We love taking digital photos, and we're always prepared for wherever we go. My husband and I like to have something compact and convenient. Since we already have a Canon D20, a fairly large camera, it was only natural that we wanted to have a smaller camera on hand. This camera was introduced in
August 2005 (replacing the SD500) and we bought it fairly soon thereafter. Previously, we owned a Pentax Optio S (obviously not the predecessor to the SD500).
We got this camera for about
$400 online at
zipzoomfly.com. Although it has been out for about six months now, it has not gone down much in price.
Some Quick Features - 7.1 megapixel CCD
- 2.5-inch color wide viewing angle TFT monitor
- 37-111mm (equiv.) F2.8 - 4.9, 3x optical zoom
- 640 x 480 movies at 30fps
- Fast frame rate movies (320x240 pixels @ 60fps)
- Print/Share button
- Custom white balance
- Spot, center-weighted and evaluative metering
- DIGIC II and iSAPS
- 9-point AiAF
- Nine scene modes What You Get With the Camera -
Wrist strap - the strap is actually pretty nice. The part that goes around your wrist sort of feels like a puffy neoprene. It's soft and comfortable, and has a clip so you can tighten the loop on your wrist.
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Lithium Ion battery - We have bought some backup batteries on Ebay for this camera (for times when we don't have time or access to a charger/outlet), and they don't seem as good quality as the original one that comes with the camera.
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AV cable -
USB cable -
32MB SD card - this gives you about
100 shots on a card
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Software CD ROM (Canon Digital Camera Solutions & ArcSoft PhotoStudio) - not something we use, since we use ACDSee.
The Pros ~ 2.5" LCD screen ~ The
Canon SD550 has a nice size viewing screen. Previewing photos is a must for me with digital cameras. With this camera, I find myself taking 99% of my photos by looking at the LCD screen, as opposed to looking through the viewfinder. The screen is bright and crisp, and it is great for previewing images, surfing through the user menu, or even a mini slide-show of pictures I have taken. You can't rely on the LCD screen 100% for previewing photos, as you can never really tell what you have until you view photos full size on a computer, but the screen on this camera is pretty nice.
~ Viewfinder ~ Although it might seem like the LCD screen would make a viewfinder obsolete, it absolutely does not. In bright light, it can be impossible to see anything on the LCD screen, even if you try to cup your hand around the screen to shade it. So any time it is very bright, I generally use the viewfinder as opposed to the LCD screen. The viewfinder does not show you the whole photo, but it is still a pretty good tool for taking photos.
~ Small & Sleek ~ I love the size of this camera – it weighs in at
6 ounces, and measures a mere
3.5 x 2.2 x 1.1 in.. It is really portable and is exactly the reason we always travel with this camera. It is also quite sleek. The surfaces of the camera are pretty smooth, so nothing sticks out and it can fit in a pouch and in lots of places, from my backpack to my purse to occasionally my pocket. The lens retracts and does not stick out. Even if you're a hardcore photographer, we found ourselves using this camera a lot in what you might consider "unsafe" situations – backcountry areas of Ecuador where we didn't want to bring out the big (Canon 20D) camera. Instead, I could keep this camera in a pocket or in the palm of my hand, and could therefore walk around
~ Zoom lens & Macro Mode ~ When you turn on the camera, the lens automatically comes out, and I love that it automatically retracts when you turn it off, covering the lens. The zoom capacity on this camera is
3x, 7.7-23.1mm (in 35mm camera terms, that would be 37-111mm). With normal settings, the distance between camera and subject can be 1.6' and up. In
macro mode, you can get from 1.6' up to
2". I have taken some pretty good up-close shots with this camera, both by zooming in and/or getting up pretty close in macro mode. The LCD screen is big enough that I can tell if I am too close to be in focus, but the beauty about a digital camera is that you can try several times to get just the shot you would like. (In cases where I'm trying to take shots close-up, I start pretty close and move away as needed, for example, with a flower or a small lizard). This is by no means the same as having a big fancy lens on something like the Canon 20D, but I have managed to get the shots I wanted with the
SD550 (to my surprise).
~ Photo Quality ~ At the end of a recent trip to Ecuador, we created a slideshow of photos, mixed from both the
SD550 and the
Canon 20D. You really couldn't tell for a majority of the photos, as to which camera was used (aside from photos taken with a wide-angle lens, those really up-close, etc.). General landscape and day shots come out great. I took some photos that had incredibly vivid shots with bright colors. There were also some photos I took of small lizards and other critters up close, and they came out quite well. When I came home and we were viewing the photos on a 27" HDTV, I was amazed!
~ Fast start up ~ Once you hit the power button, the camera powers up pretty quickly. This was perfectly evidenced on our last trip to the Galapagos, where you constantly have photo ops, many of which are wildlife. I was able to whip out the camera and get the shots I wanted without missing too much action. You don't have to worry about leaving on a lens cap, as the camera automatically opens the lens. (I didn't think people still did this, but apparently they do – take, for example, my recent trip where people were constantly reminding other people to take off their lens caps!)
~ Movie mode ~ I'm never particularly thrilled by the movie mode on digital cameras, but this one performs decently. I ended up taking quite a few movies of wildlife in the past few months (Bronx Zoo, Galapagos), and was pleased with them. I kept forgetting I had the movie option, and although the quality isn't stellar, it was worth capturing some of those events on the camera. I don't get real technical with my cameras, but the frame speeds can be
640 x 480 @ 30 / 15 fps - this is supposed to be pretty good.
~ Fast shutter/shutter lag ~ The shutter speeds on this camera ranges from
1/2,000 to 15 seconds, controlled by the automatic shutter speed control. The shutter lag ranges from
0.7 seconds to over a second, if you are using the flash. I can take shots pretty close to one another, since photos are taken and saved to the memory card quickly.
