The C50 utilizes a CMOS image sensor with integral RGB Bayer Pattern color filter array. The sensor outputs 10-bit pixels that are square-root companded to 8-bits before being transmitted to the DVR on a 200 Mbit/s serial link. Within the DVR, video is preprocessed and compressed in real-time, then buffered to memory for playback at a later time. Preprocessing typically includes Bayer Pattern interpolation and direct conversion to the YCbCr color space using a 5 x 5 filter kernel. The video is also reformatted as needed for input to either a JPEG (lossy) or Huffman First Difference (lossless) compressor.

Exposure and gain may be adjusted to support widely varying scene conditions and the DVR supports automatic gain and exposure control.

The C50 also supports windowing, allowing smaller format images and video to be acquired from anywhere within the scene. To acquire larger portions of the scene at lower resolution, binning and summing may be enabled. Video frame rate is fully adjustable, with the maximum supported frame rate varying with frame size.

Three standard lens options are available for the ECAM series visible-band cameras. ECAM standard lens options have no moving parts, are athermalized to provide stable performance over a wide range of temperatures, and are built to withstand the hazards of launch and long-term operation in orbit.

The C50 includes mounting flanges that may be configured to mount the camera in one of four orientations.