When I first covered the Canon EOS M50 in Blackmagic “Pocket” Cinema Camera 4K vs competition: Canon, JVC, Panasonic and Sony (link ahead) in April 2018, all available published information indicated that this camera was segregated (“framerate restricted”) in the US, and both worldcam (“unlocked”) and cheaper in Europe. Now, published specs from a major US dealer have changed —haphazardly— and several verified purchasers have offered conflicting responses. Ahead are their responses and a link to Why we should only use worldcams.

Conflicting updated published specs

Above you will see what B&H photo’s website currently shows as the video framerates available in this camera, the Canon EOS M50. Even though it says “Yes, NTSC/PAL” at the top, PAL-derived framerates like 25 and 50 are strangely absent in all of the video formats listed.

Question and answers

I decided to write a question on B&H’s forum. The question I asked was:

Does this version of the Canon EOS M50 sold by B&H really have PAL-derived framerates (25p and 50p)? The specs says NTSC/PAL, but neglects to show 25/50.

I was hoping to get an answer either from a B&H rep or a Canon rep. Instead, so far I have received 6 conflicting answers from different verified purchasers of the Canon EOS M50 camera from B&H:

(Because the responses appear in a miniature popup window, it’s impossible to capture the answers in a single screenshot, so I did it in two steps. Here is a link to the thread.)

It is alarming to see how conflicting the answers are, especially since some of them were purchased only one day apart, so they are likely the same batch. It is possible that some of them didn’t know how to find the option in the menu, that there are different firmware versions or —despite the close dates— different batches.

Regarding firmware, the palindromic 1.0.1. posted by Canon mentions the following improvements, but no related to this worldcam issue.

1 . Fixes a phenomenon in which some images captured with the Adobe RGB color space may not successfully transfer to a smartphone.

2. Fixes a phenomenon in which some JPEG images, that were converted from RAW images may not successfully transfer to a smartphone.

Moral of the story

Given the conflicting responses from verified purchasers and published specs means that if you live in the US and want to purchase the Canon EOS M50, you should only purchase it from a dealer who guarantees this feature before opening the box in front of you or offers refunds.

Links to related articles

• Why we should only use worldcams (illustrated above)
• Tony Dae clarifies Blackmagic “Pocket” 4K camera crop
• Blackmagic “Pocket” Cinema Camera 4K vs competition: Canon, JVC, Panasonic and Sony (illustrated below)

(Re-)Subscribe for upcoming articles, reviews, radio shows, books and seminars/webinars

Stand by for upcoming articles, reviews, and books. Sign up to my free mailing list by clicking here. If you previously subscribed to my bulletins and no longer receive them, you must re-subscribe due to new compliance to GDPR. Most of my current books are at books.AllanTepper.com, and my personal website is AllanTepper.com.

Si deseas suscribirte (o volver a suscribirte) a mi lista en castellano, visita aquí. Si prefieres, puedes suscribirte a ambas listas (castellano e inglés).

Suscribe to his BeyondPodcasting show at BeyondPodasting.com.

Subscribe to his Tu radio global show at Turadioglobal.com.

Subscribe to his Tu salud secreta show at TuSaludSecreta.com.

Subscribe to his CapicúaFM show at CapicúaFM.com.

FTC disclosure

No manufacturer is specifically paying Allan Tépper or TecnoTur LLC to write this article or the mentioned books. Some of the other manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. Many of the manufacturers listed above have sent Allan Tépper review units. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur , BeyondPodcasting or TuNuevaRadioGlobal programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs. Allan Tépper’s opinions are his own.

Copyright and use of this article

The articles contained in the TecnoTur channel in ProVideo Coalition magazine are copyright Allan Tépper/TecnoTur LLC, except where otherwise attributed. Unauthorized use is prohibited without prior approval, except for short quotes which link back to this page, which are encouraged!