Elina and her parents gave me this exciting new camera for my birthday. It was a great gift – just what I wanted. Unfortunately, I had put it on my wishlist before any reviews had been released – I was that enticed by its ground-breaking feature set. Once it finally arrived, I found that the camera’s image quality didn’t match its feature set; it just wasn’t satisfying. So, with Elina’s approval, I’m exchanging it for… something else. Can you guess what?
I figured I may as well try to help out others who are considering the TX-1, so I posted a review at Amazon and at dpreview.
I was surprised to see that most other reviews have been mostly positive. Even the generally critical dpreview was fairly easygoing in their review, although their conclusion was an unflattering “Recommended (but only just)”. I don’t know, maybe I had higher expectations, or maybe I’ve just been spoiled by the image quality of our Nikon D80 and Canon SD600.
Here’s the full text of my review:
I was very excited about this camera when it was first announced – finally, HD-quality video in my pocket! 10x optical zoom, optical image stabilization, excellent! And I’ve always been a huge fan of Canon’s SD series – tiny pocket-cams which take great stills and decent video. This seemed like the next step – great stills and great video too. So I pre-ordered the camera as soon as I could, and waited eagerly for it to ship. And waited, and waited…
When the camera finally arrived, I was surprised at the bulk and heft of it. Sure, it’s still highly compact, but for someone used to the SD300 and SD600, this is a step backwards in portability. It makes my pockets kinda bulge. Right off the bat, strike one: my primary use case for the camera was to keep it in my pocket all the time. Once I tried it though, I realized that it’d have to go in a bag most of the time.
Strike two: it’s kinda awkward to hold. I have very large hands, so I rarely have a problem with any camera. I’m not sure if others would have the same experience, but it’s worth noting, since I’ve always been comfortable with various other Canons, Nikons, and Pentaxes.
Finally, my main criticism, Strike 3: Picture Quality. I wasn’t happy with either the stills or the video. With the stills, I had trouble with the focus system. The face-tracking system seems useful at first, but when I viewed the photos on my computer, the focus never seemed quite right. Even when I switched to a more conventional focus mode, the picture quality just wasn’t as satisfying as that of the SD600, an older and cheaper model.
Video quality was, for me, the last straw. Sure, it may be technically HD, but for me, HD promises more than just resolution. When I think HD, I think sharp, clear, and vibrant. The video produced by the TX1 is high-resolution, it is wide-screen at 16×9 – but it’s not really HD. The video picture is blotchy and fuzzy, and really no better than that, again of a much cheaper SD series camera. It’s nice that it’s wide, the video is definitely much better proportioned for today’s wide-screen televisions, but it’s not much of an advance beyond that, and it certainly isn’t really HD.
Also worth noting is that the video files produced by the TX-1 are immense, making it fairly inconvenient and/or expensive to use as a video camera. These file sizes certainly aren’t justified by the video quality.
To sum up: the TX-1 has an impressive array of features, and had the potential of being a truly groundbreaking device, of finally bringing HD video and stunning stills into a single pocketable device. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t deliver on quality, and it’s not as pocketable as its predecessors, which take better stills and video that’s nearly as good as the TX-1′s.
Ultimately, for me, the TX-1 wasn’t satisfying as a still camera or a video camera. I’ve returned mine; I’m going to stick with my SD600 for now.
I’m still eagerly awaiting the first truly pocketable device which shoots both high-quality stills and video. I’d even be willing to pay more than I did for the TX-1 – maybe that would give it a better chance of succeeding. In the meantime, I’ve got my eye on the Canon HV10 HD Camcorder to supplement my SD600 and Nikon D80.
Sorry to hear you didn’t like the camera – as you said over-expectations can lead to disappointment!
Video “Blotchiness” was probably due to low light. Like most point&shoot cameras they need plenty. I have got fantastic results skiing and outdoors, and marginal results indoors without bright lighting.
Because the camera doesn’t compress the video much, every frame actually looks reasonably good (not too pixelised but at the cost of shorter recording time). The TX-1 is a hybrid: if you want to do just video recording or just photos, you can find more suitable solutions. Using CHDK firmware upgrade you can set the video quality higher (if you have a fast card).
“my primary use case for the camera was to keep it in my pocket all the time”
Yeah it is solid and you can find smaller cameras (although maybe without the TX-1 tiltable LCD which is really useful for shots from odd positions). I take my TX-1 with me everywhere and take photos and video just about every day. Findng how to use it comfortably takes a bit of practise.
If anyone wants to ask any questions about the TX-1 (to an admittedly biased audience!) visit the TX-1 forum.