Sony a6400 Vs Canon m50- Which One Is The Best?

There’s always been a major battle going on between sony a6400 vs canon m50. Although from the price point they should be in a different category, still people like to compare them both for the beginners. These cameras both have so many things in common and also a lot of differences which make them both a perfect choice among YouTubers and content creators.

Both of them can be perfect beginner-friendly hybrid cameras if you are just starting out. So in this article, we are going to discuss all the features that they both provide and how they are different than one another. So that you can have a better understanding of what you may prefer at the end of this article. The comparison will be based on features like –

• Sensor Type
• Screen or Display
• Price
• Recording Capability
• Low Light Performance
• Battery Life
• Connectivity

Let’s begin –

Sony a6400 vs Canon m50 –

Both the camera Sony a6400 and Canon m50 are mirrorless cameras. Mirrorless cameras are different than DSLR cameras as they don’t contain a reflex/moving mirror and optical viewfinder but have an electronic viewfinder.

The electronic viewfinder is very helpful. In a mirrorless camera light can directly pass through the lens and be absorbed by the sensor, because there is no movable mirror in between them. So when the light hits the sensor it can give a live preview of the shot. This is really helpful because you can maintain the proper exposure of the shot from the electronic viewfinder by controlling shutter speed, iso, and aperture setting. 

As in mirrorless cameras, people are much more dependent on LCD screens, it also gives the opportunity in accessing some features like focus peaking, zebra pattern, eye autofocus, object tracking, etc while recording. The absence of a mirror inside the camera makes it much more compact in size.

Nearly all mirrorless cameras have a mechanical shutter, many mirrorless cameras have both mechanical and electronic shutters. The electronic shutter operates silently. This silent shutter is helpful in situations like wildlife photography, sports photography, etc, as sounds from your camera can disturb the subject and ruin the shots. 

The build quality of both cameras is good but the Sony a6400 comes with weather sealing. Canon m50 does not have weather sealing so you’ll have to be a bit more cautious when taking it to dusty areas. The grip of the canon m50 is a bit deeper so people with a larger hand will find it easier to handle.

[wptb id=1985]

1. Sensor type –

Sony a6400 sensor size and Canon m50 sensor size are almost the same in size. Sony a6400s sensor size is slightly bigger than canons m50 sensor size by 1.1. 

Canon is known for its color science and it makes the best DSLR cameras available on the market.  Canon M50 is canons first 4k mirrorless camera. Released on March 23, 2018. it is much more affordable than its competition sony a6400 and is popular among budget vloggers. It is an APS-C type CMOS sensor with a 24.1 MP sensor.

Sony a6400  is a very impressive and interesting APSC camera. It replaced the most popular a6300. Sony a 6400 is a very popular mirrorless camera with a 24.2MP sensor. Sony a6400 has an APS-C type  Exmor® CMOS sensor. It is a BSI Sensor. ISO in this camera ranges from 100 – 32000. Although I won’t recommend using ISO at maximum. The sweet spot is between 100-1600. Using more than 1600 ISO may introduce noise in your footage. 

Canon has a 143 focus area and covers around 88% of the screen. To me, I feel like Autofocus on the sony a6400 is a bit better with its 425 phase and contrast detection point. These points cover almost 84% of the screen making it a bit better than canons autofocus.

2. Screen or Display –

Sony has a 7.5 cm wide type TFT screen. The screen of the Sony a6400 can be movable up by 180 degrees and down by 74 degrees but it is not fully articulated. But on the other hand canons, m50 has a fully articulated screen making it a good choice for vlogging. 

In vlogging, we need to constantly see ourselves on the screen to frame the screen better. In sony a6400 also we can see ourselves when we fully articulate upward 180 degrees but there is a catch. With that, we cannot use an external mic to record video as a hot shoe comes in front of the camera and when we mount the external camera on that hot-shoe, the mic blocks the screen making it hard to see ourselves on the screen.

But there is a solution for it. You can use the Sony a6400 with a mini tripod that has a cold-shoe feature built within. ULANZI Mini Camera Tripod has this feature and you should try it if you already have a Sony a6400 camera at your disposal. A simple external microphone solution for the Sony Alpha lineup.

[wptb id=1994]

Both cameras get a touch screen but the canon m50 has a full touch display panel. You can change AF points, go through menus, etc. In Sony’s a6400 you will only be able to change the AF points, like a tap-to-focus feature. Just tap the screen and you are in focus instantly.

3. Price –

In sony a6400 vs canon, Price is another important factor people give more importance to before buying any camera. This is normal and a good thing too but let me tell you that you should not consider only the cameras’ price before buying your vlogging setup. 

There are other things that you must consider. Like the price of a lens. Basically, Sony lenses are more expensive than canon lenses. So overall expense will increase significantly if you opt for sony. Canon is the best option if you just want to record and upload. It is the most budget-friendly camera for vloggers.

