On the surface the 550D looks and feels quite similar to its predecessor, the 500D. It is on the smaller size compared to some of the more high-end DSLR’s in Canon’s current range. For photographers with large hands this may become annoying. The build quality of the body and accompanying kit lens are of the expected grade for the price tag. The overall appearance is plastic but feels solid enough in the hands to serve well as an entry level DSLR. The weight is also on the lighter size but there is no reason as to why this would be a negative feature and some photographers will see this as a plus.
As mentioned, the body is a bit small but the grip is actually really nicely shaped and the hand sits snug and secure, with easy access, via your thumb to the majority of buttons. The buttons are placed in such a way that after using the camera for a short period of time you are able to select many of the cameras features without having to take your eye off the lens. They are made from plastic but have a reassuring matt finish and feel to them when they are depressed. The delete button has been set back into the body a little as to make it more difficult to accidentally press it when working blindly.
Using Canon’s 18 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, this digital SLR is truly equipped to capture photos at a high enough quality that you can print at sizes in excess of A3 paper size. The ample file sizes also allow for heavy cropping whilst still maintaining sharp and detailed images. The 550D’s image quality is not exclusive to stills, the camera also boasts full HD movie recording with manual control at frame rates up to 30 fps. With a suitable lens, correct manual exposure and with the use of an external microphone, aspiring moviemakers can really make their mark with this all-round digital camera.
What better way to show off the increased picture size than to add a 3” LCD screen with 1,040,000-dot resolution at the improved aspect ration of 3:2 which is identical to that of the sensor – the previews of your shots now appear with no black strip across the top and bottom of the screen, allowing for an even closer and accurate look.
All the usual standard presets come built into the camera including: Manual (M), Aperture Priority (AV), Shutter Priority (TV), Program (P), Full Automatic, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait and Movie Shooting. Completing the set are some added modes such as A-DEP (Automatic Depth-of-field), Creative Auto (CA) and Full Automatic with no flash. The Creative Auto mode offers an almost digital photography for dummies approach, allowing the user to change variables such as the pictures brightness, depth-of-field and colour tone but handling all the exposure calculations automatically. This mode enables a photography beginner some creative freedom with the reassurance that their exposure will always be spot on.
Shooting photographs using the cameras viewfinder is common practice especially among professional photographers. There seems to be something special about composing a shot directly looking through the lens. The Canon 550D does offer a secondary option to the viewfinder and that is to use the Live View mode that displays the visible image directly onto the LCD screen. Using this method like any other has its pros and cons. In favor of this method is the ability to be a lot more flexible in how you hold the camera whilst composing your photos, especially when in awkward environments or unusual compositions. The name of the mode “live view” is just that. Reflecting with a good deal of accuracy how the lens is set up in terms of brightness of the image. Unlike that of the viewfinder where you can only use experience and predictions of what the final shot will expose like. A major negative is the slow autofocus, which seems to sometimes take an age to find the correct position. If you are shooting any moving objects then you really should be using the viewfinder.
Low light shooting is a possibility with this accomplished DSLR, with ISO ranging from 100-6400. The higher the ISO number the more noise that can be seen on your images. That said, very usable results can be performed using up to 3200. The camera’s menu allows the user to set the maximum ISO (usually 3200 and less is recommended) to prevent any images with an undesirable increase in noise.
All in all this is a very competitive camera in price, functionality and quality but amongst a few other minor snags is the lack of a focus lock button. Some of the more heavily priced digital SLR’s have this as standard. Although the 550D does have an exposure lock, this is not nearly as useful as the addition of a focus lock would have been.
