A few months ago, I wrote about my newly-acquired PowerShot S2 IS. I chronicled the experience in audio, too: “Chris remained a loyal Canon digicam enthusiast for several years, at least until Nikon briefly lured him away with massive megapixels and an amazing zoom. The six-month affair with Nikon left Chris less than impressed, returning to Canon’s camera line thanks to an amazing feature list from the PowerShot S2 IS. 5.3 Megapixels is more than enough for anyone not planning to print photos. 12x optical zoom brings the action to your lens. Unlimited video at 640×480 effectively makes the PowerShot S2 a video camera replacement. The ‘IS’ stands for image stabilization. And that barely scratches the surface of the features included in the PowerShot S2. Chris gives you a run down about the PowerShot S2 and why it’s the first camera he’s been excited about in ages.” I still have this particular Canon PowerShot, still opting to acquire an SD550 today.

The SD550 is a different kind of digital camera. For one, the SD550 is the smallest digicam I’ve ever owned. There are times when I want a picture perfect image, and I have all the time in the world to set up the shot. Then, there are times I just want to point and shoot - no questions asked. I needed a pocket camera, and was a few days away from getting the SD500 (which is the SD550’s predecessor). I learned that Canon was going to release the new revision soon, with a much bigger LCD and updated feature set. I’m not insane - the Canon PowerShot SD550 was worth waiting for! They’ve gone as far as to call it The Ultimate Digital ELPH. With 7.1 megapixels, what’s not to like? It does just about everything I want a digital camera to do, and it fits perfectly into my pocket (which is the true reason I was drawn to the SD550). In many ways, the SD550 reminds me a lot of my S2 IS; both cameras are at the top of their class. I’m taking the SD550 with me wherever I go. Move over, cell phone!