I bought my Canon 550D about two years ago. I wanted a camera that I could film on (I was off to film school!) but I also wanted it to take great photos. At the time the 550D had just come out, an upgrade to the 500D (which my sister now has).

The first thing I like about my canon 550D (and it’s going to sound weird), is that it fits really well in my hands. I have small hands, so it’s perfect for me. I’ve played with the 60D (Great camera) and found that it wasn’t comfortable and just too bulky for me. If you are going to buy any type of camera you need to make sure that it feels right in your hands. The way they make cameras nowadays – you don’t need the biggest camera out there to get great photos. You need a camera that fits in your hands, and you know inside out. After all you are the one taking the shot, or the photo – not the camera.

This camera records in full HD video, the same as a lot of DSLR cameras these days. The quality of the video is pretty much the same as all the other DSLR’s out there. It’s top notch. You can’t get any better.

It’s easy to swap lenses and get the cinematic effect that you want. You can film pretty much anything you want to.

Of course there are downsides to every camera. The 550D, as with DSLR cameras, has one compromise if you are thinking of purchasing it to film on – and that is the sound quality. The in-built microphone picks up all the camera noise and is not very good. The way around this is to get a really good little microphone to put on the top – and there are so many to choose from nowadays!

The problem with this camera is the same as with all the other DSLRs – handheld shots are shaky and the memory is insufficient. I am waiting for the DSLR making companies to sort these problems out – because then we really will start seeing feature films shot on DSLRs. At the moment, if you are making a documentary (let’s face it – you have to do hand held shots a lot of the time) your footage is not going to be the best in the world. It will be all over the place. Unless you are a professional at tripod handling most of your shots will be ruined by the lack of steadiness. The memory issue is massive. If you are shooting a feature length film on a DSLR the camera man is going to be shouting “CUT – out of memory) every 5 minutes. I tell you – when Canon and Nikon find a way of getting rid of this problem – filming on a DSLR will be commonplace.

Overall, I love this camera for all its assets and its flaws. It has not disappointed me once in our two year relationship.