Canon PowerShot A550 Reviews
CNET has a review of the Canon PowerShot A550> and writes, "Photos looked pretty good, though they're marred by overprocessing and fringing in spots. Colors reproduce well, though indoor photos shot with automatic white balance come out very yellow, a common problem for most snapshot cameras. Noise is low up to ISO 400 sensitivity, where a fine grain starts to appear. Images are predictably noisy at ISO 800 sensitivity, with speckling damaging fine details and softening colors. ... With quick performance and decent photos, the Canon PowerShot A550 is a solid budget camera. It doesn't have many special features and it's not particularly small or light, but it's a strong choice if you don't want to spend a lot for your snapshots."

Steve's Digicams has a review of the Canon PowerShot A550 and writes, "Canon's PowerShot A550 has a lot to offer. With robust performance, great image quality, easy to use exposure modes, 7-megapixels of resolution, a 4x optical zoom lens, and great ergonomics, the A550 is sure to be a very popular model for 2007. The A550 won't hurt the pocket book either, with a "sweet" price tag of US$199 or less! If you don't need 7-megapixels, but like many of the features of this model, be sure to check out our review of its "little brother" the 5-megapixel PowerShot A460."

Ken Rockwell has reviewed the Canon A550 and writes, "It works great! Cameras have come a long way in 2007. It's a pleasure to use and gives great images. Images are super sharp. ... As of February 2007, if you want a great camera for a low price, get one! You can pay less and get the A460, but if you're a heavy user like me who uses all the features, I find the A550 much easier to use because it has more buttons. If you can afford double the price, the more expensive cameras are nicer, but picture quality is the same."

Photography Press has a review of the Canon PowerShot A550 and writes, "the focusing foibles aside, metering is pretty good overall, however it did struggle on some back lit subjects and while it id its best it erred on the side of underexposure most of the time. The upside is bright parts of a scene retain detail (white clouds for example) but shadows deepen too quickly and loose detail. Noise at ISO 80 and ISO 100 is there but well controlled but over that and it becomes more obvious in shadows, until at ISO 400 and over it is very noticeable. Image noise processing also impacts on detail at that level as well. ... the combination of the camera’s top, Superfine JPEG setting (you have Fine and Normal too), lower ISO settings and the rather nice lens all mean you can get some very nice images indeed."

PCMag has a review of the Canon PowerShot A550 and writes, "The A550 did very well on my resolution test, averaging 1,750 lines, excellent for a 7.1MP camera. It also had a decent bootup time, 2.8 seconds, but the recycle time was, at 4.8 seconds, too long in my book. As I mentioned before, I was very impressed with the camera's lack of shutter lag. There was very little lens distortion too—just a bit of the barrel distortion I usually see, and virtually no pincushion effects. Overall, for an inexpensive digital camera, the Canon PowerShot A550 is a solid choice, although the Kodak EasyShare C875 edges it out with an inventive "smart" auto mode and speedier performance."

DCResource has a review of the Canon PowerShot A550 and writes, "Camera performance was very good. The A550 is ready to start taking pictures in a little over a second after you turn it on. Focus speeds were snappy (though not class-leading by any means), and shutter lag was minimal. You will wait about one second between shots. ... Battery life was also impressive, with the best numbers in its class (and using just two batteries). Photo quality was also good. The PowerShot A550 took well-exposed photos (most of the time) with accurate and saturated colors, pleasing sharpness, and minimal purple fringing. Noise levels are low through ISO 400 in good light, though I'd stop at ISO 200 in low light conditions. You may experience some blurring in the corners of the frame of your photos, though, especially at wide-angle. And finally, the A550 has the same redeye problem that plagues all of Canon's A-series cameras. ... f you want a compact, easy to use camera with a little more zoom than usual, then I'd definitely recommend that you take a look at the PowerShot A550."

Cameras.co.uk has a review of the Canon Powershot A550 and writes, "On the whole I was extremely impressed with the set of test shots produced by the Powershot A550. Although a little more expensive than some of the very cheapest models this camera can still be bought for a very reasonable price. Compared to other cameras in and around this price range I felt the pictures taken had a clear edge on all the rival cameras I have tested. ... As prices fall and you can pick up digital cameras by named brands for around £70 this is one of the more expensive cameras towards the lower end of the market. In my opinion though the Canon Powershot A550 underlines the fact that if you are prepared to pay a bit more for your digital camera you will be well rewarded when it comes to picture quality. Recommended."

Imaging Resource has a review of the Canon PowerShot A550 and writes, "High ISO isn't as high as some other similar cameras, but the results are very good. You can get away with printing an 11x14 from the A550, and it looks darn good. You can see some color noise at that size, but contrast and vibrance are very good still. Print at 8x10, and you won't notice that it's an ISO 800 shot ... The Canon PowerShot A550 is a great basic digital camera whose images will make you feel like a pro. Canon's interface has evolved to a point of excellence, as well, with most of the features you'll find on Canon's more expensive digicams. The A550 is still a little slow, but in most measures it's faster than last year's A520 and A530. We love the 7.1 megapixel sensor, which delivers amazing images for the money; you might think they're amazing for even more money. We'd have to agree with you."