31 Steps to the Perfect Canon EOS M50 Setup

I have a Canon EOS M50 in my hands and just completed preparing the camera for use. Following are the 31 steps I took to make an out-of-the-box M50 ready to use.

1. Open the box, find the battery, place it in the charger and plug it in.
2. While the battery is charging, unpack the other items you want from the box.
3. Download and install the Canon Solution Disk software on your computer to get support for the latest camera(s). Canon Digital Photo Pro (DPP), EOS Utility, Photostitch and Lens Registration Utility are the options I manually include in the install.
4. Attach the neck strap.
5. Insert the battery (after charging completes) and power the camera on.
6. The date, time and time zone setup screen will show at the first startup. Use the rear cross key control and the set button to update this information.
7. Insert a memory card (don't forget to format the card via the tools menu option before taking pictures).
8. Set the camera's mode to Av, Tv or M (some modes provide only a small subset of available menu options).
9. Press the Menu button and scroll through all of the available tabs to configure the camera as follows:
10. Shooting Menu, Tab 1: Image quality: Use top dial to set RAW to "RAW" and rear cross-keys control to set JPEG to "-"
11. Shooting Menu, Tab 1: Image review: 4 sec.
12. Shooting Menu, Tab 1: Lens aberration correction: disable all (I correct lens aberrations during post processing if warranted, but chromatic aberration correction is usually a good option to enable)
13. Shooting Menu, Tab 4: White balance: AWB W
14. Shooting Menu, Tab 4: Picture Style: Neutral with Sharpness = 1 (Note: the low contrast "Neutral" picture style provides a histogram on the back of the camera that most-accurately shows me blown highlights and blocked shadows on the camera LCD. I usually change the Picture Style to "Standard" in DPP after capture.)
15. Shooting Menu, Tab 5: Long exp. noise reduction: Auto
16. Shooting Menu, Tab 5: High speed NR: Off (or Low) (noise reduction is destructive to images details - I prefer to add NR sparingly in post)
17. Shooting Menu, Tab 5: Touch & drag AF settings: Touch and drag AF: Enable, Positioning method: Relative
18. Shooting Menu, Tab 6: Continuous AF: Off
19. Playback Menu, Tab 4: Playback information display: Change #2 to RGB histogram, disable all options except #1 and #2
20. Function Settings Menu, Tab 1: Auto Rotate: On (computer only)
21. Function Settings Menu, Tab 3: Beep: Disable
22. Function Settings Menu, Tab 4: Shooting info. disp.: Screen info/toggle settings: Update #1 to select only basic shooting info, On screen buttons and Electronic level, all options except Detailed shooting info selected for #2 and uncheck #3, #4 and #5 (it takes too long to toggle through all of the available options during use)
23. Function Settings Menu, Tab 4: Shooting info. disp.: VF info/toggle settings: Uncheck #1, update #2 to select only Electronic level and update #3 to select Histogram disp and Electronic level
24. Function Settings Menu, Tab 4: Shooting info. disp.: Grid display: 3x3
25. Function Settings Menu, Tab 4: Shooting information display: Histogram display: RGB
26. Function Settings Menu, Tab 5: Custom Functions(C.Fn): C.Fn I ISO expansion: 1:On
27. Function Settings Menu, Tab 5: Copyright information: Enter author's name
28. Display level settings, Tab 1: Menu display: Standard
29. Display level settings, Tab 1: Mode guide: Disable
30. Display level settings, Tab 1: Feature guide: Disable
31. My Menu: Add the first tab; Register the following options for Tab 1: Long exposure noise reduction, Format card, Date/Time/Zone (great for monitoring what time it is), Expo. comp./AEB (found back up near the top of the list)

To copy this configuration would mean that you intend to shoot similar to how I shoot - including shooting in RAW-only format. While my setup works great for me, your best use of this list may be for tweaking your own setup.

If you can't remember your own menu setup parameters, keeping an up-to-date list such as this one is a good idea. Anytime your camera goes in for a service visit, the camera will be returned in a reset-to-factory state (unless you request otherwise). Your list will ensure that you do not miss an important setting when putting the camera back into service.

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Canon EOS M50

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