Canon Powershot TX1 Review
http://live.pirillo.com/ - The Canon Powershot TX1 is a true hybrid camera, attempting to support the best features of both digital camera and camcorder. It’s also very expensive, coming in at almost $500. So, is it worth it? Chris is pretty impressed.
- Shoots video at 720p with stereo sound in 16:9 or 4:3
- Optical image stabilization
- 10x Optical zoom
- Flip-out 1.8" LCD screen
- Component video output
- Built-in redeye reduction
The camera does a pretty good job, according to Chris. The video is crisp and the photos are beautiful, but there are a few caveats:
- The software is a bit weird: you have to manually switch to photo mode, because you’re always in video mode.
- 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios don’t switch automatically between video and photo mode
- The button placement is really weird, and you’re going to need the wrist strap, least you end up dropping the camera.
- Red eye is really bad when using the built-in flash, because the flash is too close to the lens.
- The red-eye reduction built into the camera is lackluster.
- It comes with a small 32MB memory card
What are the good points?
- 7.1 megapixels
- HD video camera
- Takes really good pictures
- HD video is really nice - especially in low-light conditions
- For a point and shoot all-in-one camera, it’s a keeper
Are you a TX1 owner? Do you like it? What other digital cameras do you use?
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5 Comments
Graham Fair
June 7th, 2007
at 9:21pm
You should shoot your video facing the camera, not to the side. Your hands were consuming a lot of screen space and blocking the view of the new camera.
I’ve got the S2 IS and was thinking about getting a compact. Wouldn’t bother with this hybrid. It’s fancy, but looks like a small brick, not something that would be easy to wrap your hands around. HD video but only flash cards? Meh. Some day they’ll get a 1.8″ HD in these things and finally get one of these devices right.
Graham Fair
June 7th, 2007
at 9:21pm
You should shoot your video facing the camera, not to the side. Your hands were consuming a lot of screen space and blocking the view of the new camera.
I’ve got the S2 IS and was thinking about getting a compact. Wouldn’t bother with this hybrid. It’s fancy, but looks like a small brick, not something that would be easy to wrap your hands around. HD video but only flash cards? Meh. Some day they’ll get a 1.8″ HD in these things and finally get one of these devices right.
Luke Wallace
June 8th, 2007
at 9:43am
You asked in the video what cameras we’re looking forward to, I will have to say I’m excited about the Canon S5 IS that’s due out July 2007. It’s an evolutionary upgrade from the S3 (which was evolutionary from the S2 you have), but it contains a few new features:
* hot-shoe for external flashes
* DIGIC 3 processor for the fancy face detection et al. stuff you mention
* 8 MP (S3: 6 MP)
* 2.5″ rotating screen (S3: 2″)
It’d be cool to have HD video in it too, but that’s probably a little much to ask for what’s meant to be a good photo camera.
Canon PowerShot TX1 Digital Camera Review-Digital Camera Video Reviews
June 20th, 2007
at 12:32pm
[...] Chris Pirillo reviews the Canon PowerShot TX1 digital camera which are replacing his other two digital cameras (Canon PowerShot S2 IS and Canon SD700 IS). The Canon PowerShot TX1 is a hybrid digital camera and camcorder with 7.1 resolution and shoots HD video in 720p with stereo sound. [...]
robocat
October 29th, 2008
at 10:07pm
I love my TX-1 for it’s portability. I find that the negatives with this camera are reasonable compromises to achieve the benefits I care about.
If you are still interested in them - head on over to the forum at http://forums.powershot-tx1.com/ and ask away and the friendly (but biased!) TX-1 owners will help.
One of my favorite features (in common with other Canon P&S cameras) is “upgrading” the firmware to get a bunch of pro/technical features using CHDK:
http://chdk.wikia.com/
The open source CHDK software is continually being improved, so I keep getting new features on my camera - fantastic!