Canon 250D Review (Still the Best Option for Beginners)

Last updated on December 18th, 2020

Canon EOS 250D Review – We review Canon’s latest DSLR, the 250D, which is Canon’s smallest DSLR available. The 250D offers a 24mp sensor, 4K video recording, a 3inch touch-screen, and a real optical viewfinder, but how does it perform?

What is Canon EOS 250D (Verdict)

The Canon EOS 250D offers Canon’s reliable and pleasing color reproduction in one of the most compact DSLR bodies available with a vari-angle screen. The small size, and easy to use design should make it appealing to beginners, but it’s more advanced controls and shooting options should make it appeal to those who want a more compact Canon DSLR.

There are 4K video recording and good noise performance, but there are also a number of limitations that you’ll need to be aware of, including no silent shooting, and only 9 AF points when using the optical viewfinder.

Pros

• Compact DSLR with vari-angle touch-screen
• 24mp sensor with good noise performance
• 4K video recording
• Excellent color reproduction
• Easy to use menu system and controls
• Good image quality in most situations
• Fully articulating, touch-sensitive screen
• 4K video recording (albeit with a crop)
• A huge number of accessories available
• Good price

cons

• Only 9 AF points when using OVF
• Slow continuous shooting in comparison to mirrorless cameras
• No built-in panoramic shooting mode
• Could be quicker access to controls
• Limited 9-point autofocus system through viewfinder
• 95% viewfinder
• 4K video crop
• Kit lens not great

Key Features

• 24.1mp APS-C CMOS sensor
• DIGIC 8 image processor
• 3inch vari-angle touch-screen
• OVF, 0.87x magnification and 95% coverage
• ISO100 to ISO51200 (Hi)
• 5fps continuous shooting
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF live view with Eye AF
• 9 AF points (when using OVF)
• 4K (UHD) video recording
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• 1070 shot battery life (OVF)
• 320 shot battery life (using live-view)
• Available in three colors – Silver/tan, White and Black

Canon EOS 250D – Design and Features

Not a whole lot has changed, body-wise, from the 200D. Here with the 250D, we have a charmingly petite DSLR – it’s so small, you might consider using it as a travel camera, especially when using it with smaller zoom lenses and primes.

Despite its size, the grip is chunky enough to give it a good purchase, with the vast majority of the buttons and dials on the right-hand side, making it suitable for one-handed operation.  As it’s mainly aimed at beginners, there aren’t a huge number of dials and buttons on the 250D, but you do get direct access to things like ISO and exposure compensation.

There aren’t a huge number of direct access buttons, but you will find controls for ISO and exposure compensation. For most of your other settings, the Q button will be your best friend – here you’ll find other settings, such as white balance, metering, drive mode, and so on.

If you want to adjust aperture or shutter speed, depending on which shooting mode you’re using, you can use the dial on the top of the grip.

Beginners will appreciate the Guided User Interface too, which explains how a number of settings work, right on the screen. Helpful hints will pop up when you switch between shooting modes and change key settings, such as ISO or white balance.

In other words, it’s a great way to learn the ins and outs of basic photography, even if you’ve never used anything more advanced than your phone before.

Canon EOS 250D – Screen and Viewfinder

The Canon EOS 250D 3-inch screen is a vari-angle, touch-sensitive affair. At 1,040k-dots, it’s not the highest resolution on the market, but that’s only to be expected at this price.

It displays a clear and bright enough display of your images in playback – or if you’re using it for Live View. The 250D vari-angle screen lets you both compose from awkward angles and protect the screen by folding it inwards.

There are several benefits to a screen being vari-angle. It’s particularly useful when shooting from a variety of awkward angles, including facing all the way to the front, which vloggers will appreciate. It can also fold inwards to protect the screen when it’s not in use, which is another advantage.

As the Canon 250D is a DSLR, it has an optical rather than electronic viewfinder, which gives you a 95% view of the scene. That means that there’s potential for artifacts to creep into the outer edges of the frame without you noticing during composition.

Compared to most modern electronic viewfinders, the 250D’s feels a little cramped and small, but if you’re not used to using anything superior you may not notice the difference.

Canon EOS 250D – Performance

By modern standards, the 250D is using a bit of an outdated autofocusing system if you shoot in a traditional way. The 9-point AF system (when using the viewfinder) gives you a limited number of focus points to choose from, which can be tricky if your subject doesn’t happen to fall underneath them.

The 250D’s most powerful features, including Dual Pixel CMOS AF, are only available when shooting via the screen rather than the optical viewfinder.

Shooting via the screen means you also use Dual Pixel CMOS AF, which is something that’s been found on a number of Canon DSLRs for several years now and performs pretty well – it also comes in handy when recording video.

The camera offers 5fps shooting, so it’s fair to say that if you shoot a lot of moving subjects, the 250D is probably not quite the right camera for you. If you’re photographing something moving which follows a reasonably predictable pattern, you might get the odd useable shot, probably more through luck than judgment.

Canon EOS 250D – Image Quality

Considering the 250D appears to be using the same sensor as its predecessor, it’s no surprise that there isn’t a particularly noticeable upgrade in terms of image quality.

Fortunately, image quality is pretty good in a variety of different situations. Colors are bright and punchy directly from the camera, while Canon’s all-purpose metering system generally gets exposures nicely balanced on most occasions. The 250D”s metering system produces nicely balanced exposures in most situations, including challenging combinations of light and dark.

Auto white balance puts in a good performance, accurately judging colors even in mixed or artificial lighting conditions. Noise is kept well under control throughout the native ISO range, but you can see some loss of detail at the higher end of the scale, such as ISO 6400 – keeping to below this if at all possible is highly recommended.

As standard, the EOS 250D ships with an 18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM kit lens. This isn’t the best lens in the world by any stretch, but it’s a good starter if you’re brand new to the world of DSLR photography. Colors are bold and punchy without venturing into the unrealistic oversaturation that many smartphones produce by default.

You’ll probably outgrow it as time moves on, but it’s useful to have as a general walk-around lens that you can use for a variety of different subjects. It produces images that are reasonably sharp and distortion-free, but there are certainly more capable optics in the EF and EF-S lens line-up.

What really sets the 250D apart from the 200D is the inclusion of 4K video. Because of the low price and the form factor, the camera may well appeal to budding videographers and certainly vloggers. Noise is well controlled in dingy conditions up to ISO 6400, though it’s best not to venture beyond that.

There is a slight disappointment here though. While the 4K video is nicely captured, on the whole, it is cropped, making capturing anything at a relatively wide-angle very difficult. Shooting in Full HD gets around this problem, but if you’re going to use that, there’s no need to opt for the newer camera. Similarly, another problem here is that Dual Pixel CMOS AF only works in Full HD, rather than 4K.

Why Buy the Canon EOS 250D?

In a world seemingly obsessed with mirrorless cameras, it’s difficult for DSLRs to still feel relevant. A lot of the tech included in them is, by its very nature, old fashioned. Still, the DSLR is still seen by many as the “go-to” when stepping up from a smartphone or a compact, mainly thanks to their handling and simplicity.

There are – for now at least – some advantages to sticking with DSLRs. At the entry-level, you tend to get more for your money. There are also plus points such as long battery life and a huge range of lenses and accessories to choose from when you want to expand your system, at a range of prices that match lots of different budgets.

Adam

I’m a videographer and travel photographer. I created this website to help you buy a Tripod or Gimbal for your DSLR, GoPro, or Mirrorless camera. I tried and reviewed most of the Tripod, Monopod, or Gimbal currently available on the market.