Canon Powershot A550 Review

When you press the Playback mode button, the last picture taken is displayed fullscreen. You can move backward or forward through the images using the LEFT and RIGHT buttons. The amount of overlay information displayed is controlled by pressing the DISP button. Information across the bottom is 6/8 which means image 6 of 8 total. A "key" icon means the image is protected, and a "musical note" icon indicates that a voice memo has been attached. SuperFine/Large image quality and the time and date it was captured.

Pressing the DISPlay button displays the histogram and extended image information to indicate shutter speed, aperture, capture mode, flash mode, exposure compensation, white balance, ISO speed and metering.

If you press the DISP button again all of the overlay information is removed. This is good for when you are showing the pictures on the TV and don't want the info displayed.

You can quickly search through stored images using the Index playback function which is actuated by pressing the Wide zoom control button. Nine thumbnail size images will be displayed and you can select one using the LEFT or RIGHT buttons and then pressing the Telephoto zoom button. Pressing the Wide button again will put you in jump mode where you can backward or forward a page at a time.

The image can be magnified up to 10x in ten steps by pressing the telephoto zoom button. Once the image is enlarged at any step, you can move around inside of it using the 4-way selector buttons.

Movie clips can be played in the camera with audio thanks to the built-in speaker. Press the FUNC. / SET button to play a clip.

You get "VCR-like" buttons to control the playback.

Pressing the MENU button brings up this page of options. Auto Play is for automated playback on a TV, Sound Memo will let you attach up to a 60 sec voice "note" with an image, Protect or unprotect an image(s), Rotate portrait mode images for display on TV, Erase all will delete ALL the images stored on your SD card, and Transfer Order lets you select the order from which the images are transferred to your computer.

For proper display on a TV screen you use the Rotate option on any pictures that you have taken in portrait (vertical) mode; this camera does feature an Auto rotation feature, so I don't see this option being used very much.

The Sound Memo options lets you record memos or notes up to 60 seconds in length which are attached to still images. You can overwrite or delete previous memos.

The Setup sub-menu lets you to turn the Beep sounds on/off, adjust the volume of several functions, choose the Start-up image, enable the Power Saving options, set the time and date in the internal clock, format the SD card, choose the file numbering method, create a folder, set auto rotate (on or off), set the Auto lens retract time, choose the display language, specify the video out format (NTSC or PAL), set the Print method or Rest all settings to the factory default.