Physical Tour

 **Back**The back of the TX1 looks quite strange with a memory card door taking up the bottom third of the back and buttons cluttering the top two-thirds. The chrome band from the left side wraps around onto the back, and protrudes ever so slightly in a smooth lump. Atop the lump is the zoom control, which looks like a paddle and can be pushed up and down. The mode dial’s ribbed edge can be seen exposed on the right edge. Just below the zoom control is a large, square movie button that is colored red.  Above the zoom control is a plethora of buttons and icons cluttered in a tight space. At the very top are two small circular buttons: Disp. is on the left and Menu on the right. There are two bolts below the buttons that are almost as big; it looks a little strange. Below these is a tiny joystick surrounded by icons for the different functions that can be activated when not wading through a menu. Starting from the top and moving clockwise, the functions are ISO, flash, drive mode, and focus mode.  The back looks a little strange, especially to consumers who look at digital cameras more often than camcorders. The layout is, however, fairly common on pistol-grip camcorders.  

 **Left Side The left side of the Canon TX1 has the Canon logo near the top along with a circular power button with an LED in its center. To the lower left of the power button is the built-in microphone. Below these features is a wide chrome band labeled "10x Optical Zoom" on the left side. This band is where the LCD monitor’s hinge is housed. From here, the LCD folds out and rotates to just about any angle. The back of the monitor, the side that shows when folded into the camera body, has two series of holes that make up the stereo speaker.   ****Right Side **The right side is quite plain looking, but Canon threw in a silver highlight in the middle to liven up the look. The chrome highlight has a Canon label on it. At the back side of the logo is the circular mode dial that protrudes off the back with its ribbed edge.  

 **Top **The top looks very plain, with only a label for the image stabilizer. There is also a square-shaped shutter release button near the front and an LED-adorned print button near the back.  

 **Bottom**The normally dull bottom of the camera is cluttered with contours and covers. The left side of the camera’s bottom folds away and upwards into the LCD monitor; this leaves a much narrower base that makes the TX1 vulnerable to tipping. In the middle of the bottom is the battery compartment, which is very thin. There is a tiny rubber cover in the center to allow the power adaptor in. On the right side is a long and rectangular rubber cover that hides the three jacks on the camera body.  

Components

 **Viewfinder There is no optical viewfinder on the TX1, but a more useful live preview is available on the 1.8-inch LCD monitor. This monitor folds out and rotates to just about any angle. Purportedly, it has 100 percent coverage of the field of view, so what you see is what you get. The info on the screen can be changed with the Disp. button on the back; file info can appear and disappear along with grid lines that help with framing. More info about the screen itself is in the next section.  LCD Screen **

The 1.8-inch LCD screen is small, but there really isn’t much real estate available on the camera for anything larger. The low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD folds out from the camera with a big sturdy hinge and rotates smoothly to just about any angle. The low temperature should draw less battery power. The screen itself has a wide view from side to side, but washes out when viewing above and below eye-level.  Canon flaunts new technology on the TX1’s screen: they call it Pure Color, which consists of three components. It resists 1) glare, 2) scratches, and 3) fingerprints. I didn’t get to take the camera outside, but indoors it seemed to repel glare and fingerprints. Honestly, I didn’t try to scratch the screen. I don’t think Canon’s booth representatives would’ve handled that well.  This LCD screen has only 115,000 pixels on it, which isn’t great. Though that the screen only measures 1.8 inches, the key to HD video is proper focusing, and a low resolution screen will make a manual focus difficult. Like other PowerShot digital cameras, there is an option in the setup menu that allows users to change the screen’s brightness on a 15-step scale.  The view is a bit small on the LCD screen, but it affects reading menus more than it does snapping pictures with the live view. The screen does a nice job of resisting glare and fingerprints, and the rotating hinge makes the view even more accessible wherever you are in relation to the camera.  **Flash **

