Canon PowerShot A550

Auto Mode (7.5)
The Auto mode is denoted by a green label on the dial. When in Auto mode, the recording menu is still available, but the Func./Set menu is shortened to allow changes only to image size and compression.

Many of the multiselector’s functions are still accessible too. The ISO options include auto and high ISO auto; the flash can be turned off or to an auto setting; the self-timer can be activated; and the macro mode enabled. Overall, the Auto mode it is very easy to use and seemed to produce decent pictures in a variety of situations.

Movie Mode (7.0)
The Canon PowerShot A550’s mode dial provides direct access to the movie mode, which gives users a lot of flexibility. While in the movie mode, the white balance and color mode can be changed along with the resolution and frame rate.

The A550’s movies are much, much better in terms of quality when compared to its predecessor. Movies record at 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels with frame rates of 30 or 15 fps. The camera’s published specs claim that there is a fast frame rate movie mode, but that was not to be found on the reviewed model. It’s just as well; it wasn’t very useful on the pricier cameras anyway. The frame rate is still better than the camera’s predecessor, the A530, which had a lousy 10 fps at the full 640 x 480 pixels.

The Canon A550 can record up to 1 GB of footage at a time. Colors look decent and subjects look realistic. The quality is decent until the zoom in employed. There is no optical zoom available – only digital zoom, which degrades the image quality.

Movies can be played back normally or at five slow motion speeds, which could be entertaining for the kids. There is no movie editing available, but users can stop and rewind and fast-forward through clips with the multiselector. The volume can also be changed while viewing. The audio is surprisingly good for a budget digital camera; the large snowflake-shaped speaker on the back helps.

Overall, the movie mode is quite good for a digital camera in this price range. It won’t replace a camcorder, but it will take great short videos.

To see how the A550 performed in movie mode, refer to the Testing/Performance section of the review.

Drive / Burst Mode (6.0)
There is something of a burst mode available. It isn’t all that impressive, but it beats out some of its competitors. The bottom of the multiselector activates the continuous shooting mode, which can snap 1.7 frames per second. The A550 can take 10 pictures at this speed before it sputters. It still keeps taking pictures, but the rate slows to about 1 picture per second. Also available is a self-timer that can be set to delay for 2 or 10 seconds or customized to delay for 0-30 seconds and snap 1-10 shots after that delay. The self-timer indicates when it is taking the picture by flashing the orange LED on the front of the camera. Overall, the burst mode is decent for being a budget model.

Playback Mode (6.5)
With a poor 86k resolution on the 2-inch LCD screen, the playback mode certainly isn’t anything special. Pictures don’t look very good with this resolution; edges look like stair steps and faces look like piles of colored blocks.

There are several ways to view images. When users enter the playback mode via the designated button, individual photos appear and can be scrolled through using the multiselector. Pushing the telephoto end of the zoom ring switches the view to nine thumbnail images. Pushing the wide end of the ring magnifies a selected image 2-10x.

Pushing the top portion of the multiselector cycles through a few options: users can jump to every 10th image, every 100th image, to a certain shot date, or to movies and folders. The jump function is convenient if searching through a large capacity memory card; it’d be nice if the deletion feature was that helpful.

Users can erase all images through the playback menu or can erase one at a time with a push of the multiselector’s bottom. Other than formatting the memory card, there is no specific option to scroll through and delete images in batches, which comes in handy when there are lots of photos on a memory card that have been tagged. The following menu appears in the playback mode.

The print menu is a tabbed sub-menu from this interface. Its contents will be discussed in the Direct Printing portion of this review.
Of note is the camera’s ability to automatically rotate images (this can be switched off in the setup menu) in the playback mode. This is especially helpful during slide shows, when users don’t want to have to manually rotate every image.

Movies can be played back normally or in slow motion. The volume and playback rate (there are 5 different speeds) can be changed while viewing. There is no movie editing available on this model while pricier A-series models offer the option to cut videos.

Overall, the screen size and resolution aren’t the best, and the menu options are extremely basic. There are a few great features such as the "jump" function that eases navigation of lots of photos but other functions like deletion are still a pain to use.

Custom Image Presets (7.5)
The Canon PowerShot A550 has many of the same custom image presets as the A530, but they’re in different places. Most of the scene modes are tucked away in a menu on the older A530. As part of its mission to enhance ease of use, the Canon redesigned the PowerShot A550’s mode dial with more scene modes plastered directly on it. There are 5 scene modes located directly on the mode dial and 5 more in the "SCN" position of the dial. Portrait, Landscape, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, and Indoor/Party are on the dial. The "SCN" menu includes the following: Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach, and Fireworks. This layout does indeed make it easier to access frequently-used scene modes.

I didn’t ordinarily use presets like Fireworks and Beach much, but the Kids & Pets and Indoor/Party modes came in handy. The Kids & Pets scene mode is geared for brightly lit playtime in the backyard, so using it indoors caused a few blurred hands and legs. The Portrait and Landscape modes produced nice shots too.