Remember not every lens will fit your camera. Every camera model belongs to a category of a mount. If you want to select a Sony a6400 lens, the Sony a6400 belongs to an E-mount family so a lens made for an E-mount camera will be suitable for it. Likewise, the Canon m50  uses an EF-M lens mount. My Lens recommendation for both the camera is –

For sony  a6400 –

• Sigma 16mm f1.4
• Sony 35mm f1.4
• Sony 50mm f1.8 OSS
• Bonus 7artisan 25mm f1.8 Manual Focus lens

[wptb id=1986]

Remember that the Sony a6400 is a Crop Sensor Camera (APSC) and has a crop factor of 1.5. So the focal length of the recommended lens will increase by 1.5 times. Sigma 16 mm will be, 16mm x 1.5 = 24mm full-frame equivalent lens. Sony 35mm = 52.5 full-frame equivalent, Sony 50mm = 75mm full-frame equivalent and so on. 

If you are into street photography then I highly recommend you to try the 25mm f1.8 lens from 7artisans. The full-frame equivalent focal length will be 37.5mm. And for me, 35mm focal length is best for street photography. This is totally dependent on the photographer. This is a manual focus lens. It has no electrical connection with your camera so focus and aperture you have to change manually. 

This will take you a step back and encourage you to give more attention to the composition rather than clicking thousands of pictures.

For Canon M50 –

• Canon EF-M 32 mm f/1.4 STM
• Sigma EF-M 56mm f/1.4 DC DN
• Sigma EF-M 16mm f/1.4 DC DN

[wptb id=1987]

Canon M50 also has a crop factor of 1.6. So 32mm will become 51.2, 56mm = 89.6 and 16mm = 25.6.

4. Recording Capability –

Both camera records 4k videos. But canon can shoot 4k video only at 24fps and it loses its dual-pixel autofocus when shooting at 4k. Canon’s 4k recording also has a crop factor of 2.8 which makes it somewhat unusable and undesirable. 

Because of this crop factor, many don’t like to shoot, unless you use a soma ultra-wide lens or some kind of adapter to compensate for that crop factor. For that, using an ultra-wide lens would be a good idea. Sony on another hand can shoot 4k up to 30fps and there is a very slight crop. But in 4k 24fps there is no cropping.

Canon’s slow-mo feature is also inferior to Sony’s slow-mo feature. Sony can shoot full HD(1080p) video up to 120fps, while canon can shoot full HD (1080p) at only 60fps. To get the 120fps footage out from canons m50 you have to switch to HD recording. Canon can shoot HD video(720p) at 120fps.

Sony can record 422 8bit externally with an external monitor in 4k (24,25,30fps). 

As sony a6400 is a successor of Sony a6300. With many new developed feature and advancement, the Sony a6400 also carry some of the old disadvantages of the Sony a6300. One of them is 30 min record limit of sony a6300. So consumers want to know the Sony a6400 recording limit: Sony does not have a record limit. 

You can record as long as you can until your battery or your card hit its limit. canon m50 recording limit is 30 min When shooting at 4k. No record limit can help you in situations like events, or school programs where you just want to keep your camera on a tripod and just forget about it. 

It has a picture profile. To those color grading enthusiast, who wants to taste the experience of working with log profile then the sony would be the best option for you. As it provides some profiles like Cine4, HLG, and S-log (S-log, S-log2, S-log3). 

The rolling shutter of both cameras is not that good.

5. Low light Performance –

Although the sensor size is almost similar you would think the low light performance would not vary that much between these two cameras. But the low light performance of the Sony a6400 is much superior. The footage is better in Sony a6400 low light compared to the canon m50 low light. Images are clean and sharp even up to 3200ISO. Sony can use high iso without introducing noise in videos. At Sony 6400 ISO footage is still usable. I would not recommend more than that.

Canon’s low-light videos are soft and the use of high ISO performance is not good. Footage shot Using more than 2500 ISO is unusable.

6. Battery Life –

Sony a6400 can shoot up to 11fps and canon m50 can shoot up to 10fps. Not a big of a difference. Sony a6400 battery is not Commendable, but in single battery life, the Sony a6400 can shoot almost 410 shots but with the full Canon m50 battery, it can only manage 235 shots. 

When shooting RAW you can around 50 shots continuously before it hits its buffer. And it takes around 33 sec to clear the buffer. 

Sony a6400 can shoot a 4k 24p video up to 1hr 20 mins. Sony can shoot videos while plugged in so using a power bank with Sony a6400 you can extend the recording duration.

7. Connectivity and Apps –

Sony a6400 supports Bluetooth, NFC, and Wi-Fi. You can connect it with a phone using an app called Imaging Edge Mobile. With that, you can download images directly from your app. Note that 4k Videos cannot be downloaded with the app. 

Canon m50 can connect to a phone using Canon Camera Connect App.

Conclusion –

There’s always been a rivalry between sony and canon. And in Sony a6400 vs canon m50, both the cameras have their pros and cons. Hope I was able to help you understand the features and perks that each of the cameras has.

For me, Video and Photography are both important. So I will choose a6400 over the canon m50 because clearly the 4k on the Sony a6400 is much superior and full HD has a 120fps recording feature. But If you are not into videography then I would suggest going for the canon m50. Because it is much more budget-friendly, lenses are also cheaper compared to sony lenses and there is not much difference in picture quality in both cameras. 

What do you think about which one of these you would choose? Please comment your choice below in the comment section.