The TX1 has a built-in flash unit at the top of the front of the vertically oriented camera. It doesn’t look too bad, but its specs indicate that it is. According to Canon, the flash can only reach from 1.6-6.6 ft at best when the lens is zoomed wide and 3.3-3.9 ft when zoomed in. In the macro mode, the flash is effective from 1.1-1.6 ft. The weak flash is quite disappointing, especially for a camera with a 10x optical zoom lens.  The flash power can be supplemented with the Canon PowerShot accessory flash unit, which can be purchased for about a hundred dollars. The HF-DC1 flash extends the reach much farther.  Despite the weak specs, the flash produced decent shots within range. I snapped several portraits and none of them were plagued with the white forehead that often occurs with overzealous flashes. The coverage looked even in the pictures I took, although I wasn’t shooting a plain background so it’s hard to tell if there are hot spots. Theoretically, the flash’s coverage should be even because the flash is located just above the lens – when held vertically.  By pushing the joystick to the right, users can change the flash mode between On, Off, and Auto. The list may seem skimpy, but that’s only because the other flash options are located in the recording menu: Slow Sync and Red-Eye Reduction can be turned on and off.  **Zoom Lens**

This hybrid model has a Canon 10x optical zoom lens that reaches far, but not wide. It measures 6.5-65mm, which is equivalent to 39-390mm in 35mm format. This won’t be good for landscape shots, although there is a panorama stitch mode that can create wider pictures suitable for landscapes. The lens has max apertures of f/3.5 in wide and f/5.6 in telephoto; both of these aren’t very impressive but are typical of small, cheap 10x lenses.  The Canon PowerShot TX1’s lens has a sliding metal door that protects it when the camera is turned off. When powered on, the door snaps open and the lens pops out of the camera about ¾-inch. The lens moves when the paddle-like zoom control is pushed up (telephoto) or down (wide). The control is sensitive, stopping at about 30 focal lengths within the range. Usually, the zoom moves at a decent pace – about 3.5 seconds from one end to the other. While recording movies, however, the zoom slows down so that it takes twice as long to move from one end to another.  The long zoom lens is backed up by an optical image stabilization system that noticeably reduces blur in still images and keeps the picture steady in movies. The image stabilization mode can be changed in the recording menu. It can be turned off, although it probably shouldn’t ever be turned off unless trying to conserve battery power (which unfortunately may need to be done more often than you’d like). The stabilization can be set to run continuously, from side to side only (Panning), and when the exposure is locked (Shoot Only).  The lens has its tradeoffs. It is very compact, which may attract consumers who want a hybrid camera without lugging around an enormous lens like on the PowerShot S3 IS. It doesn’t get a lot of light from the relatively small apertures though, and it doesn’t provide a very wide focal length. Still, the small lens has a comfortable zoom control that is sensitive and an optical image stabilization system that is effective.

Design / Layout

  ** ****Model Design / Appearance**The Canon PowerShot TX1 is designed to be held vertically, departing from the traditional horizontal appearance of most compact digital cameras. The TX1 is boxy with crisp edges. This box quickly loses shape when turned on though. The LCD screen folds out like a wing on the side and the zoom lens pops out of the front. The body is very compact and constructed from stainless steel. Its base is fine when turned off, but when the LCD is folded out the camera leans toward the monitor and sometimes tips (a common problem with any upright camera or camcorder design, as in the Sanyo digital media cameras). The TX1 isn’t a drop dead attractive digital camera, but it still looks good when turned off..  **Size / Portability**The PowerShot TX1 is "Elph-sized," as the Canon booth representatives put it. I think it’s a little bigger than most of its Digital Elph relatives, although it’s still quite small when compared to similar models that have its feature set. The TX1 measures 3.5 x 2.4 x 1.1 inches and weighs 7.76 oz without the card and battery. This is fairly heavy considering its size. Its heft makes it a little tougher to handle, but doesn’t complicate portability much. The TX1 has a horseshoe-shaped strap eyelet at the bottom of the camera’s front; the camera comes with a wrist strap but probably shouldn’t be dangled from a wrist. It is quite durable and could fit into a bigger coat pocket or a backpack, although a small pouch or carrying case would be a good idea.  **Handling Ability**The Canon PowerShot TX1’s body is fairly flat and free of handling features. This camera is held differently than most. The middle and ring fingers grip the front, while the pinky finger offers some support on the bottom. The index finger sits at the top, and since the top is much taller than most digital cameras it has to stretch a bit farther. The thumb sits on the back and splits time between the zoom control in the middle and the surrounding buttons. This is designed to be a one-handed camera, but its hefty weight and unevenly distributed base make it a little harder to keep steady.  **Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size **

