Sony is new into DSLR field comparing to Canon and Nikon. Pros have already invested thousands of dollars for their equipment. Why would they sell overnight to go Sony gear ?
So Sony has to keep the Minolta users and build a whole new empire.They got me in. a550 is my best purchase in a long time.

I don’t know what Canon is capable, but for what i read, it’s the best deal at the moment in the price class.

I don’t regret buying my A550. To be honest, i never had so much fun taking photos … i already used canon & nikon gear.

As for the DXO … it’s worth what it’s worth … for me, zero.

What made me buy the a550 over the T1i? (when i got it 2 months ago, the T2i was not out yet)

Fast live view with tiltable screen, battery life, DRO, HDR, better in low light. That was more important to me than lousy 20fps video.
When I’m chasing my 11 months son around the house with the camera, I’m thinking what a good decision I made to buy it.Tiltable live view, really makes it easy. My friend has a Nikon D90 and also trying to take pictures of his 12 months son crowling on the floor.I see how uncomfortable is for him to take low shots.He is also using older lenses without VR.The body doesn’t have VR. Plus, the menus on D90 seems to be less easy than sony’s.While I like that camera, I do like mine more.

While the T2i sounds good on the paper, its not a huge improvement over the previous model. Manual video focusing, its good to shot landscapes not kids running around.
So tell your friend to get the camera he needs. Not canon because everybody has canon.Not sony because I say. Just to get the features that fit him better.

You’d also better tell that friend of yours to get a new computer. The modern video format out of an HD DSLR is way too much for the typical family computer to deal with, and that’s the type that goes for the Rebel. 7D owners are typically more suited, financially and technologically, to deal with the final results.

They looking to play it back on their blu-ray player? Not with that software included… nor with anything on their system. How about a regular dvd? Sure… but didn’t they buy it for HD?

Not to mention the fact that this video still can’t pan with action worth anything special… and the mom and dad don’t understand this, either. Kudos to Canon for allowing manual features to be used on the Rebel… but it still can’t do the kids from anything other a sitting position.

I’ll trade the higher dynamic range along with the HDR function and 7fps and better battery life and two card slots and true TTL wireless flash and a better (certainly more usable) spotmeter of the A550… for the still weak-to-market video capability of the Rebel T2i.

I agree that the video can be done right. I ALSO disagree HEAVILY with marketing it to entry level consumers as the reason to purchase this camera. They are being misled, misdirected, and otherwise had.