Good camera with improvements over the SD500

I like this little digital camera. It does everything a point and shoot digital camera should do and more. For me, a point and shoot camera should be small and light so that it can conveniently go with me everywhere. That's the power of any point and shoot camera actually. It goes with you in your daily life and subsequently you get shots that you could not get with other larger cameras either because it would be too conspicous, or too inconvenient to carry with you. I'm a professional photographer and I carry this little pocket camera with me everywhere because I can't carry my pro SLR with me all the time and not have it feel like a burden on my shoulder.

You might be tempted to instead buy the cheaper and slightly older Canon SD500 since it has the same megapixel rating and looks very similar. There are however some pretty good improvements in the SD550:

-a larger LCD screen (very nice)
-better movie mode (SD500 put an annoying hissing/whining sound into the movie)
-better battery lid latch design
-better internal software (the display actually displays words and symbols such as "continuous mode" "single shot" "Macro" and not just the symbols alone.

A NOTE ABOUT CASE COLOR:
The SD550 comes in both Silver (called Grey on the box) or Champagne Gold. You will need to inquire with the vendor what color they stock or if you have a choice. Some of the vendors may be a bit useless in this respect so watch out-you may end up receiving a case color that you did not want. In my opinion, the Champagne Gold color is very ugly. Silver is much more attractive, even if you have to go to a local store to buy it.

This camera is easy and fun to use and I can even shoot a long movie (up to 20 something minutes at the lower resolution with a 1GB card). Some cameras (Casio) only let you shoot a short 8 second movie. The movie mode is quite usable with quality video and audio.

To conclude, I am happy with this camera because it does everything a small point and shoot digital camera should do, yet it is quite small, light, feels sturdy (metal case) and has very pleasant ergonomics both with regard to the layout of the controls as well as to the on screen menu functions. Color, sharpness and resolution are all impressive for a camera this size.