Canon EOS 50D Specs, Sensor Size & Crop Factor

Q: What is the crop factor of the Canon EOS 50D?

The Canon EOS 50D has a crop factor of 1.61× relative to 35 mm full frame (diagonal 26.8 mm vs 43.3 mm).

1.61×

Crop factor

22.3×14.9 mm

Sensor size

332 mm²

Area · 38% of full frame

15.1 MP

Resolution

4.69 µm

Pixel pitch

f/7.0

Diffraction-limited aperture

2008

Release year

Specifications#

Brand: Canon
Model: EOS 50D
Camera type: DSLR
Released: 2008-01-01
Lens mount: Canon EF-S
Sensor size: 22.3 × 14.9 mm (APS-C (Canon))
Crop factor: 1.61×
Resolution: 15.1 MP (4,752 × 3,168 px)
Continuous shooting: 6.3 fps
Weight: 730 g (25.7 oz)
Sensor: 22.3 × 14.9 mm CMOS (1.6x conversion factor)
Storage: CompactFlash (CF) (Type I or Type II) and Microdrive (max 32 GB)
Viewfinder: Optical, pentaprism / LiveView LCD
AF points / area: 9 user points (cross type)
Metering: TTL, full aperture, zones
Exposure modes: Full auto, programmed, shutter-priority, aperture priority, manual
Shutter: focal-plane
Flash: pop-up, sync at 1/250 second
Battery: Li-Ion BP-511A rechargeable
Dimensions: 146 mm × 108 mm × 74 mm
Lens: Interchangeable
Predecessor: Canon EOS 40D
Successor: Canon EOS 60D
Drive: 3 or 6.3 frames/second

Specifications merged from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Lensfun and openMVG. Spot an error? Tell us.

Sensor size compared#

The Canon EOS 50D sensor (highlighted) drawn to scale against common formats. Its area is 38% of a full-frame sensor, which collects about 1.4 stops less total light at the same exposure.

Focal length equivalents & field of view#

Multiply any focal length by 1.61 to get the full-frame field of view. Angles are for a rectilinear lens focused at infinity.

Lens on this camera	Full-frame equivalent	Horizontal	Vertical	Diagonal
8 mm	13 mm	108.7°	85.9°	118.4°
10 mm	16 mm	96.2°	73.4°	106.6°
12 mm	19 mm	85.8°	63.7°	96.4°
14 mm	23 mm	77.1°	56.0°	87.5°
16 mm	26 mm	69.7°	49.9°	79.9°
18 mm	29 mm	63.6°	45.0°	73.4°
20 mm	32 mm	58.3°	40.9°	67.7°
24 mm	39 mm	49.8°	34.5°	58.4°
28 mm	45 mm	43.4°	29.8°	51.2°
35 mm	56 mm	35.3°	24.0°	41.9°
40 mm	65 mm	31.2°	21.1°	37.1°
50 mm	81 mm	25.1°	16.9°	30.0°
56 mm	90 mm	22.5°	15.2°	26.9°
70 mm	113 mm	18.1°	12.2°	21.7°
85 mm	137 mm	14.9°	10.0°	17.9°
100 mm	161 mm	12.7°	8.5°	15.3°
135 mm	218 mm	9.4°	6.3°	11.3°
200 mm	323 mm	6.4°	4.3°	7.7°
300 mm	484 mm	4.3°	2.8°	5.1°
400 mm	645 mm	3.2°	2.1°	3.8°
600 mm	968 mm	2.1°	1.4°	2.6°
800 mm	1291 mm	1.6°	1.1°	1.9°

Depth of field table#

Total depth of field at each subject distance, using a circle of confusion of 18.6 µm (the 0.030 mm full-frame standard scaled by the crop factor). Detailed tables: 24 mm f/1.8, 24 mm f/2.8, 35 mm f/1.8, 35 mm f/2.8, 50 mm f/1.8, 50 mm f/2.8.

Focal	Aperture	50.0 cm	1.00 m	2.00 m	3.00 m	5.00 m	10.0 m	Hyperfocal
14 mm	f/1.8	8.4 cm	34.7 cm	1.53 m	4.14 m	31.0 m	∞	5.87 m
14 mm	f/2.8	13.1 cm	56.2 cm	2.92 m	12.8 m	∞	∞	3.78 m
14 mm	f/4	19.1 cm	87.0 cm	6.98 m	∞	∞	∞	2.65 m
14 mm	f/8	42.7 cm	3.40 m	∞	∞	∞	∞	1.33 m
27 mm	f/1.8	2.2 cm	9.0 cm	36.5 cm	83.5 cm	2.41 m	11.6 m	21.8 m
27 mm	f/2.8	3.4 cm	14.0 cm	57.5 cm	1.33 m	4.06 m	28.9 m	14.0 m
27 mm	f/4	4.8 cm	20.1 cm	83.9 cm	2.00 m	6.83 m	∞	9.83 m
27 mm	f/8	9.7 cm	41.3 cm	1.92 m	5.76 m	∞	∞	4.93 m
46 mm	f/1.8	0.7 cm	3.0 cm	12.4 cm	28.1 cm	78.9 cm	3.23 m	63.3 m
46 mm	f/2.8	1.1 cm	4.7 cm	19.3 cm	43.8 cm	1.24 m	5.21 m	40.7 m
46 mm	f/4	1.6 cm	6.7 cm	27.6 cm	63.0 cm	1.80 m	7.97 m	28.5 m
46 mm	f/8	3.2 cm	13.5 cm	56.0 cm	1.30 m	3.96 m	27.4 m	14.3 m
76 mm	f/1.8	0.2 cm	1.1 cm	4.5 cm	10.2 cm	28.6 cm	1.15 m	173 m
76 mm	f/2.8	0.4 cm	1.7 cm	6.9 cm	15.8 cm	44.5 cm	1.80 m	111 m
76 mm	f/4	0.5 cm	2.4 cm	9.9 cm	22.6 cm	63.7 cm	2.60 m	77.7 m
76 mm	f/8	1.1 cm	4.8 cm	19.9 cm	45.4 cm	1.29 m	5.47 m	38.9 m

Equivalent aperture#

Exposure is identical at the same f-number on any format; equivalence only describes depth of field and total light.

