Canon PowerShot SD550 Pittsburgh PA

provided by: 
Originally published at Internet.com

At the same time as it was shipping the PowerShot SD500, Canon announced the PowerShot SD550, a camera that basically shares the same technical specifications but which is equipped with a 2.5-inch LCD monitor.

Seen from the front, the SD550 is nearly identical to the SD500; not so from the back. The larger monitor of the SD550 has required that changes be made to the controls so they fit into the smaller space. But aside from this, the SD550 retains the finishing and size of the SD500. The camera is metal-clad with a satin finish and chrome touches. shutter release and around it the zoom control, while on the left is the power switch with a small green LED at its centre.

And, with the camera set to the Playback mode, the zoom control serves to review images as an index (9 images per screen) when the control is pushed to / or zoom into an image under review up to 10X when it is pulled towards /. Remarkably, while most of the camera's back is occupied by the 2.5-inch, 115,000 pixel LCD monitor, Canon still includes an optical viewfinder.

The viewfinder is simple with a cross at the centre of its field, but no marks for parallax correction — indicators that show the approximate image area as captured by the lens in relation to what can be seen through the viewfinder.

To its left, two LEDs serve to indicate specific camera activities: * The top one lights up in green when the camera is ready to take a photo and blinks while an image is being saved. It can also light up in orange when the flash is charged, or blink orange if the shutter speed is low enough that there is a risk of camera shake. * The bottom one lights up in yellow when the camera has focused, and blinks when it cannot.

The remaining controls are all on the right side of the back, starting with the Mode Dial which has five positions:

The top position is the Playback mode.

Next is the Auto Mode, which lets the camera decide all settings, leaving only the settings for image quality, flash mode, macro mode and self-timer up to the user.

The Manual Mode, the middle position on the dial, also leaves the camera in charge of selecting the aperture and the shutter speed, but provides controls over most other capture parameters such as exposure compensation, white balance, sensitivity, etc. Moreover, it is possible to select a slow shutter speed between 1 and 15 seconds for night photography.

This mode also offers 3 sub-programs that are selected in the Function menu (see the Characteristics section of the review for more detail about the Function menu): Digital Macro: combines the use of the Macro mode and the digital zoom. With this mode the camera is able to focus from 5 to 50 cm (2 to 18 inches) and then, using the digital zoom, crop the image so the subject appears even larger in comparison to the frame.

My Colours mode makes it possible to alter the colours recorded by the camera using any one of a group of options: * Positive Film intensifies the reds, greens and blues. * Lighter Skin Tone makes skin tones lighter. * Darker Skin Tone makes skin tones darker. * Vivid Blue emphasizes blues. * Vivid Green emphasizes greens. * Vivid Red emphasizes reds. * Colour Accent makes it possible to select one colour from all those showing on the monitor, and then capture the scene with all other colours except that one converted to black and white. * Colour Swap makes it possible to select a colour, chosen from those showing on the monitor, and swap it for another also chosen from those showing on the monitor. * Custom Colour makes it possible to adjust the colour balance freely between red, green, blue and skin tones to obtain subtle effects.

Exposure compensation is not possible with this mode. Stitch Assist: serves to capture a series of images that will be assembled into a panoramic image later, using software included with the camera. The series of photos can be captured from left to right or right to left, and the camera maintains the starting exposure throughout the entire series.

Serves as the access point to the SD550's 9 Scene modes which can be selected using the Function menu: Portrait mode uses a wide aperture to shorten the depth of field and blur the background, emphasizing the subject, an effect that is more pronounced if the zoom is set to the telephoto end. Night Snapshot increases sensitivity to minimize camera shake so that a subject against a twilight or night background can be captured without using a tripod. Kids and Pets optimizes the shutter speed and sensitivity to allow capturing subjects that move around.

Indoor prevents camera shake by increasing the sensitivity as required and adapting the colour balance so as to capture natural colours under either incandescent or fluorescent lighting. The exposure is regulated to avoid the use of the flash as much as possible.

Foliage accentuates green tones so as to make plants look natural. Snow increases the exposure to counteract the influence of highly reflective snow on the camera's meter and ensure that snow appears white instead of bluish. Beach also applies exposure compensation so that subjects photographed in the highly reflective environment of a beach and water are exposed correctly. Fireworks captures a 2-second exposure with the focus set to infinity and the flash forced off. Underwater applies a colour correction so that the image shows natural colours when images are captured using the optional waterproof case (WP-DC90).

