Buy Canon PowerShot TX1 7.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized ZoomCanon PowerShot TX1 7.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom Product Description:
- 7.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 15 x 20-inch prints and can also take 720p HD Video
- Ultra-compact 10x optical zoom lens; image stabilization
- Digic III image processor With Face Detection Technology; auto red-eye correction
- Vivid, high-resolution 2.5-inch PureColor LCD
- Compatible with SD/SDHC, MultiMediaCard, MMC Plus cards (not included)
Product Description
CL) U) CANON POWERSHOT TX1 DIG CAM
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
130 of 132 people found the following review helpful.
Best Blend of Still Pix, Video, and Compact Size
By J. Weber
After testing the Canon TX-1, this has been my experience:PHOTO QUALITY: Excellent. Canon wisely uses in-camera noise reduction (blurring) lightly and preserves sharp detail. On close magnification, single pixel detail is present, which the Panasonic DMC-TZ3 that I compared blurred details into a gradient. Color saturation and contrast are excellent. Focus is fast and accurate. Overall, superb qualtiy still pictures.VIDEO QUALITY: Very good. Quality is roughly midway between DV and a dedicated HD camcorder. Though criticized by some for their large file sizes, Canon's Motion JPEG compression codec yield video that is of excellent contrast, and good color saturation. I took video samples and re-compressed them using Canon's codec (included with their camera's software) and other codecs including MPEG2, QuickTime, and multiple other codecs from Adobe Premiere, and found that the Canon motion-JPEG, though theoretically not as efficient a compression scheme, ended up with the best quality video, while other codecs of similar file size were more washed out. Another advantage of this compression scheme is that you can get good quality frame captures, as each frame is compressed individually. It's not perfect: unlike my dedicated HD camcorder, the TX-1's video has a vague "shimmering" effect, from the JPEG compression varying from frame to frame. Also, with moving objects, the motion isn't quite as fluid with as with my dedicated HD camcorder. But for a combination still/video platform, the video of the TX-1 is remarkably good. File sizes are large, but they will be with any high quality video.ERGONOMICS: In my medium to small hands, the camera is easy to hold. Some reviewers complained that they needed to use their left hand to stabilize the camera, but I always hold cameras with two hands. This one can be held with one, but any camera will yield less blurry pictures if held with two hands. If you have large fingers, you may find this camera too small.CONVENIENCE: The LCD folds into the camera, and there is no optical viewfinder, so when the camera is closed, there is no vulnerable glass to scratch up on any side. And it is so tiny that you can throw it in a pocket or bag or purse and pull it out for an unexpected spontaneous shot.FLASH: I was worried that the flash would be too under-powered. It is a weak flash. Unexpectedly, this turned out to be a good thing. I've noticed with past cameras that indoor flash pictures screamed "FLASH!" and were bright with a thin dark shadow next to foreground objects from the flash. This weaker flash ironically ends up making more natural shots as it doesn't saturate the shot and some existing light adds to make a more pleasing picture. The flash is too weak to brightly light up a large dim room that you are shooting from a long distance, or if you zoom in under dim conditions.ZOOM: 10X zoom is really powerful; I can zoom in a lot more than I expected. The excellent image stabilization allows these zoomed in shots to not be blurred from camera motion.LOW LIGHT: Like virtually all compact cameras today, the tiny CCD does not perform well in very low light shots without flash. The TX-1 is no exception. Fuji cameras are known for better performance in low light, but currently don't have optical image stabilization. The image stabilization in the TX-1 (and other cameras with this feature) help a lot because you can use much longer shutter speeds and make up for the small CCD.PLAYBACK: It has been fun for me to plug the camera into my widescreen TV and watch the photos and video in a combined slide show. That format is fun for the family and allows everyone to enjoy the memories without having to sit by a computer monitor or wait for prints.PROBLEMS: The only thing I've not enjoyed is that the small LCD makes it harder to see detail in composing a shot, especially in bright sunlight.OVERALL: The TX-1 produces excellent quality still pictures, very good 720p video, is tiny, not easily scratched, has a huge zoom, great image stabilization, and will end up being something you will want to toss into a pocket or bag and capture a spontaneous, memorable moment. It is a rare camera that can record both stills and video without one of them being useless. I'm very happy with it. I hope you enjoy whatever you decide on too!
