The Powershot A550 is one of the least expensive digital cameras made by Canon. It is a little more expensive than most entry level digital cameras, but worth the extra money you would pay to purchase it. The A550 is the upgrade, mid-range camera that will augment or replace Canon's popular A530 and A540 Powershot cameras, while introducing a powerful 7 megapixel camera in their place.

The A550 is a great entry level digital camera whose images will make you feel like a pro. The A550 gives you fast performance along with those great images, making the Canon PowerShot A550 a truly good budget camera. The Canon PowerShot A550 lives up to its A- rating, reported by several different Internet sources.

The A550's straightforward mode dial is backed up by a relatively easy to use function menu. There are more camera settings available through the main menu, but you'll find less settings there than on most other Canon cameras. Without all the frills, the Canon A550 still shoots great images with its 7 megapixel sensor. So, if you just want to keep photographing simple, the A550 is an excellent camera deal.

Many camera owners would love using the Canon PowerShot A550 since they could do as much photographing as they like without ever moving the camera from its green AUTO position. If you can point and shoot, the A550 will typically give you great results. Good performance and solid images are what a camera needs to succeed, so the A550 is destined to be a success since it readily delivers both.

The A550 will not easily slip into your pants pocket; still, it is fairly compact. Though the A550 isn't as compact or stylish as PowerShot ELPH cameras, the A550 represents solid value in photographic quality and performance. Some of the advantages of the A550 follow: Compared to the older PowerShot A530, the Powershot A550 is the same size, but lighter. The A550 supports Secure Digital, MultiMedia, and the new SDHC memory card formats. There's a built-in lens cover on the A550, so there's no clumsy lens cap to get in your way or lose. Operating the camera is simplified somewhat since the back is where you'll find most of the A550's controls. The Canon A550's has a higher resolution image sensor than its predecessor, the A530. Since larger file sizes are generated by the greater resolution, the A550 is compatible with SDHC memory cards. The A550 has a 4x zoom lens with a 35-140mm 35mm equivalency which allows it to easily outdo the more common 3x zoom. You can print an 11x14 from the A550, and have it come out with minimal distortion. Regardless of what ISO setting you use, images from the Canon A550 are still outstanding. Making 640x480 movies at 30 frames per second, it can do almost anything most consumer and buyers of the digital camera will need. The PowerShot A550 is has a 16:9 widescreen viewing option which allows you to shoot still photos and movies in a format that's designed for viewing on widescreen televisions or a computer monitor. Another feature of the A550 is the 3:2 mask which will show you what a 4x6 inch print will look like, after being processed, plus you still can use 2 AA batteries to run the camera, and of course that means you can power up your A550 nearly anywhere on the planet, since AA batteries are fairly easy to find and purchase. You may also want to know the A550 is more energy efficient than the A530 and uses Canon's outstanding and very fast 9-point AF.

As you can see, from the above, The Canon A550 is a great digital camera bargain, costing less than $200, which can fulfill many of your camera feature wishes. When you further evaluate digital cameras, you will find it quite a challenge to find a digital camera as inexpensive as the A550, which delivers the same level of quality images and great general performance.