Best Canon EOS R50 Settings for Beginners: Photo Setup

The best Canon EOS R50 settings for a beginner are RAW image quality, Touch & drag AF, focus peaking, the lens control ring set to aperture, and the Q button for anything you change often. Set those once in the menus, then shoot in a mode you understand and let the camera's subject-detection autofocus do most of the work.

Why the R50 rewards a few minutes of setup

The R50 is a compact camera with a 24.2MP APS-C sensor. It runs on Canon's DIGIC X processor, which PetaPixel describes as much more powerful than the DIGIC 8 in the M50 II.

Its controls are pared back. On the top you get one control wheel, a mode select dial, an ISO button and a record button. PetaPixel notes that the body lacks a second dial and a joystick. The Digital Picture points out that the touchscreen and the lens control ring provide alternative access to the missing dial functions.

That means the menus carry more of the load than they do on bigger bodies. A handful of changes up front make the camera faster every time you pick it up.

If you are still deciding whether this camera suits you, Canon EOS R50: Best Beginner Camera in the Canon RF System? covers that question in detail.

First-day setup basics

Format the card in the camera

The Digital Picture's 36-step R50 setup recommends always formatting a memory card in-camera before using it, from Set-up Menu, Tab 1. Formatting erases all data on the card, so copy your files off first.

Silence the beep

The same setup sets Beep to Disable in Set-up Menu, Tab 2. A quiet camera is easier to use in shops, at events and around other people.

Set Auto Rotate to computer only

Setting Auto Rotate to "On computer" means vertical images display correctly on a computer but still fill the LCD when you review them on the camera. That keeps your playback images as large as possible on the small rear screen.

Write your settings down

The Digital Picture suggests keeping an up-to-date list of your menu settings, so you can rebuild your setup quickly after the camera is reset to factory state, serviced, or joined by a second camera. A note on your phone is enough.

Image quality settings

Shoot RAW if you plan to edit

A RAW file keeps far more information than a JPEG. The Digital Picture's setup sets RAW to "RAW" and JPEG to "-" in Shooting Menu, Tab 1, using the top control dial for the RAW setting and the rear direction keys for JPEG. Its reasoning is that RAW files provide the highest quality and are especially valuable for post-processing.

If you would rather share straight from the camera, JPEG is a perfectly good choice. Canon's EOS cameras let you adjust noise reduction, sharpness and other image settings in camera, which matters most when you want finished JPEGs.

Lens aberration correction

Chromatic aberration shows up as purple or green outlines along bright edges. The Digital Picture turns all Lens Aberration Correction options off in Shooting Menu, Tab 5, but suggests that most photographers enable Chromatic Aberration correction. As a beginner, leaving that correction on saves you a cleanup step later.

Keep ISO modest

Digital Camera World found the R50's files cleaner than it expected from the M50, but advises that you still won't want to push ISO to extremes. The Digital Picture describes this sensor's noise levels as low and its dynamic range as high. ISO has its own button on the top plate.

Raise ISO only after you have opened the aperture as far as your lens allows and slowed the shutter as much as your subject permits.

Shutter settings

The R50 has no full mechanical shutter. You choose between a fully electronic shutter and electronic front curtain (EFC).

Shutter type	Speed range	Best for
Electronic front curtain (EFC)	30 sec to 1/4000 sec	Flash photography and lights that flicker
Electronic	30 sec to 1/8000 sec	Fast bursts at up to 15 fps

EFC makes a sensible everyday default, since PetaPixel notes it still enables flash photography and eliminates the flicker caused by some lights. Switch to the electronic shutter for action: Digital Camera World lists 15 frames per second continuous shooting with it.

Shutter speeds change in 1/3-stop increments, and 1/2-stop increments are not available. The Digital Picture calls the 1/8000 sec top speed a great feature at this price, since older entry-level Canon bodies stopped at 1/4000 sec.

Autofocus settings

PetaPixel calls the R50's autofocus surprisingly excellent, saying its subject detection is more capable than any other APS-C camera on the market, though not as successful as the R8 or R6 Mark II. The R50 inherited its subject-recognition AF from the Canon EOS R6 Mark II. Writing about the closely related R50 V, The Digital Picture says Canon's Dual Pixel CMOS AF often frees you to concentrate on composition and shutter timing.

Turn on Touch & drag AF

In AF Menu, Tab 3, enable Touch & drag AF. It lets you drag your thumb across the rear LCD to move the AF point while you look through the electronic viewfinder. With no joystick on the body, this is the quickest way to place focus by hand.

Turn on focus peaking

Focus peaking shows you what is sharp when you focus manually. The Digital Picture sets MF peaking settings to On, also in AF Menu, Tab 3.