Aperture on this camera	Full-frame equivalent (depth of field)	Hyperfocal at 27 mm
f/1.2	f/1.9	32.7 m
f/1.4	f/2.3	28.0 m
f/1.8	f/2.9	21.8 m
f/2	f/3.2	19.6 m
f/2.8	f/4.5	14.0 m
f/4	f/6.5	9.83 m
f/5.6	f/9.0	7.03 m
f/8	f/12.9	4.93 m

Diffraction & pixel pitch#

With 4.69 µm pixels, diffraction starts to soften pixel-level detail around f/7.0. For maximum sharpness keep landscapes between f/3.8 and f/7; stopping down further trades detail for depth of field.

Aperture	Airy disk diameter	Spread over	At 100% view
f/2.8	3.8 µm	0.8 px	sharp
f/4	5.4 µm	1.1 px	sharp
f/5.6	7.5 µm	1.6 px	sharp
f/8	10.7 µm	2.3 px	slight softening
f/11	14.8 µm	3.1 px	visibly soft
f/16	21.5 µm	4.6 px	visibly soft
f/22	29.5 µm	6.3 px	visibly soft

Maximum print sizes#

At 15.1 MP the Canon EOS 50D produces 4,752 × 3,168 pixel images. See the 16 megapixel guide or the print size calculator.

Resolution	Typical use	Inches	Centimetres
300 DPI	Photo-lab quality	15.8 × 10.6 in	40 × 27 cm
240 DPI	Fine-art inkjet	19.8 × 13.2 in	50 × 34 cm
200 DPI	Wall print	23.8 × 15.8 in	60 × 40 cm
150 DPI	Poster, viewed from 1 m+	31.7 × 21.1 in	80 × 54 cm

Night-sky exposure limits#

Longest exposure before stars trail. The NPF rule accounts for pixel pitch and is stricter than the classic 500 rule — use it for pin-sharp stars on high-resolution sensors.

Focal length	500 rule	NPF f/1.8	NPF f/2.8	NPF f/4
9 mm (15 mm eq.)	34.4 s	22.6 s	26.5 s	31.2 s
12 mm (19 mm eq.)	25.8 s	17.0 s	19.9 s	23.4 s
15 mm (24 mm eq.)	20.7 s	13.6 s	15.9 s	18.7 s
22 mm (35 mm eq.)	14.1 s	9.3 s	10.9 s	12.8 s
31 mm (50 mm eq.)	10.0 s	6.6 s	7.7 s	9.1 s

Open the NPF / 500 rule calculator →

Handheld shutter speed guide#

The reciprocal rule uses the equivalent focal length. High-resolution sensors may need one stop faster than this for pixel-sharp results.

Focal length	No stabilisation (1/equiv. focal)	With 3-stop IS	With 5-stop IBIS
15 mm	1/25 s	0.3 s	1.3 s
31 mm	1/50 s	1/6 s	0.6 s
62 mm	1/100 s	1/13 s	0.3 s
124 mm	1/200 s	1/25 s	1/6 s

Lenses for the Canon EOS 50D#

Native Canon EF-S lenses in our database (29 total). Also adaptable: T-mount (T2), Canon EF, M42 screw mount, Deckel (DKL), Tamron Adaptall, M39 / LTM (Leica thread).

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS 18–135 mm
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM 18–135 mm
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM 55–250 mm
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM 60 mm
Canon EF 75-300mm F4-5.6 III 75–300 mm
Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM 10–18 mm
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM 10–22 mm
Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM 10–20 mm
Tokina atx-i 11-16mm F2.8 CF 11–16 mm
Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM 15–85 mm
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM 17–55 mm
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM 17–85 mm
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM 18–135 mm
Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS 18–200 mm
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 18–55 mm
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II 18–55 mm
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 III 18–55 mm
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS 18–55 mm
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II 18–55 mm
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM 18–55 mm
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM 18–55 mm
Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM 18–200 mm
Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM 24 mm
Samyang 35mm f/1.4 AS UMC 35 mm
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS 55–250 mm
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II 55–250 mm
Sigma 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports 018 60–600 mm
Sigma 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports 018 + 1.4× ext. 60–600 mm
Sigma 90mm f/2.8 Macro AF 90 mm

Frequently asked questions#

What is the crop factor of the Canon EOS 50D?

The Canon EOS 50D has a crop factor of 1.61× relative to 35 mm full frame (diagonal 26.8 mm vs 43.3 mm).

What size is the Canon EOS 50D sensor?

22.3 × 14.9 mm (APS-C (Canon)), an area of 332 mm² — 38% of full frame.

Is the Canon EOS 50D full frame?

No — its sensor is APS-C (Canon), which is 2.6× smaller in area than full frame.

How many megapixels does the Canon EOS 50D have?

15.1 megapixels (4,752 × 3,168 pixels), enough for a 16 × 11 inch print at 300 DPI.

What lens mount does the Canon EOS 50D use?

The Canon EOS 50D uses the Canon EF-S (flange distance 44.00 mm).

How long can I expose the night sky with the Canon EOS 50D?

With a 12 mm lens (19 mm equivalent) the 500 rule gives 26 s and the stricter NPF rule at f/2.8 gives 20 s.

Sources & licences#

Last updated October 03, 2026 · How we calculate · Sources

Canon EOS 50D