Canon EOS 550D

The Canon EOS 550D is an 18.0-megapixel digital [single-lens reflex camera], announced by Canon on 8 February 2010. It was available since 24 February 2010, and to US dealers from early March. It is known as the EOS Kiss X4 in Japan, and as the EOS Rebel T2i in the Americas. It is part of Canon's entry/mid-level digital SLR camera series, and was the successor model to the EOS 500D. It was succeeded by the EOS 600D but remained in Canon's lineup until being discontinued in June 2012 with the announcement of the EOS 650D.

Features

18.0 effective megapixel CMOS sensor
1080p HD video recording at 24p, 25p, and 30p with drop-frame timing
720p HD video recording at 50 fps and 60 fps
480p video recording at 50 fps and 60 fps
3.5mm microphone jack for external microphones or recorders.
PAL / NTSC video output
DIGIC 4 image processor
14-bit analog to digital signal conversion
3:2 aspect ratio LCD monitor
Live view mode
Built-in flash
Wide, selectable, nine-point AF with centre cross-type sensor extra sensitive at f/2.8
Four metering modes, using 63-zones: spot, partial, center-weighted average, and evaluative metering
Highlight tone priority
EOS integrated cleaning system
Internal monaural microphone
sRGB and Adobe RGB colour spaces
ISO 100–6,400 expandable to 12,800
Continuous drive up to 3.7 frame/s, 6 images )
SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory card file storage
Raw and large JPEG simultaneous recording
USB 2.0, HDMI control
LP-E8 battery
Approximate weight with battery and card

Bundled software

The 550D comes with following image-processing and camera-operating software:

ZoomBrowser EX / ImageBrowser Image Processing
Digital Photo Professional
PhotoStitch
EOS Utility
Picture Style Editor

Optional accessories

The Canon 550D has available accessories, such as:

All EF lens mount|EF] and EF-S lenses
Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX
Macro twin lite MT-24EX
E-series Dioptic Adjustment Lenses
Angle Finder C
Semi hard case EH19L
Interface Cable IFC-200U/500U
Original Data Security Kit OSK-E3
Canon EX-series Speedlites & ST-E2
AC Adapter Kit
Battery grip BG-E8
Battery Magazine BGME8A/L
Eyepiece Extender EPEX15II
HDMI Cable HTC-100
Remote Switch RS-60E3
Wireless Remote Controller RC-6

Firmware updates

In July 2010, Canon released firmware 1.0.8 that fixed a phenomenon in which the set aperture moves unexpectedly when shooting movies in manual exposure mode using some Canon lenses. On 25 December 2010, Canon offered firmware version 1.0.9 which fixed tone jumps in some images, depending on the shooting scene and when shooting with the Auto Lighting Optimizer settings.

Custom firmware

is an open-source firmware add-on for Canon DSLR cameras, which has enhancements for video and still photography without replacing the stock firmware. The Canon T2i is compatible with Magic Lantern firmware.

Reception

The British Journal of Photography was impressed by the 550D and said "the EOS 550D is a good match for the 7D at half the price". On Digital Photography Review, it got overall score of 77%. For most of its product life, alternative cameras included the Nikon D5000, Nikon D3100, Canon 500D, Nikon D90, and Pentax K-7. Immediately before it was discontinued in 2012, the main competitors of the 550D were the Nikon D3200 and D5100, Pentax K-r, and the Sony Alpha 57, one of the company's SLT cameras.