~ Auto-focus assist lamp ~ Although I don't use this feature a whole lot, it is nice to have the auto-focus assist lamp. In very low light, it helps the camera focus on something. I haven't needed it so far with this camera, but there have been times in the past where I could have used this feature, so it is nice to have it.
~ User-Friendly ~ I have a bad habit of not reading the manual for electronics… and to this day I have not read the manual for this camera. However, I was able to figure out just about everything on my own. If you play with the
SD550 for a little bit, it is easy to get a feel for what it has to offer, in terms of modes, settings, and so on.
~ Battery Charger ~ We were glad to get a charger that hugs the wall (as compared to the corded ones). The charger is very compact and is great for traveling. The prongs fold in and out of the charger to plug into the wall and to travel with it.
~ Built-In Flash ~ The flash seems to work pretty well, although when the camera is on auto-flash, it seems like the camera wants to use the flash for quite a few photos. There are many instances where I choose to override the flash, and my photos come out perfectly fine. There is also a
red-eye reduction feature, which is nice to have.
~ Modes ~ One of the user-friendly aspect of this camera is that there are plenty of modes to choose from. You can scroll through things like
Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks and
Underwater. I tend to leave it on portrait most of the time, and it does pretty well.
~ Underwater photos ~ We bought an
underwater housing for this camera, and enjoyed the results. We gave up on disposable underwater cameras a few years ago, moved on to using the
Pentax Optio WP, but are most impressed so far with using the
SD550 in an underwater housing. We got some great shots, and I recommend trying the underwater housing with this camera if you don't need something particularly compact. The housing comes with a large flash and is designed specifically for this camera. The
underwater mode puts a red tint over everything to adjust the colors appropriately, so don't forget to put it back on a normal mode once you're out of the water (otherwise everything has a rusty tint to it). B&H Photo sells the underwater housing for about
$180.
Cons ~ Mode Button Design ~ The button on the top of the camera to switch between modes tends to accidentally get switched. I found that when I was taking the camera in and out of my pocket, I was inadvertently switching the mode. For example, I generally keep this on the regular photo-taking mode, but it would get switched to movie or menu mode, and I wouldn't notice until I went to take a photo. This can get annoying when you go to take a photo and you don't realize you're taking a movie! Although you need a "nub" to be able to move the button with, it was sometimes a hindrance.
~ Lens Cover ~ Although there is a lens cover, I didn't feel like it was the most sturdy of designs. There was one point where I had the camera in my pocket with a tissue, and when I went to use the camera, I noticed tissue fibers all over the lens. Granted, I should have been a little more careful, but I wouldn't mind a sturdier lens cover. The lens cover can push to the side if you are not careful, which I assume is what happened when the camera was smushed in my pocket with a tissue.
~ Low-light photos ~ Unfortunately, like most small digital cameras, photos taken in low-light are difficult. The camera will try to compensate for the low-light conditions by slowing down the shutter speed, meaning that a lot of photos will come out blurry (unless you make sure the flash is on, but that will not always remedy the problem). Unlike more expensive cameras where you can adjust the shutter speed, you're more likely to get blurry shots in low-light. (However, see under "pros", there are lots of modes to choose from on this camera). Rule of thumb with small digital cameras like this, where you don't manually change the shutter speed - take low-light photos cautiously. I try to use the flash or put the camera on a steady surface, because no matter how steady you think your hands are, they aren't!
~ Manual controls ~ We wish there was a little more manual control with this camera, including the ability to adjust the shutter speed. However, again, most small digital cameras are on automatic settings.
~ Battery Life ~ Battery life is decent/average, but nothing spectacular with this camera. Of course, it some of the shortened battery life can be attributed to the bright LCD screen. I try to minimize draining the batteries by turning the camera off when not in use.
~ 32MB SD card ~ I don't know if I can consider this a con, but the card provided with the camera was one we replaced because we needed something bigger. We immediately went for a larger card (2 gigs).
Overall I am actually pleasantly pleased with this camera. I wasn't sure how well it would perform, since I haven't been amazed by any of the small digital cameras we have tried. The
Canon SD550 has a great balance between great quality photos and small size. We have used this camera for quite a bit of photo-taking, and it has been convenient and high-quality. This camera goes with us just about everywhere, from house-hunting to our trip to South America to family get-togethers.
When we got back from our most recent trip, and viewed our photos on a 27" HDTV as a slide show, my thoughts were quite reinforced. I was thrilled to arrive home and see just how great my shots had come out. You couldn't tell the difference between this camera and the Canon 20D on most of the photos. My landscape shots come out particularly gorgeous with this camera – crisp with vivid colors. I have gotten a lot of great shots despite thinking they weren't going to come out – for example, I took photos of small lizards and birds up close, using the macro mode, and they came out perfectly.
After showing friends and family our photos, a lot of people were curious about the
SD550. They knew we had taken the big (20D) on our trip, and they too were surprised that they couldn't tell the difference. It was all some people needed to go out and purchase this camera on their own. I highly recommend this camera to just about everyone – it is small, user-friendly, and you can get some really great shots with it!
If you would like to see samples of pictures taken with this camera, feel free to e-mail me. I can show you some underwater or regular photos we have taken. Also, if you have any questions, please e-mail me or leave a comment. My e-mail is EpinionsJavelina@hotmail.com
, please put "Canon SD550" in the subject line so your e-mail doesn't get lost with junk mail! Canon: http://www.canon.com/
Waterproof housing: http://www.canoncompanystore.com/epages/annex.storefront?ProductDetail=0778B001AA
