Customer Reviews

Canon EOS 550D Digital SLR Camera (inc 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens Kit)

5 star:		(144)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Put simply this is the most important camera to be released in years.

What I find astonishing that people have spent £750 on a DSLR as good as this and complain about the video issues. I work in TV and deal with professional cameras and footage for broadcast on a daily basis and I can tell you with every bit of my professional opinion that this camera is outstanding.

The stills are incredible and while the only frustrating video issue is the lack of audio control or monitoring, which can be compensated by recording on to a separate device and sync by clapper, the video is absolutely fantastic. Easily broadcastable when in the right hands.

Could you even imagine a camera capable of all this, for this price 10 years ago? 5 years ago? a year ago?

Please do not look any further, this camera has incredible video and still performance with interchangeable lens capability and with a decent mic attached could be a broadcast kit that could fit in a small bag.

I have a XH-A1 for personal use at home and I am already using this more. It doesn't have quite the same features and manual controls, but hey, the XH-A1 cost £2500, This costs about £700 and has equally good image production. In some ways is even more flexible with changeable lenses.

I can not recommend any product I have ever bought as highly as this.

Keen Amateurs, Holiday makers, Semi Professional Videographers... It's all there for you!!

I've just bought this Canon 550D with the 18-135 IS lens and have so far been very impressed. It handles low light shooting very well, as a result of the IS facility and very high ISO ability.
The range coverage of this lens is excellent, from landscapes to close ups and the images I've got so far are very sharp and detailed. It can shoot in RAW mode along side high quality JPEG, so you have an image ready to show (JPEG) and an image you can tinker about with (RAW) on your computer until it is perfect (the provided Canon software makes it very easy to do). Navigating around the camera menu becomes a breezes after a few practices, although keep the manual nearby as there is a wealth of information to digest from it. The screen on the back is fantastic and crystal clear. The camera feels comfortable to hold (even in my big paws!) and is not to heavy to cart around. The microphone port is also a welcome new addition as it will allow you to capture the sound in stereo and enables you to choose your microphone weapon of your choice rather than being condemned into using the built in microphone (which does the job).

The only moan about this kit is that the AF is bit noisey, as it's not a USM lens, but if you want a comparable zoom range in a Canon USM lens you'd be paying a hell of lot more money (eg the 15-85 IS USM).

A couple of tips before I go

1) Buy a decent SDHC card like a Sandisk Extreme with a class 10 rating, preferably 16GB or more (for the video capture side of things especially). Don't be lured into buying a cheap card because it has a high capacity as it won't read and write the data fast enough to
be of any good, especially the HD video. Canon recommend at least a class 6 card.
2) Get a powerful computer. I am going to upgrade my desktop PC (or get something else). It has a 3.4Ghz AMD processor (albeit 5 years old), 1GB RAM and 256MB graphics, running with Windows XP. It can't seem to handle displaying the captured HD video and is slightly slow in processing the RAW images (each of which can be around 24MB in file size).

Overall a top piece of kit that you won't be disappointed with.

After researching for several weeks through Canon's large variety of DSLRs, I came to the conclusion of purchasing a 500D because of it's high reputation. Just as I was about to seal the deal, I came across the not-so-much talked about 550D. Although higher in specifications, I was unsure whether or not its lack of hype was due to poor quality or its more recent debut: I decided to add to basket and cross my fingers.

Wow. In replacement to a Sony Cybershot, it seems as if any photo taken is stunning. The image quality is superb and the auto settings make a world of difference. Although not the most pricey of the Canon EOS range, the camera feels utterly professional. The battery life passed my expectations and the flash is a beast, albeit sometimes I find myself switching to 'Flash off' mode. The body is sturdy and lightweight and the HD video function is fantastic.

My only complaints are that the microphone isn't great and tends to pick up a lot of 'fuzz' and that the mode settings utilize the wheel to navigate as opposed to the generic d-pad. Moreover, the pros outweigh the cons marginally hence my high rating.

The perfect 'first real camera' for any aspiring photographer whose ready to up their game. Although pretty big bucks, you won't regret it; I know I haven't!