The controls are small and crammed between icons, for the most part. The shutter release on the top of the camera is square-shaped and nicely placed. The print button is also atop the camera, and it can be set to perform other functions within the setup menu.  The right side of the camera hosts a dime-sized mode dial that rotates nicely. On the left side of the TX1 is a power button that is nicely sized and marked with a green LED. On the back is a flurry of icons around the navigational joystick designating the multiple functions the control can perform when not in the menu.  The joystick control is very small and was probably chosen for this layout because it can fit in a very small space, but it isn’t very comfortable. It isn’t easy to navigate quickly, although it works fine if daintily pushed.  There are Menu and Display buttons on the back as well; they are undersized and almost look like the bolts that are placed beneath them. The zoom control is also on the back; it is placed upon the crest of a small bump. It is shaped like a horizontal paddle that can be pushed up and down to move throughout the 10x optical zoom range.  Below the zoom control is the movie button. This can be activated from any mode at any time, which is very handy. Overall, the controls are on the small side but that’s the tradeoff for buying an overall very small camera.  **Menu**The menu system can be entered with the designated Menu button on the back of the camera, and current Canon users will find the menus very familiar. They are organized into tabs and placed on gray backgrounds. The text is readable – as long as you have good eyesight. The 1.8-inch-sized LCD screen doesn’t allow much room for menus.  Like other PowerShot digital cameras, the TX1 has a split menu system that features frequently used items in a menu accessible by pushing the joystick in.    This menu is from the "manual" mode; when the mode dial is set to the "SCN" position, the shooting modes reflect the many image presets available. The following is the standard recording menu accessible from the Menu button.    The previous menu is the first of three tabs that appear. It has a camera icon on its tab, while the central tab has an icon of a wrench. The setup menu is as follows.    There is also a menu tab that allows users to customize their cameras with a choice of startup images and all sorts of sounds for operation and shutter and such. The sounds are like those on other PowerShots: howling wolves, tweeting birds, and descending aliens.

Overall, the menu system is nicely organized and very intuitive. It is composed of text, and is very readable except for the small size of the font – to fit on the small LCD screen.

Ease of Use

The Canon TX1 is very easy to use, especially if you’ve previously owned a Canon digital camera. The menus are nearly identical to those found on other Digital Elph models, and the icons and labels around the buttons are familiar too. Even if unfamiliar with PowerShot cameras, it is still easy to figure the TX1 out.

Modes

Auto Mode

The camera’s auto mode is easily found with the camera icon on the dime-sized mode dial. This automates just about everything, but not everything everything like Panasonic’s Simple mode. The Canon PowerShot TX1’s auto mode still allows access to most of the options in the recording menu and several from the function menu: aspect ratio, video resolution, and image size. The Auto and High ISO Auto modes are available by pushing the joystick up, the flash can be set to Auto or Off with a push to the right, the self-timer can be turned on with a push to the bottom, and one to the right will turn on the macro mode. Pictures taken in the convention center using the auto mode looked good in the LCD screen. Pictures weren’t blurred or discolored.

**Movie Mode
**The movie mode is the main feature on the Canon PowerShot TX1: this is what separates it from all other compact digital cameras, and has created more interest in video circles than anything else at this year’s PMA. The vertically aligned camera is designed like piston-grip-type camcorders such as the similar Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2 (also a camera/camcorder hybrid). The TX1 has a 10x optical zoom lens complemented by an optical image stabilization system that keeps the picture steady. The system works very well and is noticeable even in the small 1.8-inch LCD screen.

The zoom moves quickly when not recording video, but once a movie is started with the push of the designated movie button the zoom slows considerably. It takes about 7 seconds to zoom 10x. This keeps users from getting too jumpy with the zoom, but some consumers may not like the lack of speed control.

