Canon EOS 550D / EOS REBEL T2i Digital Camera- The Rebel

The Canon EOS 550D is very aptly named as the EOS Rebel T2i. I say so because it does not fit into the established category of medium range of the Canon 500D or the high range of the Canon 7D but it is in between both of them. Such products often tend to be failures as they fail to fulfill the expectations of both the high end users and the beginners. However it also revolutionizes the industry creating a whole new niche and a new price range. The Canon EOS 550D is a product of such potential.

The Canon 550D is a mid range product with a price of 800-1000$. It has upgraded features from the 500D with an 18 megapixel sensor CMOS and a superior movie recording function. The movie mode comes with a superior 30 fps recording at 1080p HD. It also has selectable frame rate, manual control over exposure and it can also use an external stereo recording mic. The external mic is very important because the noise level when using the internal mic is very high. The size of a 30 minute video shot with this specs goes upto 4GB. You may wonder about the size of the movie that you shoot and how you are going to send it through mail? Well the Rebel T2i remedies this problem by giving a movie crop function which is easy to use and also rectifies the size problem efficiently.

Another plus of the Canon EOS 550D is the DIGIC 4 processor with ISO 100-12800 which has been recently expanded for this model. The metering system of the 550D far outclasses the 500D and it is nearly similar to the 7D. For the tech enthusiasts the metering system is the iFCL metering system with 63 zone Dual layer metering sensor. The flash is excellent; it provides great photos even in poor lighting, it works fine for the movie mode too.

It has a 3 inch LCD screen and an easy to navigate and easy to learn menu. The memory as usual in Canon is a SD card which is upgraded from the 500D and it can also use the SDH and the SDHX cards. Another neat trick in the 550D for professional photographers is the function of entering the copyright information directly into the photographs.

It is hard to pinpoint a lot of drawbacks in this beauty. One might point to the Viewfinder in all the Canon cameras in this model too but it really can’t be helped unless Canon decides to drastically change its Viewfinder. The grip is also a bit slippery but it is comfortable to hold. But that can be partially taken care of by using the optional battery grip.

All in all the Canon 550D is a great buy and it is going to create waves in the market.

If you want to own a good camera and have a spare 800$ in your pocket go for this one. I will be very surprised if you regret your decision. As always, you can shop for the best price of Canon EOS 550D on Price Compare website.