I previously owned a Canon 400D dSLR and a Canon HF100 HD camcorder. In short the 550D blows them both out of the water for what I use it for - which is predominantly a family camera for photographing and filming the kids. The 18mp resolution is a little unnecessary in my book, but it's definitely useful for when you need to crop a shot - you can crop and awful lot and still end up with a decent resolution photo. Then main advantages it has over the 400D (for me at least) are that the menu's are vastly improved, the low light real-world shooting is much better and the body it's self just feels a little more solid and nicer to hold and use (the button placement has been very well thought out for such a small camera).

Compared to the HF100, the HD videos the 550D shoots are (in terms of visual quality) stunning, and I can't see myself going back to using a regular camcorder any time soon. OK so it's no as use friendly as a camcorder would be but if you're not scared of using manual focus all the time and don't need to shoot anything for more than 12 minutes continuously (the HD video limit for all today's dSLRs I think), the 550D shoots very very nice looking videos. What surprised me was the sound quality - it was a lot better than I expected it to be! It's on par with the sound my HF100 used to take anyway. I was expecting it to be very tinny or 'cheap' sounding as I'd read the audio from the inbuilt mic's on the 500D and 7D's mic's are, but it's not at all bad and fine for home movies. It's mono, not stereo, and the mic pics up any taps and buzzes the camera makes, but as long as you're careful while handling the camera when filming it's not a problem at all.

As this was the 550D Body Only I got, I got the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens to use an an 'everyday' lens to go with it. This is an excellent little lens for the money. After mainly using a Canon 50mm f/1.8 on my 400D for the last couple of years but commonly feeling the need for a slightly wider angle, I really wanted another fast prime lens, and I read a lot of good things about the Sigma - all of which have so far shown true. Compared to the Canon 50mm f/1.8, the Sigma 30mm is much, much more solid lens and 'feels' like a better product. The sharpness is spot on (i'm sure some Canon L lenses are way better, but who really looks at photos zoomed in at 100% anyway) and the f/1.4 comes in very handy. I was unsure whether to get this lens or something like the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 for it's zoom range - but I'm glad I got this little Sigma prime. I imagine it'll be on my camera 90% of the time and so far it's focusing and build quality have blown me away. The weight of the 550D + Sigma 30mm makes for a good solid SLR camera to carry around all day.

I bought this camera as an upgrade to the 400D(4years old) and cannot put the thing down. As a hobbiest the camera has many options that a few years ago would be considered a professional camera(costing £1000's) with the added feature of being a full HD camcorder, being able to use the lens as well, although at 330Mb memory needed per minute you need a huge memory card(not available yet). The features/options this camera gives you are just stunning. I recently went to Istanbul and tested the camera, at gone midnight, hand held shots only at 6400/12800 ISA and was impressed with the outcome. Worth upgrading, not a beginners camera, you need to know something about photiography to get the best out of it.

I LOVE this camera - I cannot express enough how much I love it!

I was concerned at first about the 18-55mm lens kit and I considered buying a 18-135mm kit instead, but the 18-55mm lens works great and really comes into it's own when shooting in macro mode.

The settings could be a little confusing, but I bought a great book (see my other reviews) which has been really helpful.

The camera has inspired me to take a photography course - it is so much fun to use!

Best camera I've ever owned.

After a couple of weeks my findings : excellent camera, high quality photo's, benefits (like all camera's) from good glass in front. Good, usable, movie mode, really like the 640 crop which is great for astronomy. Live view with a 3 inch LCD (crystal clear as well) makes it so much easier to focus, especially for those of us from the wrinkly generation and without perfect eyesight (note that the view finder provides about 95% coverage not 100% and is slighly on the dull side compared to a 7D with the same glass in front for instance). And masses of options, not least of which is live view, did I mention that I think that's great. I should say that I only use either manual or A mode on the camera so have no idea what the custom modes are like. They were very good on my 20D so I assume that they will be excellent on the 550D.

This camera was bought as a replacement for a 20D, got the 550D as I could not justify the price of either a 7D or a 5D Mk 2 and wasn't going to buy a 50D with 60D just around the comer. Couple of points to note however if, like me you are coming from a 20 30 40 or 50D. One is the lack of an LCD panel on the outside top of the camera takes some getting used to. I miss the convenience of a quick control dial on the camera rear, though there is a main dial top front which is multipurpose.