The zoom lens is available at all times – even with the audio, unlike some other compact digital cameras. The Canon TX1’s audio is exceptional when compared to other digital cameras. For one, it records in stereo whereas most cameras record mono audio. The microphone level can be changed, complemented by a live mic levels display. A wind filter can be turned on and off, although I couldn’t really test this effectively in the still air of the convention center. Wind filters typically work as high pass filters, killing the low, rumbling sound of wind against a microphone.

The reason the TX1’s movie mode is so unique is because it records 720p high definition video. The 1280 x 720-pixel movies are recorded at 30 fps, which makes it better than the Panasonic LX2, which records the same resolution at a choppy 15 fps. The TX1 comes with a 32MB MMC card, which is just about enough to capture yourself fumbling with the zoom toggle before running out of memory. This will require an immediate upgrade in media.

The camera records in the Motion JPEG format at data rates of up to 4480KB/second (in the common camcorder parlance, this translates to 35Mbps, or megabits/second). Motion JPEG is a bit of a throwback in a world of high definition video moving quickly towards smarter, faster, more efficient codecs like H.264 AVCHD, co-developed by Panasonic and Sony and employed in several of their products. While the quality should remain high, potentially higher than current AVCHD camcorders, Motion JPEG is an inefficient method, requiring a lot of space for little video. This could put a dent in its appeal to consumers.

Canon claims that the TX1 can record HD video for up to 26 minutes on a 4 GB card at 720p. The TX1 has other video resolutions that can record up to an hour at a time. 640 x 480-pixel video shoots at 30 fps for up to 56 minutes. The email-friendly 320 x 240-pixel video can shoot at 60 or 30 fps. Some other PowerShot cameras record 320 x 240-pixel video at 60 fps, but they maxed out at a minute. The TX1 has only the limit of the memory card capacity.

In all the movie mode resolutions, movies look good. The white balance and exposure controls can be changed as long as the mode dial is switched to the "manual" position. My Colors modes can even be added if you really want a sepia-colored movie.

Although the Canon PowerShot TX1 records 1280 x 720 progressive video (because it has a CMOS sensor), footage is outputted in 1920 x 1080 interlace component video for playback on HDTVs via the jack on the bottom of the camera labeled "component." With standard televisions, there is an AV jack too that can be set to NTSC or PAL. I couldn’t carry a HDTV around with me on the show floor, so I didn’t get to watch the video in anything but the tiny LCD screen but the specs are mighty impressive and I expect good things.

Videos can be played back in the camera too: normally and in 5 levels of slow motion. It has VCR functionality with its rewind, fast forward, stop, play, and pause buttons. Files can also be clipped in half and saved as separate videos.

Hardcore camcorder users will be disappointed with the inefficiency of the Motion JPEG,  but the Canon TX1 is still meant to be a digital camera with camcorder functionality – not the other way around. Coming from a digital camera background, the movie mode looks great to me.

Drive / Burst Mode

The burst mode can be found with a downward push to the camera’s navigational joystick. Single, Continuous, Continuous AF, and self-timer options are available. The single drive is the default, but the continuous mode snaps the true burst at 2.2 fps. The continuous auto focus mode focuses between shots and takes twice as long at 1.1 fps. The TX1 kept snapping pictures in a lengthy burst and would probably fill a card like its other PowerShot siblings – although I stopped it after about 15 pictures. The self-timer can be set to delay for 2 or 10 seconds; it can also be customized to delay for 0-30 seconds and then snap a string of 1-10 images.

**Playback Mode
**The playback mode is accessed with the mode dial, which takes a little longer than access from a button. Images are displayed individually or in index frames of 9 at a time when the wide end of the zoom control is tapped. The telephoto portion of the control magnifies individual pictures from 2-10x.

Pictures can be organized into categories through the playback menu or the button atop the camera. Categories include events, people, and more. Users can jump through loads of pictures by pushing the joystick up: this allows users to jump to categories, dates, folders, movies, and image files by 10 or 100. Pictures can be erased by category or by date, as well as one by one or all at once.

