Canon SD550 Digital Camera Product Review

When my Canon S400 digital camera bit the dust I spent a lot of time searching for its perfect replacement. Having sold digital camera for quite a few years I am rather particular about my digital camera and wanted something that provided me with the same picture quality I had gotten from the S400, as well as the same manual features. It's not much of a surprise that what I ended up with was a Canon SD550. The Canon SD550 has some of the same manual controls that I had enjoyed using with my S400, as well as a few new features that I thought made the camera that much more attractive.

2.5" LCD screen

My old digital camera had a very small LCD screen. Sure I could look at the pictures when I got home, but part of the draw of having a digital camera is being able to check out your prints on the spot. The LCD screen on the Canon SD550 is large enough that it almost takes up the entire back of the camera, so it is plenty big to look at my pictures right after I take then, and pass the camera around for others to take a look as well.

Viewfinder

LCD screens are nice, but they use up an incredible amount of battery power, and they are very difficult to see when you are outside in bright sunlight. One of the main things I was looking for when I purchased a new digital was one with a viewfinder as well as an LCD. It amazes me how many digital cameras there are on the market now that only have an LCD screen. There were quite a few digital cameras I was interested in purchasing, but then realized they lacked a viewfinder. The SD550 has a viewfinder that works just as well as the LCD, a must in my opinion.

7.1 Megapixels

My Canon S400 was only 4.0 megapixels and I was able to do any and everything with the photos that I could dream of. The SD550 is 7.1 megapixels, which to me is insane. With a 7.1 megapixel resolution I would be able to take photograph that I take and blow them up to poster size. While I don't actually intend on making any posters any time soon, its nice to know the option is available. The high resolution really comes in handy when you want to crop out pieces of a particular picture and then blow them up. I like that the camera also allows you to adjust the resolution, so I can take lower resolution pictures if I want to save space on my memory card.

Metal Body

When shopping for digital cameras I ran across camera after camera that appeared to be made of thin plastic. If I'm going to spend several hundred dollars on something I would like it to be built to survive at least one tumble out of my purse. Most of the digital cameras I saw shopping appears to be almost disposable. The SD550 is made of metal making it to some extent more durable than its competition.