The 550D, though it feels very well made is certainly not in the same league build wise as a 20D. If you are used to firing off lots of shots in burst mode, this camera may not be for you - I very rarely use burst but did the other day and noticed that it's nowhere near as quick to fire or refresh as the 20D. Also the `clunk' made by the camera when you take a picture sounds `cheap' (hope that makes sense). Final point for me, I much prefer the size and brightness of the AF focus points on a 20D. They appear larger and clearer on that camera, more than once with the 550D I've had to re-focus several times just to see exactly where the `live' focus point is. That, of course, may be me, but then this is my review :-)

Overall great camera and I love it to bits, not least of all because it's so much lighter than a 20D....

UPDATE : September

After several more weeks of use with various lens, I have to say I am very impressed indeed with the quality of the results. I take photo's with both RAW and JPEG switched on at the same time and honestly find that the JPEG's are more than good enough for most purposes. The colours are clear and bright and the level of detail is a delight. High ISO use has also been a revelation, ISO 800 is more than useable and I actually tried a couple of shots outside at night with little illumination at ISO 6400 and both pictures came out well enough to see the subject clearly. Although there was a lot of noise I did not think it excessive, more like that you get from a B&W photo from a newspaper if you enlarge it, so still usable.... I don't have any L lens at the moment so am using a Canon 10-22, a Canon 17-55 and an old Canon 75-300 and I can honestly say that even when enlarged to 200% I have noticed very little, if any, drop off in sharpness, I realise that in part that is down to the lens but I never got the same level of detail with the 20D so the 550D must be doing something right.

If you want to see some examples of what the 550D can do, even in the hands of a poor photographer, there are a lot of examples on Flickr.

Bought this camera along with a 18 to 135mm lens and a 50mm 1.8 lens. The pictures produced with either of these lenses are brilliant. The camera is easy to use in any mode. I usually shoot in aperture priorty. The menu system is a breeze. I have started shooting raw. The largest and fastest card I own is a transcend 16gb class 10, which allows me to take around 240 pics in raw mode or upto a 1000 or so in jpeg mode. The editing software for processing raw is simple to use. I take the card out of the camera, stick it in a card reader, open up the editing software and it recognises the card pronto. Then I have a whale of a time playing about with picture styles, highlights, shadow detail etc, etc until I am happy with the pics then simply batch process the lot into jpeg format. I have since purchased a none canon battery grip from amazon which came with 2 spare batteries and once attached the camera feels really profesional. Also just purchased a canon speedlite 430 ex ii. I am normally a bit skeptical about using flash incase of blown out faces etc but there's no need to worry with the 430 ex ii. In ettl mode I don't think it's possible to take a bad flash pic. Just use the flash exposure settings to lessen or up the output when necessary.
As for the HD Video capabilties - I haven't really given it much of a go as yet. I believe if you don't wave the camera from side to side and just keep it steady, and move slow while filming, it should give great results. That's how you should film anyway! However, once you've shot some video footage I guess you need a powerfull computer with appropriate software to download and edit the footage. The file format for video is .mov and windows movie maker won't recognise this format. I think you can download a free file format conversion software which will change the .mov files into AVI or MPEG. Anyway, if you are thinking of buying this camera go right ahead. You won't be regret it for a single day and you and your family and friends will love your pro like pics.

I have recently purchased a second 550d. I now own two which I use for wedding photography. So far shot approximately 20 weddings and no negative feedback to date from clients. On one camera I have a sigma 17 70 and on the second camera I have a canon 70 200 f4. I also own a 50mm 1.8. I stil get the odd butterflies in the stomach on the morning of a wedding shoot. I believe every wedding shooter is the same. If I ever decide to but another camera it will have to be the 5d mark11 full frame 21mp, but until that day comes my twin set of 550d will be just fine.

For justifying this 5* star score I compare this camera to the 2 I have previously owned (Panasonic Lumix FZ28, Sony Cybershot W200) and other DSLR's I have had experience with (EOS 450D, EOS 20D, Sony A200, Nikon D60 and D3000).