There are plenty of editing options available from the playback menu, which is below.    I didn’t get any pictures with red-eye in them, so I couldn’t test out the red-eye correction feature. I guess that’s a good thing. The sound recorder is an interesting feature, although it seems strangely placed in this menu because it doesn’t have anything to do with playing back images. The sound recorder can record up to the capacity of the memory card, while the sound memo attaches the audio to a specific image and can only record up to 60 seconds.

Videos can be played back in the camera too, although I’m sure they look much better on a larger television screen. Videos can be played back with VCR-like controls and can even be played in 5 levels of slow motion. Files can be cut into two, but that’s as far as video editing goes on the TX1.

Overall, the playback mode is above average fare for a compact digital camera. The options are fairly standard with the exception of a few more color filters and such.

Custom Image Presets

A "SCN" position on the mode dial provides users with a host of easy to use preset modes. The list appears when the joystick is pushed inward: Portrait, Night Snapshot, Indoor, Foliage, Snow, Beach, and Aquarium are available here. Surprisingly, there is no Landscape scene mode, which is a basic offering on other digital cameras. Perhaps it’s the 39mm focal length that prevents a decent landscape mode?

The scene modes still have access to exposure compensation and image size, but not options like white balance and color modes. Several other preset modes are available from the shooting mode portion of the function menu in the "manual" position. Color Accent, Color Swap, Super Macro, and Stitch Assist modes can be found there.

Overall, the scene mode list isn’t vast and the omission of a landscape mode is odd but the TX1 covers all its other bases in this area.

Control Options

**Manual Control Options
**The most manual controls are found in the "manual" mode, although it’s not really manual. It doesn’t allow the shutter speeds and apertures to be adjusted individually, but allows changes to the exposure compensation and white balance and ISO and such. It is more of a "program" mode than anything else. Thus, the Canon PowerShot TX1 isn’t built for manual control freaks but still allows for control typical of a Digital Elph.

Focus
Auto Focus

The Canon PowerShot TX1 is equipped with a Digic III image processor, which has face detection technology. When viewing the live preview on the 1.8-inch LCD screen, boxes appear around the faces of subjects. The boxes appear and disappear as people turn their faces because the camera can’t recognize jaw bones and ears, but the boxes grow larger and smaller as subjects move toward or away from the camera. These boxes indicate where the camera is metering from, so the exposure and focus is always optimized for the faces. When there is more than one face in a picture, the camera meters from the largest one. The face detection auto focus can be turned on and off in the recording menu, and it is automatically activated in the portrait scene mode. It works well and works fast.

The TX1’s through-the-lens auto focus system can focus as close as 0-3.9 inches in the super macro mode, which is pretty incredible for a 10x optical zoom lens. In the macro mode, the camera can focus from 3.9 inches to 1.6 ft. Normally, it can focus from 1.6 ft when the lens is zoomed out and 3.3 ft when zoomed in.

The auto focus mode can be set to single or continuous. Most cameras have these options, but the continuous auto focus mode is sometimes noisy. That is not true with the TX1; it works silently. This option, along with the auto focus assist beam, can be turned on in the recording menu.

The auto focus system works fairly quickly, although there is still about 0.3 seconds of shutter lag. This isn’t as slow as many compact models, and could be the result of being a pre-production model or in the strange lighting of a convention center or both. For the most part, though, subjects were crisp and focused. The optical image stabilization system helped in this endeavor too, keeping the picture stable to reduce blur.

Manual Focus

The Canon PowerShot TX1 doesn’t have a manual focus mode.

ISO

In the function menu, the TX1’s ISO sensitivity options can be found. There is a nice wide range from 80-1600 along with Auto and High ISO Auto choices. This selection can be found on other Digital Elphs, but the TX1 has a new ISO feature called Auto ISO Shift that can be found in the recording menu. When this is activated, the camera automatically bumps up the ISO when it senses any shaking. Thus, the High ISO Auto mode stays within its 800-1600 boundary while the Auto ISO Shift works with the optical image stabilization system to determine when a higher ISO setting is needed.

