we’re looking at the canon sl3 which is the update to the very very popular canon sl2 but is it really worth the upgrade and who is this camera really for and i know what you’re asking should i buy this over the cheaper and arguably better canon m50 well to be honest it’s a pretty complicated story so let’s dive right in and figure out exactly what this camera does and who exactly it’s for let’s get into it by the way if you’re new to the channel we talk about anything and everything to do with camera gear from entry level to high-end professional gear plus filmmaking techniques to take your work to the next level so make sure to subscribe for all the fun and exciting content we have coming this year and i’m going to leave links down below to all the gear that we talk about today in today’s video and all of the gear that i personally use so make sure to check that out let’s get into the video so let’s jump right into the specs this camera has a 24 megapixel aps-c size sensor which is extremely popular and is actually in most of canon’s top of the line cameras it also has a digic8 processor which is only a slight bump over the sl2 digix 7 processor it doesn’t really change that much in the camera but it does give you 4k and slightly better autofocus but more on that later and one of the best things about the sl3 is the fact that it has a full ef mount on it which the m50 does not with the ef mount you literally have access to the entire range of canon lineup you have canon lenses and you have the third party lenses which are some of the best looking and also some of the most affordable lenses on the planet right now with this camera you will literally never run out of good lenses to shoot on and above all else the canon colors just look perfect the reds the blues the green are just the right hues faces and people look super attractive
there’s something about canon colors where everybody looks good and it has this classic look that everybody adores so if you do have an ugly friend use this camera in terms of photos it does 5 frames per second in continuous autofocus in full 24 megapixel canon raw which unfortunately sounds way more impressive than it actually is 5 frames per second at this price point is not that impressive and it’s actually not that great the canon m50 does 10 frames per second with the same autofocus so to be honest it’s kind of a leptin the autofocus in the sl3 is truly impressive through the optical viewfinder you get nine points of autofocus which not that impressive but in live view you get three thousand points of autofocus if you’re someone that uses the lcd to compose your photos you literally cannot take a bad photo with this the colors look good the sensor is amazing and the autofocus is spot on you literally can’t take a bad photo sadly because of the relatively slow speed of 5 frames per second i wouldn’t recommend this camera for action shots or sports but i actually think this would be a great portrait and product photography camera and i actually did a quick test shoot with one of my friends baking companies and the photos came out amazing i love the way this camera treats colors the blues and the reds really pop everything in these photos seems so vibrant and i did not edit any of these photos these photos looked good right out of the camera and i was really really impressed with the colors so quick side note canon actually made some changes to this camera to prevent you from using third-party flashes but those manufacturers that it was trying to stop actually put together a firmware update to still let you use their flashes on this camera canon obviously did this to get more money from its consumer but honestly canon this is not the way to do it if you want people to buy your product make a better product don’t limit people from using other products but what about video because the reason a lot of people are looking at the canon m50 over the sl3 is precisely because of what the m50 does differently for video so this camera does full hd
at 30 frames per second and 60 frames per second there is no 24 frames per second or 120 frames per second at 720p which obviously puts us more as a camera used for streamers and vloggers or everyday people that aren’t professionals though despite my calm demeanor i am upset about the lack of 24 frames per second in this camera there’s no reason for it not to be there other than canon just being cheap with its consumers this camera does have 24 frames per second in 4k however that 4k comes with a massive and i mean massive 1.6 times crop which zooms in all of your lenses and adds a bunch of rolling shutter and soft images honestly when it comes to 4k and most canon cameras i would just totally skip it the only cameras that do 4k properly probably the eos r5 r6 and the canon 90d however the one place that the 4k in this camera could be useful is if you’re doing a talking head thing like this or if you’re a streamer where your camera isn’t seeing that much motion that 4k is going to be really useful for you guys simply because without motion you’re not going to save a lot of rolling shutter and this camera does clean hdmi out in 10-bit color so if you’re a twitch streamer or a youtube streamer you’ll find this camera really really useful and this camera does have digital image stabilization which comes in really handy for handheld work for both photo and video it’s something you won’t notice until it’s gone but it’s extremely useful and the autofocus for video in this camera is spectacular the autofocus for photos is amazing but for videos it is just so seamless and simple it does really good face and object tracking plus the sl3 has eye tracking if you’re shooting people with this camera you are literally going to have no problem whatsoever keeping people in focus as for videos i wouldn’t recommend this to a cinematic filmmaker but if you’re a vlogger you’re actually going to have a great time with this camera
