EOS 50D review at dpreview – a not so good review

The latest review of the Canon EOS 50D has caused a lot of discussion in many forums, especially the result that the high ISO performance seems to be worse than in the EOS 40D – and not better as Canon claimed.
Another problem seems to be the reduced per-pixel detail compared to cameras like the EOS 40D.

Maybe Canon really put too many megapixels in the camera and many of the current lenses are not good enough to deliver excellent results with the new EOS 50D.

Obviously, megapixels still sell best. From a photographers point of view, I think it would have been much better to use “only” 12 MP or maybe even stay with 10 MP and make high ISO values better than in the EOS 40D (which is not bad up to ISO 1.600, but improvements are definitely possible).

My dream camera would have been a 12 MP version which is really one stop better than the EOS 40D. A 12 MP camera might also have been able to shoot at 8 frames per second. If Canon would have allowed that camera to use AF up to f8, then this camera would have been a wildlife photographers dream.
But now, it seems that the new EOS 50D is a good camera but not a great camera.

So far I’ve not bought a 50D and I probably won’t buy one. Currently a EOS 40D is about 500 Euros cheaper. And the 40D is a wonderful camera.
If you don’t need the 15 MP of the 50D, I suggest to buy the 40D. For the current price, it’s the best prosumer camera Canon ever built.