Canon Powershot TX1 7.1 Megapixel Digital Camera

[4 of 4 customers found this review helpful]

Canon Powershot TX1 7.1 Megapixel Digital Camera Review

The Little Cam That Could

"The camera is the funnest investment I have made in years. I shoot more video than snap pictures when I'm hiking or camping. I bought an 8GB class 6 card online I figured that would give me nearly a half hour of full quality HD video. I was very surprised when I found out that this camera has an HD LP mode which gives me nearly an hour of quality video on my card. I am so blown away by this mode that I don't even use the HD SP mode. It's really hard to tell the difference. I'm most impressed that Canon's motion JPEG shows no pixelization at high speeds, even in detailed mountain landscapes. One of my favorite features is that the video mode and still mode are not separate so any setting you change affects both video and still. This gives you a lot of manual control for video. I edit the video in Sony Vegas and it chops very cleanly and fast. I can extract any frame I want as a still and it is clean and sharp. I do a lot of audio recording as well and the built in sound recorder is really handy. It records in stereo at 44.1 Khz and it has manual mic levels. Can't say enough about it and will likely sell my Sony camcorder.



Problems Encountered: The number one complaint you'll hear is ergonomics. I have small hands and have no complaints. The number two complaint you'll hear is battery life. My first test shoot included a three hour hike with intermitent recording, zooming, playing with settings, using the flash, transferring video, etc. I shot about a half hour of footage with no battery warning. The number three complaint is the codec. I already addressed this above. The HD LP mode is fantastic. My personal complaint is with the Image stabilizer. I could see it working in my video footage. I set it to shoot only mode, so it only works when snapping a still so it's still useful. As you might expect, the camera can be slow or dramatic when adjusting to light changes. But as with any camera, if you take time to set up your shot, you will be pleased and the 10x optical zoom helps out tremendously with scene composition as well. I found render times to the WM-HD codec very slow and moderately slow for MPEG 2 SD when compared to DV render times. I have not authored to HD-DVD yet but I watch the WMV-HD raw files on my XBOX 360 and it looks crisp and clean with no signs of transcoding.



Previous Equivalent Items Owned: Sony DSC-W1 MPEG2 VX mode



Items I Recommend: 8GB Class 6 SDHC card"

[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]

Canon Powershot TX1 7.1 Megapixel Digital Camera Review

Canon TX-1 as camcorder replacement

"This camera has what I'm looking for compact, decent video quality, point and shoot. It's smaller than 2 packs of playing cards. The video quality, while very clear, isn't as good as dedicated HD camcorders, but is cheaper than those cameras. I think the quality is great, and better than my MiniDV camcorder, which is, admittedly, old. Video clips are quickly uploaded to iMovie and easy to work with. Some like to connect their camcorders to the TV and watch from the camcorder. I like to take my video clips and cut-and-splice them on the computer. The TX1 won't take super long clips at the highest quality setting, but I feel that most people take far too much footage and cut it down anyhow because it's too boring. I try to shoot only what's necessary. I went with this instead of a dedicated camcorder because video isn't of great interest to me. I'd like to take it sometimes, but I don't make movies and I just have a few select clips I like to watch. I don't enjoy sitting through endless hours of my video taped experiences. The TX1 takes long enough clips for what I need. Besides, you can always buy bigger SD cards if you want to take longer clips.For pictures, it works as well as any Canon point-and-shoot. Very few manual controls, but that's what I wanted: simple, automatic. When I want to take real pictures I bring my Nikon D200 and various lenses. The TX1 is easy to carry around for simple shots, still and video. Two concerns; battery life is short (buy an extra) and the pistol-grip is not optimal, but I'm fine with it.



Problems Encountered: Two concerns battery life is short (I bought an extra) and the pistol-grip is not optimal, but I'm fine with it. I've gotten used to holding the camera this way. The TX1 is not for the person hoping to make a full-length movie or take professional photos. I look at this basically as an easy-to-carry all-in-one gadget that lets me take video for those few times I like to take video.



Previous Equivalent Items Owned: Canon A80



Items I Recommend: Extra battery; large, fast SD cards"

[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]

Canon Powershot TX1 7.1 Megapixel Digital Camera Review

Nice Product

"have used for about a month, a very nice and unique camera with large zoom capability to shoot sth. far away. definitly need a large capacity SD card to take advantage of the video function. my 1GB can only record about 4 min. the small screen looks very good also, it is a compact camera anyway.



one con: the fast action, like a soccer game, video looks not very cotinuous, guess not able to capture so fast yet."

Canon Powershot TX1 7.1 Megapixel Digital Camera Review

Pricey, but worth it.

"Canon has done a great job at their first hybrid camera, takes splendid quality photos an even better videos, HD for that matter. The only problem I had was the battery life, best if you had an extra 2. Comes cheap at amazon.com and aslo a class6 8gb card which can also be found on amazon. Because when you are recording in HD, you really need a fast sd card to get the really good quality. In any case, they did a great job on this cam. I would reccomend it to any beginning videographer or professional ones at that matter. Cheers ^_^"

[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]

Canon Powershot TX1 7.1 Megapixel Digital Camera Review

Shoot it WITH YOUR THUMB...

"I won't belabor the excellent picture/video quality of this camera. That has been covered, in depth, in numerous reviews. However, these same reviewers all complain about the ergonomic design. This is because they are HOLDING THE CAMERA INCORRECTLY! Instead of trying to trigger the shutter release with your index finger, USE YOUR THUMB. This allows you to support the camera with the ring and pinky fingers underneath the bottom and allows the index and middle fingers to wrap around the front - between the lens and wriststrap attachment point. Suddenly, the whole thing comes together and feels right. There are numerous additional advantages to this position, such as not looking like you are taking a picture. This is the ultimate, candid street camera because you can leave everything on auto, look down on the rotatable screen and never have to raise the camera up to eye level to grab a shot. The camera is practically invisible and very stable when held this way.



Expertise: Advanced Amateur, Member NY Stereoscopic Society, Member NANPA



Problems Encountered: Deciding which function to assign to the print button.



Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Leica IIIa, Lumix DMC-FZ50, Canon EOS 3 w/ L lenses, etc



Items I Recommend: 4GB Sandisk SDHC card"