A Canon with over 7 megapixels and 4x zoom for well under $200? You will be hard-pressed to find a better camera for the money anywhere.

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Product Description

Easy-to-use and easy-to-hold, the PowerShot A550 gives you 7.1 Megapixels, a 4x optical zoom lens, an ISO 800 feature for expanded low-light shooting and a DIGIC II Image Processor with iSAPS technology for beautiful pictures and great performance. Plus, there's even a Fast Frame Rate Movie Mode. Power is never a problem, because the A550 uses standard "AA" batteries. Great features at a great price - it's what makes the A550 such an amazing camera.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11525 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Canon
• Model: 1775B001
• Released on: 2007-02-16
• Dimensions: 1.70" h x 2.50" w x 3.60" l, .35 pounds
• Display size: 2

Features

• 7.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 15 x 20-inch prints
• 4x optical zoom; 2.0-inch LCD display
• 16:9 Widescreen mode for full-screen viewing on widescreen TVs and computer monitors
• Three movie modes including 30 fps VGA and 60 fps Fast Frame Rate
• Stores images on SD, SDHC, or MMC memory cards (16MB MMC card included); powered by 2 AA-size batteries (2 alkaline batteries included)

From the Manufacturer
Easy-to-use and easy-to-hold, the PowerShot A550 gives you 7.1 megapixels, a 4x optical zoom lens, an ISO 800 feature for expanded low-light shooting, and a DIGIC II Image Processor with iSAPS technology for beautiful pictures and great performance. Plus, there's even a Fast Frame Rate Movie Mode. Power is never a problem, because the A550 uses standard "AA" batteries. Great features at a great price--it's what makes the A550 such an amazing camera.

Surprisingly affordable high-resolution digital camera
Treat yourself to a new standard of performance and simplicity. With 7.1 megapixels, the PowerShot A550 gives you the resolution you need to capture life's precious moments in radiant, real-life color and fully textured detail. Even when you enlarge, crop and print, every image is still breathtakingly beautiful. Better still, Canon's high-quality 4x optical zoom lens makes all your favorite subjects--portraits, landscapes, night scenes, even casual snapshots--crisp, sharp and bright.

DIGIC II Image Processor
Canon's DIGIC II Image Processor is designed to improve processing speed and image quality, so DIGIC II provides markedly fast startup, autofocus and playback, plus it assures that every image is more colorfully vibrant.

iSAPS Technology
iSAPS Technology is an entirely original scene-recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS works with the fast DIGIC II Image Processor to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.

See the image in big screen
The PowerShot A550 features a 2.0-inch LCD screen with 86,000 pixels of resolution. So whether you're setting up your shot or playing it back, everything is bright and clear. And with 9-point AiAF, you can count on exact focus no matter where your subject is in the frame. You also have Shooting modes that gives you breathtaking, exhilarating pictures even when shooting conditions are tough.

Shooting Modes
Advanced presets for the best possible photos under certain conditions.

Auto
The camera chooses all the settings so you can concentrate on your subject.

Manual
The ultimate in creative control, you set ISO speed, exposure compensation and white balance.

Portrait
The camera sets a large aperture, focusing the subject and artistically blurring the background to make your subject "pop."

Landscape
For front-to-back sharpness, the camera sets a small aperture.

Indoor
Reduce blur and improve color accuracy when shooting handheld indoors.

Kids & Pets
Reduced focusing time freezes fast-moving subjects, so you won't miss those special shots.

Night Snapshot
Get natural-looking pictures with brighter backgrounds and subjects lit by flash.

Movie
Shoot in VGA (30 frames per second [fps]/15 fps) and QVGA (60 fps/30 fps/15 fps) or QQVGA (15 fps for up to 3 minutes).

Special Scene Modes
Night Scene
For impressive sunset or nightlife shots, the camera properly exposes the background and uses slow-sync flash for the subject.

Foliage
Capture brilliant shots of autumn foliage, greenery and blossoms.

Snow
Shoot clear snow scenes without darkened subjects or an unnatural bluish tint.

Beach
Get clear shots of people at a sunny beach without darkened faces.

Fireworks
Grab brilliant images of skyrocketing fireworks.

Enjoy wide-screen shooting
Now you can experience the full impact of every image you shoot. PowerShot A550 is equipped with a 16:9 widescreen option that lets you shoot still photos and movies in a format that's specially made for viewing on widescreen television sets or your computer monitor. Imagine the possibilities: you can entertain friends and family with shows of your own photography or host your own movie nights. It's a great way to give everyone a whole new perspective on your creativity.

A variety of movie-making options
With a highly flexible movie mode, you can create the movie that's perfect for any application. Fast Frame Rate Movie Mode allows you to record extremely smooth, full-motion movie clips for up to 1 minute long in QVGA at 60 fps (320 x 240 pixels). Select from VGA (640 x 480 pixels) and QVGA (320 x 240 pixels), with frame rates of 30 fps or 15 fps for recording up to 1 hour or 1GB. Plus Compact Movie Mode (QQVGA; 160 x 120 pixels) records at 15 fps for up to 3 minutes. The PowerShot A550 also supports the USB 2.0 Hi-Speed standard, so you'll enjoy the fastest possible data transfer speeds when using a USB 2.0 Hi-Speed compatible computer.

Get new batteries anywhere
You don't need to worry about running out or recharging batteries. Since AA-size batteries can be purchased at any store, simply get new ones locally.

What's in the box
Canon PowerShot A550 body, AA-size alkaline battery (x 2), MultiMediaCard-16M, wrist strap WS-800, Digital Camera Solution CD-ROM, USB interface cable IFC-400PCU, AV cable AVC-DC300

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Customer Reviews

Love this camera!
I really did some research on digital cameras, even tried out a Sony, but the Canon brand is by far one of the best. I don't have to do a lot of thinking when snapping a picture with this camera, it does most of the work! I like to be able to think about the compostion of my photo and not ISO, aperature, and all that jazz. The settings make it so easy and the color of the photos turn out so true. The digital zoom is great and will even alert you if the picture will come out blurry. There are so many features on this camera, too many to list. I even found a great deal at Best Buy on a 2 gig memory card, I get over 1,000 photos with a high resolution! It takes alkaline batteries, but I bought rechargeable ones and one charge lasts a long time. I am sooo happy with this camera, I take it with me everywhere, even a couple of days to work.

Had second thoughts....
I ordered a Nikon Coolpix L6 (6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom) and then ran into a friend at a party. He had one and I gave it a try. SLOW and fair pics. I went home, jumped online and changed the order to the Canon PowerShot A550. This camera is slightly larger, but is quick, good zoom, easy enough on the batteries and takes wonderful pics. Make usre you buy additional SD cards 'cause you'll love using this camera.

Great Camera For The Average User
For the birthday party, vacations, and casual user, this camera is outstanding at the price. For about $200, you get the great resolution and GREAT color, compact size, and usability you need with 15 kids running around you at a party! You will, of course, immediately need a memory card before using it (the one in the package serves up about 8 pics!) The SanDisk memory cards are supercheap, and I bought both a 1 and 2 GB version, both of which work great (2GB will hold about 1,000 pics...plenty). The program for your computer can be a little clumsy to load, but within 20 minutes I had the program and all my recent pics all loaded into my computer.
Awesome for the price, and unless you are a professional photographer looking to get published in National Geographic, you cannot beat the value priced A550 for 7.1 megapixels and the Canon name. Fill your family scrapbook for under $200.