Good for stills, not for video

“Good for stills, not for video”

Written on: 28/05/2012

I bought this to replace an previous Canon DSLR aminly for stills but also for video. I was impressed by its HD recording capacibility and that you could plug in a external microphone to over-ride the small built-in mic. These always give tinny sound recordings.

The stills are great - no complaints.

However, when I tries an external mic, I got a terrible background buzz or loud hissing. By searching web forums I have found that this is a result of the Automatic Gain Control (AGC) on the 550D which can't be switched off unless I chnage the operating system to a non-approved one called 'Magic Lantern', which I am very loath to do.

So, good for still but pretty hopeless as a video camera.