Canon PowerShot A550

"The new PowerShot A550 digital camera delivers an exceptional value to the consumer," says Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager of the Consumer Imaging Group at Canon U.S.A., Inc. "It provides enhanced features and high image quality, while at the same time remaining compact, affordable and easy-to-use. Users are going to love taking pictures with Canon's new PowerShot camera and capturing moments that they can continue to enjoy for generations."

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FEATURES

About the camera

The new PowerShot A550 digital camera is a 7.1 megapixel model with a 4x optical zoom lens and a 2-inch LCD screen. It features Canon's renowned DIGIC II image processor for crisp, vibrant images, responsive performance, and low power consumption. Replacing last year's popular PowerShot A530 digital camera, the new model offers not only higher resolution and a bigger LCD screen, but also better battery life, compatibility with MMC, SD and SDHC memory cards, and an enhanced movie mode that can record 30 fps VGA clips. Operating this camera is even easier than before with a redesigned mode dial featuring five of Canon's most popular Special Scene modes for easier access, as well as standard fully automatic settings. The PowerShot A550 digital camera retains many hallmark A-series features, including an optical viewfinder and a comfortable handgrip, making it ergonomically friendly for comfortable handling while providing yet another option for viewing the subject and saving battery power while shooting.

Get It Right the First Time

The PowerShot A550 digital camera delivers high-resolution images without requiring users to exert additional effort. This model uses Canon's AiAF "Smart" autofocus system with Canon's patented iSAPS intelligent scene analysis algorithm to determine optimum settings for focusing, exposure and white balance. The user simply snaps the shot with the push of a button.

The PowerShot A550 digital camera features 11 standard shooting modes for still pictures, automatically adjusting the camera's settings to match the surroundings. Still shooting modes include Full Auto, Auto with manual adjustment of exposure compensation and white balance, Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids and Pets, and other Special Scene modes. Additionally, this new model can record movies with sound - so you can capture your baby's first steps or first words with point and shoot simplicity.

Taking the Next Step

Canon recognizes that capturing an image is only the first step towards the full enjoyment of digital photography and movie making. That's why all new PowerShot digital cameras, including the A550 model, are equipped with a variety of features to make viewing and printing your images easier than ever. For example, both still images and movies can be played back through compatible personal computers or television sets with accessory cables that are supplied at no extra charge. Additionally, the PowerShot A550 digital camera supports one-touch automatic downloading to compatible personal computers, and the supplied software automatically organizes images and movie clips according to the shooting date for easy archiving.

Direct Print

Like all PowerShot digital cameras, this newest addition to the A-series works seamlessly with Canon's petite compact photo printers – an essential PowerShot accessory. Consumers simply connect their PowerShot digital camera to a compact photo printer, press the Print/Share button, and within seconds**, prints emerge. Presto! It is that simple. Canon's digital cameras are PictBridge compatible. They work with PictBridge enabled printers and offer excellent image quality and ease-of-use. Printing photos directly from a digital camera is both easy and affordable.

What's in the Box?

The PowerShot A550 digital camera kit includes a USB cable, an audio/video cable, a wrist strap, a 16MB MultiMediaCard and AA-size alkaline batteries as well as the Canon Digital Camera Solution Disc Version 30, featuring the latest versions of Canon's powerful software.***

*Actual prices are determined by individual dealers and may vary.

**Print speed of up to 58 seconds is based on average output speed achieved during product testing with DIGIC II processor embedded Canon PowerShot digital cameras and Canon SELPHY CP Printers. Other products' print speed may vary. Printer functions are sensitive to temperature and humidity.

***See powershot.com for operating system requirements.

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PICTURES

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SPECIFICATION

Sensor • 1/2.5" Type CCD
• 7.1 million effective pixels

Image sizes • 3072x2304
• 3072x1728
• 2592x1944
• 2048x1536
• 1600x1200
• 640x480

Movie clips • 640x480, 30/15 fps (L)
• 320x240 ,60/30/15 fps (M)
• 160x120, 15 fps (S)

File formats • Still: JPEG compression (Exif 2.2 [Exif Print] compliant) / Design rule for Camera File system
• Movie: AVI [Motion JPEG compression]
• Sound: WAVE (monaural)

Lens • 5.8-23.2mm (35-140 35 mm equiv) 4.0x optical zoom
• F2.6-5.5

Image stabilization No

Conversion lenses No

Digital zoom Up to 4x (1.5/1.9x with digital Tele-Converter)

Focus • TTL
• AF lock

AF area modes • 9-point AiAF
• 1-point AF (fixed centre)

AF assist lamp Yes

Focus distance • 5cm-∞

Metering • Evaluative
• Centre-weighted average
• Spot (centre)

ISO sensitivity • ISO 80
• ISO 100
• ISO 200
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• Auto
• High-ISO auto

Exposure compensation • +/- 2EV
• 1/3EV increments

Exposure bracketing No

Shutter speed 15-1/2000 sec

Modes • Auto
• Manual

Scene modes • Portrait
• Landscape
• Night snapshot
• Indoor
• Kids & Pets
• Movie
• Foliage
• Snow
• Beach
• Fireworks
• Night scene

White balance • Auto
• Daylight
• Cloudy
• Tungsten
• Fluorescent
• Fluorescent H
• Custom

White balance fine tune No

Self timer 2 or 10 sec, custom

Continuous shooting Approx. 1.4fps until memory card is full

Image parameters • Vivid
• Neutral
• Sepia
• Black & White
• Custom Colour

Flash • Auto
• Forced on/off
• Slow sync
• Red-eye reduction
• Flash exposure lock
• 45cm-3.5m (wide) / 45cm-2.2m (tele) (auto ISO)

Viewfinder Real-image zoom optical viewfinder

LCD monitor • 2.0" P-Si TFT LCD
• 86,000 pixels
• 100% coverage

Connectivity • USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
• A/V output (PAL/NTSC switchable)
•

Print compliance • Exif print
• DCRF
• DPOF 1.1
• Pictbridge

Storage • SD/SDHC/MMC card
• 16 MB card supplied

Power • 2 x AA batteries (Alkaline or NiMH compatible, Alkalines supplied
• NiMH charger optional

Weight (no batt) 160g (5.6 oz)

Dimensions 91.2 x 64.0 x 43.1mm (3.6 x 2.5 x 1.7 in)