Canon EOS 550D body

Focus:

• Type TTL-CT-SIR (Secondary image acquisition through a crosshair lens), specially for autofocusing with a CMOS sensor
• 9 AF points (centre reticle at f/5.6, high sensitivity at f/2.8)
• AF Working Range EV -0.5 — 18 (at 23°C & ISO100)
• Modes: Intelligent Focus, Single Frame, Servo Intelligent Focus
• Selecting a single AF point in auto and manual mode Displaying the selected AF point in the viewfinder and LCD monitor
• Predictive autofocus up to 10 meters
• AF lock when shutter button is pressed halfway in One-Shot AF mode
• AF assist beam

Exposure metering:

• Full aperture TTL metering with 63-zone silicon photocell
• Evaluative metering (linked to any AF point)
• Partial metering at centre area (approx. 9% of viewfinder area at centre area)
• Spot metering (approx. 4% of viewfinder area in centre area)
• Centre-weighted metering Metering range EV 1–20 (at 23°C with 50mm f/1.4, ISO100 lens)
• AE lock in auto mode is available in One-Shot AF mode with evaluative metering when focus is achieved
• Manual AE lock is activated by pressing the AE lock button in Creative Zone modes Exposure compensation +/-5 EV in 1/3 or 1/2-stop increments
• AE bracketing: 3 frames +/— 2 EV, in 1/2 or 1/3 steps

Information displayed in the viewfinder:

• Autofocus: AF points, focus confirmation light
• Exposure: shutter speed, aperture, ISO film speed (always displayed), AE lock, exposure level/exposure compensation, spot metering circle, exposure warning, AE bracketing
• Flash: Flash on indicator, high-speed sync, flash exposure lock, flash exposure compensation, red-eye reduction
• Image: white balance correction, SD card information, black and white shooting mode, maximum continuous shooting burst (1 digit), highlight tone priority (D+)
• Depth of field preview

Flash:

• Modes: auto E-TTL II, manual metering
• X-sync — 1/300s (only with EX-series Speedlites)
• Flash Exposure Compensation +/— 3 EV in 1/2 or 1/3-stop increments
• Flash exposure bracketing
• Flash exposure lock
• Second curtain sync
• External flash compatibility: E-TTL II with EX-series Speedlites, wireless multi-flash capability
• External flash control via camera menu screen
• The coverage angle of the built-in flash corresponds to a lens with a focal length of 17mm (35mm equiv.: 27mm) Recycle time Approx. 3 seconds
• X-sync 1/200 second
• Flash Exposure Compensation +/— 2 EV in 1/2 or 1/3-stop increments
• Flash exposure lock
• Second curtain sync
• External flash compatibility: E-TTL II with EX-series Speedlites, wireless multi-flash capability

Filming:

• Modes: Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night portrait, Flash off, Movie, Programme AE, Shutter-priority AE, Aperture-priority AE, Manual, Depth-of-field AE
• Picture Style: Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, True Colour, Monochrome, Custom (x3)
• Image processing
  • Highlight Tone Priority function
  • Automatic Lighting Optimization (Basic and Creative)
  • Long exposure noise reduction
  • Noise reduction at high ISO speed
  • Peripheral Illumination Correction
• Shooting methods:
  • Frame-by-frame
  • Continuous — 3.7 fps (up to 34 frames in JPEG, 6 frames in RAW)
  • Self-timer (remote after 2 and 10 s, continuous shooting 2-10 frames after 10 s)

LIVE VIEW mode

• Image coverage approx. 100% (horizontal and vertical)
• Frequency — 30 frames per second
• Focus:
  • Manual focus (5x or 10x magnification of the image anywhere on the screen)
  • Autofocus: Quick Mode, Live View
• Real-time evaluative metering with image sensor
• Changing the active metering time

Video recording:

• 1920 x 1080 (29.97; 25 and 23.976 fps)
• 1280 x 720 (59.94; 50 fps)
• 640 x 480 (59.94; 50 fps)
• Maximum duration 29 min 59 s
• Maximum file size 4 GB
• Video Data Type — MOV (Video: H.264, Audio: Linear PCM)

View footage:

• Viewing format: single frame, 4 and 9 frame index,
• 1.5x-10x image magnification, 15 activation steps
• Slideshow: all images, sorted by date or folder, playback time: 1/2/3/5 seconds with or without repeat

Battery life:

• Approximately 440 shots (at t 23°C)
• Approximately 400 shots (at 0°C)
• Battery indicator: 4 levels
• Power saving mode: power off after 30 sec., 1, 2, 4, 8, 15 or 30 min

Menu languages

English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Arabic, Thai, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese

Compatible accessories:

• For viewfinder: Eyecup Ef, E-series diopter adjustment lens with rubber frame Ef, Eyepiece extension EP-EX15II, Angle viewfinder C
• Semi-hard case EH19-L
• Wireless File Transmitter
• All EF and EF-S lenses
• Canon Speedlites (220EX, 270EX, 380EX, 420EX, 430EX, 430EX II, 550EX, 580EX, 580EX II, Macro Ring Flash MR-14EX, Macro Twin Flash MT-24EX, Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2) Battery pack BG-E8
• Remote control switch RS-60E3
• Remote control RC-6

Good to know:

Built-in sensor cleaning system
The built-in cleaning system EOS fights dust on the sensor in three ways: preventing dust, repelling and eliminating it.

• Dust Prevention: The internals of the camera are designed to reduce the chance of dust. The body of the camera is designed to prevent dust while wearing.
• Dust repellent: The low-pass filter in front of the image sensor is made with anti-static material to repel dust.
• Dust Removal: The self-cleaning image sensor uses high-frequency vibration to "shake" dust off the infrared filter for approximately one second after each activation. To instantly start shooting after activating the camera, this function is immediately disabled when the shutter is released.

Canon has also developed an internal Dust Delete Data system that detects the position of visible dust particles on the image sensor. After shooting, traces of this dust can be automatically removed from the image using the latest version of Digital Photo Professional software.

63-zone iFCL exposure metering system with dual-layer sensor
The EOS 550D features a new 63-area metering sensor compatible with nine AF points. In general, measurement sensors are more sensitive to red-coloured objects, which can cause overexposure. The EOS 550D solves this problem with a dual-layer sensor, where one layer responds to red and green colours and the other to cyan and green. The measurement algorithm compares the readings of the two layers and changes the instrument readings accordingly.

EOS Movie Shooting: Full HD and Creative Control
As the importance of Full HD movie recording continues to grow, Canon continues to implement this technology in digital SLR cameras, which are the industry standard for multimedia functionality. The EOS 550D records 1920x1080p HD video, allowing photographers to set frame rates to 30, 25 and 24, while 720p is guaranteed at 60 and 50 fps. The camera is equipped with a 3.5 mm jack that allows you to use an external stereo microphone during video recording.
Photographers can manually control the exposure settings, changing the depth of field and the degree of motion blur, which makes the shooting process more creative. Highlight tone priority (HTP) can be set independently without changing the photo settings to ensure the best video quality. When shooting farther away subjects, the EOS 550D's Movie Crop function allows you to use the central area of the sensor with a resolution of 640x480 pixels, and thus magnify the image by approximately seven times. The EOS 550D is the first EOS model to feature video cropping, allowing you to capture important events even from a distance.