As with the previous positions on the Mode Dial, the Movie mode offers a choice of types of movies: Standard allows choosing the resolution (640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels) as well as the frame rate (30 fps or 15 fps). The maximum movie size is 1GB and the 4X digital zoom can be used while recording.

Fast Frame Rate uses a 60 frame per second (60 fps) recording rate so that fast moving subjects can be recorded and played back at a slower frame rate. Only 1 frame size is available, 320 x 240 pixels, and the recording is limited to a maximum of 1 minute. Compact serves to capture a low resolution (160 x 120 pixels) movie at 15 fps for up to 3 minutes, making the movie suitable as an attachment to an e-mail. My Colours offers the same flexibility as the Standard mode, but adds the possibility of changing the image colours prior to shooting the movie.

Mono sound is automatically captured during recording (with the exception of the Fast Frame Rate mode which silent), the optical zoom's position is locked at the starting position and the exposure and white balance are adjusted as the recording progresses.

The next button, below the Mode Dial, only operates when the camera is connected via USB to a computer or a printer, at which time a blue LED lights up at its centre:

It serves to automatically transfer pre-selected images to a computer.

Or to print pre-selected photos to a PictBridge, Bubble Jet Direct printer, or SELPHY CP series Card Photo Printer.

Next is the 4-direction control which has the FUNC. SET button in the middle. With a menu on-screen, or when the camera is set to the Playback mode, the controls serve to navigate and make selections. When the SD550 is set to , or the FUNC. SET button displays the Function menu (see the Characteristics section of the review). In addition, the 4-directions of the control serve to select: ISO

When the SD550 is set to the Manual Mode the up direction serves to select CCD sensitivity: Auto, 50, 100, 200 or 400 ISO.

Set to the Movie mode, it serves to adjust exposure compensation using a scale displayed on the lower left of the monitor.

Moreover, but only in the Manual mode, the up direction of the control can be used to lock the Auto Exposure (AE-L) or, if the flash is active, to lock the Flash Exposure (FE-L).

With the SD550 set to the Playback mode, the up direction of the control serves to jump groups of images: * Jump 10 images: jumps 10 frames at a time. * Jump 100 images: jumps 100 frames at a time. * Jump Shot Date: jump to the first image of each shooting date. * Jump to Movie: jumps from movie to movie. * Jump to Folder: displays the first image of each folder. The right direction of the control decides the Flash Mode selection: Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction, Forced On with Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced Off and Slow Synch

The down direction selects the Continuous Mode (2 frames per second at full resolution and least compression, capturing up to 15 frames before slowing down); or activate the Self-Timer which can be set to be 2 or 10 seconds or Custom. (The type of Self-Timer is determined in the Capture menu, see the Characteristics section of the review.) And in the Playback mode, the down direction can be used to delete unwanted images.

Last, the left direction starts the Macro or Landscape modes. The macro mode allows the camera to focus on a subject 5 to 50 cm (2 to 18 in.) from the front of the lens when the zoom is at the wide angle end, and from 30 to 50 cm (12 to 18 in.) when the zoom is at the maximum telephoto. And the Landscape mode, locks focus at infinity.

And, when the camera is set to the Manual shooting mode, the left direction can be used to lock the Auto focus (AF-L).

The last two external controls of the SD550 are aligned below the 4-direction control: displays the menu that corresponds to the mode in use, as determined by the setting of the Mode Dial (the menus of the SD550 are detailed in the Characteristics and Interface and Software sections of the review).

And on the left the DISP. button controls the way information is presented on the monitor:

Serves as an ON/OFF switch for the monitor and, when the monitor is active, only the AF frame is superimposed on the image. Pressing the button once adds a number of camera settings: capture mode, metering mode, continuous or single mode, flash mode, orientation sensor status, ISO setting, image quality and size, and the remaining number of frames that can be captured with the current settings.

With the SD550 set to the Playback mode an image under review is first presented with its file name superimposed at the top of the screen, and its position within the other images in the folder, its resolution, quality, and capture date superimposed at the bottom of the screen. Pressing the button once adds a histogram, the capture mode used, ISO sensitivity setting, compensation settings for both exposure and flash exposure, metering mode used, white balance, and the file size of the image. And a second press of the button clears all superimposed information.

While at a glance the Canon PowerShot SD550 appears very similar to the SD500, there are in fact a number of modifications made with the SD550. The changes run from differences in the way the controls operate, to differences within the menus, either removing unnecessary functions or adding new ones, all of which highlights the attention Canon pays to the SD series.

Still, the SD550 retains the overall easy ergonomic design of its predecessors, a remarkable feat in view of the restricted space left over by 2.5 inch monitor.