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specifically because of the eye autofocus and if you’re a streamer you’re going to get great stuff for someone that’s a vlogger a streamer just kind of an internet personality that wants to create a lot of content you’re actually really going to enjoy this camera with that being said the m50 also has dual pixel autofocus also has 4k but it also does 720p at 120 frames per second but that’s not the full story there’s one more thing that we have to look at before we can decide what camera is better for you so next let’s talk about body and design because i feel like this is going to be the category that’s going to make it or break it for most of you the body’s well designed and extremely compact the canon sl3 is actually the smallest dslr on the camera market right now and on top of that it’s really well built it has a really premium feel i love the way the buttons all have a sandpaper finish it just feels like a luxury product the only thing that disappoints me is that it’s not weather sealed it would have been really nice to see for this price point the ergonomics on this camera are fantastic it’s well laid out and it’s easy and quick to work with this camera and i really like the new simplified mode dial it’s nice to just have the important settings there without having a bunch of clutter on there and the touch screen on the back of this camera makes it way easier to work with you can quickly and easily navigate through all the different settings change your shutter iso everything right from the screen without having to figure out what button does what or dig through a bunch of menus and while we’re talking about the touch screen it’s one of my favorite features on this camera it’s a flip out screen that comes up to the side so you can get many viewing angles and also flip it around to see yourself and on top of that because it’s a touch screen you can actually touch to focus on different things which makes focusing way easier software and menu wise it’s spectacular canon cameras are known for their amazing user interface and this camera is no different it’s really easy to go through the menu
they’re really simple there’s really not that many of them you could literally give this camera to anybody and it’s pretty easy to just pick up and figure it out on your own and on top of that the user interface for controlling the actual camera is really snappy really well laid out the camera is an absolute pleasure to use in it’s not that complicated one of the best things this camera and pretty much every canon camera has going for it is the fact that they’re so accessible and easy to use and if you’re a beginner you’re really gonna like this camera because it actually has a creative beginner mode built right in that actually gives you suggestions based on what you’re trying to achieve it’ll actually ask you do you want to make this more vivid do you want to make the colors like this you want to make this like this it’ll actually step by step guide you through what you’re trying to achieve and help you set up the camera it’s kind of like having your own assistant built into the camera one place the sl3 really shines that the m50 definitely does not is battery life the canon sl2 and the sl3 use the exact same battery but the sl3 actually gives you double the battery life thanks to the digik 8 processor i’ve been shooting non-stop with the sl3 for the last three days and i still don’t have to charge my battery the battery life on this camera is truly impressive and that’s probably the biggest thing that sets the canon sl3 and the m50 apart the sl3 has things like creative assistant built right in a nice big robust dslr body style and a way way better battery life the m50 is a really good camera specs wise but it’s small it doesn’t have an ef mount it doesn’t have the greatest battery life and it definitely doesn’t have a creative assistant which is key for someone that’s just starting out and is a beginner that’s trying to learn so the moment of truth is the canon sl3 worth buying and should you get it over the canon m50 it’s a complicated story but this is my brutally honest opinion
i mean this in the nicest way possible you should never ever ever buy the canon sl3 unless unless you’re someone that specifically wants to cut no corners and you just want a dslr beginner camera with an ef mount with a great battery life you like that body cell with the shutter slap and all and you just don’t want to deal with small mirrorless cameras then get the sl3 it makes sense you just don’t want to deal with the fuss but if you’re someone that cares about specs and what comes out of your camera more than like what your camera looks like or how it feels like in your hands definitely get the canon m50 because without a doubt the canon 50 is a better camera than the sl3 but there’s more the one thing to note is that the canon m50 isn’t an ef mount lens you only get canon m lenses which is the mirrorless lenses if you want to get ef lenses you actually have to get a speed booster which can be anywhere between 300 to 500 depending on the quality of speed booster however with the speed booster you actually go from an aps-c size sensor to a professional full frame sensor and that speed booster actually makes all of your lenses and images one stop brighter simply because of how speed boosters work and with the speed booster the two cameras are actually much more on par so it really depends what do you want to use the cameras for personally
i recommend the sl3 to someone that doesn’t want to have to deal with adapters or all that fuss just wants a dslr with long battery life wants that nice dslr feel in their hands and wants to be able to natively use ef lenses with no fuss or adapters because one thing to be said about using a speed booster on the m50 your auto autofocus isn’t quite as good it’s still pretty good but it’s not as good as a native ef lens i don’t think i would ever buy the canon m50 without a speed booster the canon m line of lenses simply doesn’t have a very good selection and i don’t think they look quite as good as the ef lenses which are way more accessible and way more affordable i think the canon m50 is a really nice budget video camera and obviously in the right hands i’ve seen people put cinema glass with the speed booster and it looks incredible but i think i’d rather stick to the sl3 just because i’ve got my native ef lenses no huss no fuss great battery life i like the body feel the m50 it’s a little too small for me it’s a little too anemic and i don’t like the short battery life and i don’t love the idea of reducing my autofocus with a speed booster i think the sl3 is for someone that wants to get a camera that works really well right out of the box no fuss and the m50 makes more sense for someone that’s willing to jump through a few hoops maybe a young cinematographer or a filmmaker that wants a full-frame look on a budget well guys that’s pretty much it for the canon sl3
