I don’t see the ZR & C50 as direct competitors even though they were announced at the same time and take inspiration from the FX3. Different builds, specs and price point. Not to mention the ecosystems.
The way I see it, the DR per price argument is a bit of a stretch. A camera is more than just a sensor, and the two bodies are not in the same hardware category. I love for example that you can open the side door on the C50 while recording and hot swap cards. The built in fan, screw mount, included XLR top handle with zoom rockers and record. It all reminds me of the C100 which I shot so much run & gun with. ZR feels more like a vlog cam with a Z6iii in comparison. Reminds me more of Sonys ZVe1.
DR wise, yes C50 shows about a stop less than the ZR in Gerald’s tests at its 6.9K RAW base, but it also gains an extra stop in S35 mode and two stops in 4K H265. On top of that it’s open gate 7K vs 6K. Different sensors, different pipelines.
IBIS would have been great on the C50, but Canon just doesn’t include it in the cine line, just like RED, BM, FX6, FX9, etc. Bummer but not a deal breaker for me, C50 ergos look good and with 7K open gate that leaves a lot of wiggle room for stab in post.
The ZR is great value image wise, but in my opinion it has some valid hardware quirks and R3D RAW comes with massive data rates. Gerald’s DR score of 10.9 was with R3D RAW, but it drops to 9.74 in NRAW, so in practice the gap is smaller than it first appears.
For me the C50 checks most of the boxes I need, and opens up a slew of lenses including anamorphic but also s35/s16. But for others the ZR with Z mount adaptability and R3D RAW at a mid level price point might make more sense, and that’s fine.