I was initially looking at getting a 450D or 500D and the D3000/3100 Nikons. The reviews and hype were really good for these 4 and for my first DSLR I wanted something easy to get to grips with but with a significant step up from my Lumix. The guy in the shop I purchased it from pointed out the newer 550D. So I researched it and found out it was a significant update of the 500D putting it toward the range of the D5000 and 7D and surpassing the 50D in a few areas! Just with slower performance being the critical difference. I decided shot to shot performance wasn't important to me (I like setting up my photos a bit) and went for the 550D, and boy is it worth the extra buck!

I purchased the camera with the two kit lenses, ef-s 18-55mm and ef-s 55-250mm. I must say from my experience with kit lenses these aren't half bad (compared to the Nikon and Sony ones). Getting really nice sharp photos can require messing with the aperture and focal length a bit but they can both produce superb results. Especially shooting in RAW and using post-processing to dial out CA, barrel distortion and stuff.

The performance is great, starts up and shoots in well under a second. Shot to shot time with focusing is about as fast as you can press the shutter (and with a class 6, 30MB/s card it can shoot for a while) and in continuous it is 3.7fps. Auto mode is fast but generally overexposes my shots in my short time with it by up to about +1/3 EV. Nothing major but it can require going into manual to dial it out which if you just want a quick shot can be a little annoying. I also end up using the "no flash" mode as the flash can pop up in bright daylight and in fairly low contrast scenes which is a bit odd.

Image quality is superb. I compared shots directly to the micro four-thirds Lumix G2 my boss has and a friends EOS 7D. It beats the G2 hands down in any lower light conditions and with all general performance, sharpness and dynamic range. There is better noise control (clean shots up to around 1000-1200 ISO) and the images are so detailed in RAW. I was expecting the 7D to trounce the 550D, but from all the shots I did with both I couldn't really tell the difference. OK, the 7D is lightening quick and more versatile, but for image quality using the same lenses they are very evenly matched. So overall I am very impressed. Also 18MP gives you some great real estate for when it comes to extreme crops, with no increase in noise or drop in dynamic range.

Onto video quality. I haven't been thorough with this feature I'll be honest. I have taken a few 720p videos and 1080p videos and both look awesome. The focusing can be a bit all over the place in lower light so I used manual as the objects I was recording weren't moving fast. Sound, although mono, isn't the worst I have heard. There is an external mic socket though and from a few videos on youtube I have seen you can create some epic vids from this camera. This feature wasn't something that enticed me to buy the camera, just a useful add-on. But if you like HD video recording, the 550D is certainly no slouch.

I conclude that the EOS 550D is a very capable, if somewhat an enigma as to where it fits within Canons range, brilliantly designed and an easy to use camera. I plan to get an ef-s 15-85mm lens for the superior glass, but the lens kits can produce amazing photos for less notes.

I wouldn't tag this as the usual "entry-level"camera, where others such as the 1000D, D3000, Sony A200 etc. all fit in. If you are looking to step into the DSLR market but think you want more features and performance than the basic models and don't want to fork out for a mid or top-range DSLR then this is 100% the option.

This is my first Canon camera having been an Olympus devotee for many years. The lack of a real roadmap for 4/3 forced me to change and I have not been disappointed.

The camera feels very comfortable in my hand and the viewfinder is clear and uncluttered. The controlll fall to hand quite easily once you have located them and are intuitive and easy to use. The camera is well equipped with the same 18MP sensor as used on the 60D and 7D. The kit lens is bright and even though the maxumum aperture is only 5.6 at maximum zoom the higher ISO speeds don't exhibit too much in the way of noise and auto ISO allows you get shots with narrow depth of field even in fairly poor light. There is an ISO push facility which lets you go up to 12800 should you wish and this is great for grainy low light shots.

I was sceptical about whether I wanted a camera to take video as well, but have been very impressed with this, one tip though, get an external microphone if you want reasonable sound, but 1080P video is certainly a worthwhile addition. I was also not convinced by live view, always preferred to compose via the viewfinder, but again, the large bright screen has sold me on this feature.

So, am I glad I made the switch, yes. Did I consider any other camera? Yes, the 60D and 7D, and as I couldnt stretch to the 7D I looked carefully at the 60D and 550D and simply couldn't justify the extra cost for the 60D over the 550D given the features of each.

If you are in the market for a good DSLR at a great preice, then this is the one I would suggest