92 of 93 people found the following review helpful.
Do not buy it for its camera features, but for its HD video capability...
By M. E. Balzer
Do not buy this camera if you are looking for either a great camera or camcorder, buy it as the best micro image recording device available.As you will find in other reviews, the camera portion is average. What makes this camera stand out is the fact that it will do 1280 X 720, 30 frames PROGRESSIVE! This is simply amazing since this camera is no larger than a box of cigarettes. It is not perfect though. There are few manual controls, e.g. no shutter rate or ISO control, however you do have control over locking ASE and Focus, as well as white balance. Some reviewers have complained about ergonomics, but a small monopod or makeshift grip that attaches to the tripod mount will do the trick. I personally would have preferred a REC button in front of the camera. If I could also make a couple of wishes, I would also ask for an external 1/8" stereo external microphone connector, as well as LANC control that could be used for zoom, focus, record/pause and stop. Finally, low light levels are very noisy.There are also concerns about battery power. I have been able to go an hour without a charge. Again, it is suggested to buy an extra battery. If you really need to have this camera running continuously, buy the external power adapter. If you need more remote power, buy one of those extra lithium ion external power packs that has an output of 3.5 volts and retrofit a coaxial plug to fit the external power adapter.Some reviewers are complaining about Canon using the Motion JPEG file format for video. True it is not the best compression format for making small files, but the quality is better than most MPEG 4 or even MPEG 2 file formats. Plus, you get frame by frame editing. To make up for the poor compression, just buy a larger card.There are also some questions if this camera can support more than a four gigabyte SD card. Yes, but it will need to be a fast SDHC card. This poses its own problems because it is not backwards compatible with SD card readers so you will not be able to use it with any card reader unless it specifically says it is compatible with SDHC. This is not too great of a problem since the camera uses a standard mini USB female connector and XP, Vista, OS X recognize it without additional software.In my opinion, this has been my answer to a stealth high definition documentary camera. I will find many uses for this camera in the upcoming months. Look for my documentary "Gamer: The chronicles of Evanor" [...] to be released at the end of the year. It will contain footage from this camera.I gave it a four out of five stars for not adding an external microphone adapter, LANC control, and a few more manual controls. This would have garnered a perfect score from me. I hope Canon is listening.
65 of 67 people found the following review helpful.Perfect for me
By P. Yoon
The TX1 is exactly what I'm looking for. In order of importance, I was looking for something (1) small that (2) takes good/excellent video on (3) flash memory that will (4) work with my Mac and (5) can replace my point-and-shoot camera. I'm not particularly fond of taking video so I didn't want to buy a camcorder that only took video and was large, or at least larger than the TX1. However, for those times that I do want to take video, this is perfect, and the picture quality, imo, is great. I can have it with me all the time because it's small. It's not as small as some cameras, but what do you expect for all that it does? This is cheaper than Panasonic and Sanyo equivalent camcorders, the small ones also with pistol grip.Those hoping for video quality on par with an HD camcorder are looking in the wrong place.Personally, I think the videos and still shots are fine for this type of device. The clips and photos I take with the TX1 aren't being broadcast, and they're not going in magazines. So for what I need, it's perfect. Actually, the video quality is better than my (older) MiniDV camcorder. And the truth is, I never use that older DV camcorder anymore. With my old camcorder I didn't like watching unedited clips from the machine itself, so I had to tranfer them to my computer, which was cumbersome. The clips from the TX1, while large, transfer via USB, so that's faster than the DV transfer. And like I mentioned, better picture quality. I've already used the TX1 more in the past 14 days than I have used my DV camera in the past two years. When I want to "serious" pictures I haul my D200 and lenses. If you want to take "serious" video, buy something dedicated, which will be more expensive.As for photo quality, I have not printed anything, but viewing it on my computer, the pictures seem on par with other point-and-shoot shots. There is fuzziness and focus searching in low light conditions, but that's what I've come to expect with point-and-shoots; they're inherently limited machines.One last thing, you can zoom while shooting video in the highest quality; you can zoom in any video setting for that matter.
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