White Balance

The white balance modes can also be found in the function menu: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, and Custom. The list of presets is decent, but certainly not expansive. It could have included Shade or Flash too. More importantly, though, is the Custom mode which it does have. This allows users to tell the camera what is white under the current lighting conditions. This can be done easily using the joystick and the on-screen directions.

Exposure

The Canon PowerShot TX1 doesn’t provide manual exposure control over aperture and shutter speed individually, but allows adjustment over exposure compensation which encompasses both of those parameters. A +/- 2 scale with increments of 1/3 can be found. There is a live view with it in the function menu, so users will be able gauge how bright or dark the exposure is with the currently selected setting.

Metering

The metering mode can be changed when the mode dial is set to the "manual" position. The typical options are available: Evaluative, Center-weighted Average, and Spot. The Evaluative metering mode syncs with the face detection system when it is activated, and the spot mode is fixed to the center.

**Shutter Speed
**The TX1 also has a typical shutter speed range from 15-1/2500th of a second. Canon’s specs indicate that the noise reduction system kicks in at shutter speeds from 1.3-15 seconds. These can’t be manually adjusted though.

Aperture

The 10x optical zoom lens’ maximum apertures aren’t very impressive. The widest is f/3.5, which is about average for cheap long-zoom and very compact lenses. However, there are ultra-zoom cameras out there with wider f/2.8 apertures that let in more light. When the Canon lens is zoomed in, the aperture shrinks to f/5.6. The aperture cannot be manually adjusted on the TX1.

Image Parameters

Picture Quality / Size Options

The Canon PowerShot TX1 has a 1/2.5-inch CCD with 7.1 effective megapixels on it. The following image sizes can be found in the function menu: 3072 x 2304, 3072 x 1728 (widescreen), 2592 x 1944, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, and 640 x 480. There is no 3:2-formatted image size for perfectly cropped 4 x 6-inch prints, and there isn’t a 3:2 guide line feature like on some other PowerShots.

Picture Effects Mode

Canon has some of the best color modes available on compact digital cameras. They call it My Colors modes and they consist of the following: Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, and Custom. All but the Custom option are available in both the recording and playback modes, which is good for indecisive folks. The Custom color option lets users adjust contrast, saturation, sharpness, skin tones, and red, green, and blue channels on +/- 2 scales in full steps. In the "manual" position, the shooting mode can be changed to Color Swap and Color Accent, which Canon used to group with its My Colors modes. This allows users to center the camera on colors to "select" them; one color can be accented against an otherwise black-and-white image, or two colors can be switched with each other. Color Swap doesn’t work as well as the demos: it has trouble with shadows and highlights in color, and works best with completely flat planes of color. Still, this sort of color mode is unparalleled in any other digital camera’s offerings.

Connectivity / Extras

Connectivity
Software

The Canon PowerShot TX1 comes with the same Canon Solution Disk CD-ROM that comes with other Digital Elph cameras. This will be disappointing for users who want to take advantage of the HD video; there is no video editing software for them to use.

Jacks, ports, plugs

On the bottom of the camera is a very thin rubber rectangle that patches over the three jacks on the TX1’s body. The cover must be pried open with a fingernail, and there isn’t much of a finger grip. The rubber material is very thin and feels like it could break at any moment. Two of the jacks are familiar to compact digital camera users: AV and USB jacks are found on almost all models. The TX1 has separate jacks along with a jack labeled "Component." This is what connects the camera to HDTVs. There is a rubber cover on the battery compartment door that opens so the power adaptor can be attached.

Direct Print Options

In the playback menu, a print menu appears as a tab with the other menus. It allows users to select images to print by date, category, and folder. Pictures can also be selected individually, the quantity can be specified, and added to the print order. The camera has a Print/Share button atop the camera that transfers images to PictBridge printers, but the button can be set to perform other functions too. With Canon Pixma printers and CP and Selphy compact photo printers, ID Photo Print and Movie Print modes are available.

