Design

It's rare for Canon to do more than tinker at the edges with the design of its SLR models, and the EOS 550D is no exception, being externally very similar indeed to the EOS 500D and EOS 450D before it. There's a few tweaks here and there: the finish is slightly different, there are subtle styling differences (including a new mode dial), and the buttons have been redesigned for easier use. The main functional difference is that there's a new movie / live view button to the right of the viewfinder. Where it used to be (sharing a button with the ever-useful 'direct print' feature) is a 'Q' button, borrowed from the EOS 7D, which gives direct access to the Quick Control Screen. The most obvious external change - button and surface textures aside - is the new wider aspect ratio screen.

Construction

The 550D inherits the 450D and 500D's body and construction, and other than the surface finish and minor tweaks to the casing, it stays essentially the same. As such, it's primarily made from three materials; a stainless steel chassis, the mirror box which is made of high-strength 'engineering plastic' and the body made of a special lightweight polycarbonate resin with glass fiber, which also provides some electromagnetic shielding. Construction is very good (considering the price) with no creaks or rattles.

In your hand / grip

Since the body shell is virtually identical to the EOS 500D that it replaces, the handling is (aside from slightly better buttons) also virtually identical, meaning the grip still feels a bit fiddly unless you're got very delicate hands. It's by no means terrible (and can be to an extent mitigated by use of the optional battery grip), but it's worth handling one to find out if you're someone who can't live with it.

3:2 LCD Monitor