Canon PowerShot A550

Manual Control Options
Other A-series cameras offer more in this area. The Canon A550 keeps things simple and offers only enough manual control options to point and shoot. There are a few controls available in the Func./Set menu complete with a live view, but nothing extensive.

Focus
Auto Focus (7.5)
Pricier PowerShot digital cameras now have face detection technology that can automatically find and focus on faces. The A550 does not have this functionality because it has Canon’s older Digic II image processor. Still, this model has AiAF that is a type of all-in-one auto focus mode. It focuses on subjects anywhere in the frame and displays green boxes around its focus areas. This through-the-lens system is fairly quick and quiet.

If the flash is enabled, it takes the camera a bit longer to focus. Normally, the lens can focus from 1.5 feet to infinity. The macro mode can shoot as close as 2 inches and as far as 1.5 feet. The Canon PowerShot A550 has a bright orange auto focus assist beam that really hurts the subjects’ eyes (Try not to blink!). The auto focus assist beam helps the camera focus in low light and takes longer than normal, but still focuses much of the time. The odds are much better that pictures will be focused in optimal lighting.

Manual Focus (0.0)
This feature is not available on this digital camera.

ISO (7.0)
The Canon A550 has manual ISO options of 80, 100, 200, 400, and 800 in full resolution. It also has an auto mode and a special “High ISO Auto” mode specifically for point-and-shooters who know they should hike up the sensitivity when photographing in low light but don’t know which setting to use. The ISO can be changed by pushing the top portion of the multiselector.

White Balance (7.5)
The following white balance choices are accessible through the Func./Set menu: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, and Custom. A big live preview makes it easy for beginners to choose which setting to use. Although digital camera novices may never use it, the Custom feature is quite easy to use. An on-screen prompt directs users to push the Menu button to “evaluate white balance,” and shows a tiny box in the center of the frame where it measures from.

To view the A550's white balance performance, refer to the Testing/Performance portion of the review

Exposure (7.0)
Exposure settings can’t be manually changed, but the exposure compensation can be moved up and down a +/- 2 scale in one-third increments. This scale can be found in the same menu as the white balance, accessed by pressing the Func./Set button.

Metering (7.0)
The A550 has the three standard digital camera metering options: Evaluative, Center-weighted Average, and Spot. Some budget models eliminate these options and add scene modes like Backlight (spot metering) instead. The LCD screen doesn’t display brackets to show where the meter reading is taken, but the included specs claim that the spot metering mode sticks to the very center.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
Although not manually adjustable, the Canon PowerShot A550 has shutter speeds ranging from 15-1/2000th of a second.

Aperture (0.0)
The Canon PowerShot A550 has the same 4x optical zoom lens that was included on the A530. It also has the same 2-step aperture system. When users pan around a scene with light and dark areas, the aperture can be heard clicking open and closed. To its credit, the camera has a relatively wide f/2.6 maximum aperture. It moves from that to f/5.5 though.

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