2 and the m50 have a
super versatile 3-inch fully articulating touch screen it can be flipped and then locked into position on the back of the camera to be used for live view or it can be flipped again for protection and storage when it’s not in use now some of the reasons why I love fully articulating screens is because it can be flipped out to the side to face up or to face down so depending on how you use either one of these cameras you have a lot of options if the camera is below you like on a slider or if it’s on the ground and you’re shooting up you can just take the screen out flip it up and then you don’t have to be laying on the ground while using either of these if on the other hand the camera is let’s say above your head and you’re trying to hold it up and take pictures of video over people’s heads you can just look up at the screen and again you totally see the screen regardless of the fact that the camera is way above your head so as far as the screen goes I’m gonna call it a tie between the sl2 on the m50 moving on both cameras come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and work with a Canon camera connect app the app lets you connect a mobile device
wirelessly to both of these cameras and then transfer images and videos so you can quickly share them in addition the SL 2 and the m50 can use the app to remotely control the camera for pictures so you can set the camera up and then use your phone as a remote screen to change settings focus points and then even take the picture when it comes to video both the SL 2 and the m50 give you complete control over the camera using the app you can frame your scene you can change settings and then you can remotely start and stop recording that is such a cool feature and it’s so convenient it makes being in front of the camera a lot easier there’s no more walking back and forth to start and stop the camera I can just sit down move myself or the camera until I get exactly the shot that I want and then start and stop the video right from my phone again it’s outstanding functionality for both of these cameras so once again I’m going to call it a time all right let’s talk about a few other features both cameras can do in body time-lapse it’s super simple to use and so much easier for most people then using an external intervalometer and then taking those pictures and converting them into a time-lapse using software the m50 has three specific time lapse in Aereo’s built in fast slow and slower subject movement and these options will
automatically pick the right settings for the time-lapse shot you can also adjust those settings if you want to save three different presets now if you want a little more controllers also a custom setting which gives you full control you can just select the interval in seconds which is how long there is between each shot how many shots you want the camera to take and whether you want auto exposure to be used on the first image and then remain the same or if you want the camera to auto expose for each picture the sl2 doesn’t come with presets or the ability to save them so you have to select your settings each time again for beginners it’s nice to have those presets and at the same I think that once you get used to it you’ll easily get the hang of using the custom feature for time lapse I’m gonna give the advantage here to the m50 because of the additional presets another feature I want to talk about especially if you’re gonna use this for vlogging or if you’re moving around a lot or shooting handheld is image stabilization the m50 offers five access digital image stabilization
and lens based image stabilization and it combines those two to try to get rid of some of the shakiness you get from handheld footage the sl2 on the other hand doesn’t have digital image stabilization and it only relies on the image stabilization coming from the lens I’m gonna give a slight edge to the m50 because it does give you the option for digital image stabilization but I’m gonna mention that I don’t really use it and if you plan on really moving around with this camera you should always use a three axis gimbal to get that perfectly smooth and buttery footage and I’ll add some links in the description to a few options that I think would work well for both of these cameras next let’s look at battery life and the SL 2 is rated for 650 shots with a single battery in the m50 is only rated for 235 shots that’s a huge advantage for the SL 2 and if you watch my detailed and 50 review you’ll see that I definitely recommend buying at least one additional battery if not – especially if you plan on shooting all day so like I said the advantage here definitely goes to the SL 2 because of the much better battery performance and finally let’s talk about price at the time I’m shooting this video there are some holiday specials so the SL 2 body costs $4.99 and the m50 body costs 579 depending on when you’re watching this video the prices may be different but the SL 2
should be less expensive than the m50 I try not to look at price but rather at the value but if you’re simply looking at the dollars the advantage goes to the SL 2 okay so both the SL 2 and the m50 have their strengths and weaknesses and that’s what makes it hard to say which is the best it comes down to which features are important to you and how you plan on using for some people getting a small and more portable camera and lenses with digital image stabilization and electronic viewfinder and an option to shoot a 4k are going to be the priority for other users having a full-featured DSLR with tons of interchangeable lens options an optical viewfinder and a lower price point are going to sound like the best fit you can’t have everything in any camera so it comes down to what’s important to you and I do my best to answer every question so if you have any additional questions just fire away in the comments section I’ll put some links in the description to where you can buy the m50 and the SL 2 as well as some of the popular kits and accessories and they’re always holiday specials and discounts and those links will be updated with the lowest pricing if you end up ordering anything using those links you can help support my channel for free and help me create more content for you and I thank you in advance I also have links in the description to the more detailed review of each of these cameras if you’re looking for a more in-depth review I really hope this video gave you a good comparison between the Canon SL 2 and M 50 and I would love to hear in the comment section which is the best option for you if it was helpful please let me know by giving this video a thumbs up tweet it share it and if you haven’t yet hit the subscribe a notification lens you can always find me on Twitter Instagram and Facebook a tech gear talk you know what I always say buy it nice or buy twice good luck and see you soon [Music]
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