Battery

The TX1 comes with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that doesn’t get as much life as it ought to. The NB-4L battery snaps only 160 shots per charge or 240 minutes of playback time. These specs are a bit disturbing as recording video is often more taxing on a camera than snapping still images. I did not get to test the battery life on the show floor, but the specs make me think that the TX1 won’t be able to record video for very long at all. The Canon booth representatives guessed that the battery would last about an hour of shooting video, which is as long as a video can be recorded to memory. This will have to tested further – and I must admit that I’m a bit skeptical.

Memory

The Canon PowerShot TX1 comes with a 32 MB MMC card, which won’t last long with this camera. The 7.1-megapixel digital camera’s main feature is its HD movie mode. High definition video takes up a lot of memory – and that’s not something that comes with the TX1. The digital camera can accept SD, SDHC, MMC, and MMC Plus cards up to 4 GB. This is enough to get 26 minutes of HD video. There is no internal memory on the TX1.

Other features
Sound Recorder – This feature is located in the playback menu, although it seems very oddly placed because it has nothing to do with playback. This feature simply records stereo audio up to the capacity of the memory card and saves it as its own file rather than attaching it to an image like the sound memo feature.

Overall Impressions

Value

The Canon TX1’s value is in the eyes of the beholder. If you’re looking for a compact digital camera with automated modes, a cheaper PowerShot would suit just fine. If you’re looking for a hybrid ultra-zoom camera that is still compact, there is some competition in the Panasonic TZ1 and TZ3 and Kodak V610. If you’re looking for a hybrid that snaps decent pictures and records high definition video, there are only a handful of competitors. There is a very similar Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2 that was announced in January 2007, following up on the critically divided VPC-HD1. It snaps 7-megapixel images and records high definition video in the MPEG-4 format. It has a similar vertical design and even a 10x optical zoom lens. It does have a larger 2.2-inch LCD screen that folds out, and it can record longer 3-hour videos. The catch: the Sanyo HD2 costs $700. That makes the Canon PowerShot TX1’s price of $499 look amazingly affordable.

Who It’s For
Point-and-Shooters – These consumers will appreciate the automated modes and the hybrid capability of this model.

Budget Consumers – There aren’t many other cameras like the TX1. Sanyo makes a version that is much more expensive, so the Canon TX1 looks affordable. It’s much more affordable than buying a digital camera and a camcorder.

Gadget Freaks – This camera is a prime candidate for these consumers, who will appreciate such features as HD video and color swapping.

Manual Control Freaks – There aren’t many manual controls on the Canon PowerShot TX1, so these consumers may have to pass this by.

Pros/Serious Hobbyists – The TX1 could be a small backup camera for enthusiasts, but probably wouldn’t be their most expensive purchase.

Conclusion

 

******Conclusion**

The Canon PowerShot TX1 has a lot going for it. It’s one of the smallest cameras with a 10x optical zoom lens, so it could compete with the likes of the Panasonic TZ3 and the Kodak V610. The TX1 has HD video recording capabilities, found on the Panasonic LX2 and the Sanyo Xacti HD2. The Canon PowerShot TX1 blows away the Panasonic with a much better frame rate and is about half the size and price of the Sanyo. The Canon TX1 has an optical image stabilization system that keeps pictures and movies shake-free. The movie mode can be accessed at any time with the handy movie button too.

The Canon TX1 is a great concept of a camera; it bridges the gap between digital cameras and camcorders with a real hybrid option that produces great results from both areas. It isn’t perfect though. The pre-production model I looked at warmed up after about 10 minutes and wasn’t burning my hands but had them getting sweaty. The camera body was quite heavy too, and off-balance when the LCD folded outward, making it hard to stabilize vertically with one hand. Perhaps my biggest concern is the battery. Its specs claim 160 still images, and I doubt that translates to lengthy video time. Canon claims that the videos can record for an hour at a time but I am skeptical that the battery will last even that long while continuously recording video.

The Canon PowerShot TX1 will cost $499 when it becomes available in the next month or two. I can’t draw final conclusions because the camera hasn’t been extensively tested in our lab, but I am of the persuasion that this model is very cool but needs its quirks worked out. I’d be hesitant to fork over $499 for it now, but I’d cross my fingers and hope for better battery power and less heat from future models.  

Specs

Spec Sheet
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