Using the Quick Control screen

The Quick Control screen is where you should change most settings day to day. Pressing the Q button brings it up, and The Digital Picture says Canon's touchscreens make changing settings easy.

Get in the habit of pressing Q first and the Menu button second. Tap the setting you want, change it, and get back to shooting. Save the full menus for one-time setup like the changes in this guide.

Set up your display screens

The information display can show a lot or a little. The Digital Picture's setup, in Shooting Menu, Tab 8, under Shooting info. disp., enables screens 1, 2, 3 and 4. It edits screen 2 to show only basic shooting info and the electronic level, and screen 3 to show basic shooting info, the histogram and the electronic level.

That gives you a clean view for composing and a second view for checking exposure, one button press apart.

For Canon menu habits that carry across models, the Canon Camera Menu Setup Guide walks through the general menu structure.

Custom controls: the control ring and dials

Put aperture on the control ring

With a single control wheel on top, you need a second way to change exposure. The Digital Picture's setup goes to Custom Functions Menu, Tab 3, then Customize dials, and sets Control ring to Av. If your lens has a control ring, that puts aperture on the lens and leaves the main wheel free for shutter speed in Manual mode.

Stop the lens retracting

In the same tab, The Digital Picture sets Retract lens on power off to OFF. That prevents a carefully chosen focus distance from resetting when the camera auto powers off.

Hold off on reassigning buttons

The Digital Picture notes that the R50's reduced controls and small grip may frustrate advanced photographers. As a beginner, use the camera as it comes for a few weeks before moving buttons around. Once you notice a setting you dig for over and over, that is the one worth putting on a control.

Setting	Where to find it	Suggested value
Image quality	Shooting Menu, Tab 1	RAW, JPEG off
Lens Aberration Correction	Shooting Menu, Tab 5	Chromatic Aberration correction on
Shooting info. disp.	Shooting Menu, Tab 8	Screens 1 to 4 enabled
Touch & drag AF	AF Menu, Tab 3	Enable
MF peaking	AF Menu, Tab 3	On
Auto Rotate	Set-up Menu, Tab 1	On computer
Beep	Set-up Menu, Tab 2	Disable
Control ring	Custom Functions Menu, Tab 3	Av
Retract lens on power off	Custom Functions Menu, Tab 3	OFF

Which shooting mode to start in

The R50's fully automatic A+ mode includes Creative Assist adjustments, Creative Bracketing and Advanced A+, which uses computational photography. Digital Camera World adds that the camera's guided shooting helps newcomers use the automatic and semiautomatic modes.

Start in A+ for your first few days if the camera feels new. Then move to Av, where you pick the aperture and the camera picks the shutter speed. Aperture is the setting that most changes how a photo looks, so it is the best one to learn first.

What reviewers' sample settings show

Digital Camera World's R50 review images were shot with fast primes, and the exposure data shows how a wide aperture keeps ISO low.

Lens	Shutter	Aperture	ISO
RF 50mm f/1.8	1/40 sec	f/1.8	100
Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro	1/100 sec	f/1.8	100
RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro	1/30 sec	f/1.8	2000

Digital Camera World's James Artaius describes the R50 with a couple of f/1.8 primes as a featherweight package with a heavyweight punch. For lens ideas, see Best Canon Lenses for Beginners Photography.

Battery life and the kit lens

The R50 uses Canon's smaller, lower-capacity battery. In PetaPixel's testing, a casual day of photography was possible, but video drained the battery very quickly. Carry a spare if you plan to film.

The R50 comes body-only, with the RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM, or in a two-lens kit that adds the RF-S 55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM. Canon lists the 18-45mm at about 44.3 mm long and 130 g, with a 0.20 m minimum focus distance and 0.16x maximum magnification. Canon rates its built-in stabilization at 4.0 stops, measured on the EOS R10 at 45 mm.

R50 or R50 V: what changes for settings

The R50 V shares the R50's 24.2MP sensor, and The Digital Picture reports the same image quality across both. Digital Camera World says the R50 V has slightly better autofocus, better burst buffering, and better video, audio and connectivity.

The controls and menus differ, though. Digital Camera World describes the R50 V's body, ergonomics and menu system as an entirely different proposition. Its back has five buttons and a multi-controller with a dial, four cross keys and a center button. A dedicated Color button opens Picture Styles, Color Filters and Custom Picture File settings, and the menus re-orient when you shoot vertically.

For stills, the standard R50's viewfinder is the bigger difference: Digital Camera World calls its EVF preferable for many situations and frames the R50 V as a rear-screen camera. If you mostly shoot photos, the settings in this guide map directly onto the R50.