Digital Trends

Canon Powershot TX1 April 10th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Shake Shake Shake!

Do you remember the nauseating shakiness of the cameras used in The Blair Witch Project? Have you ever shot video at a birthday party, wedding or corporate event and wound up disappointed with the final footage because everything, including your own heartbeat, seemed to jar the camera? How many millions of hours of video have been lost due to the shakes?

Well, Canon was aware of the global pain we camcorder geeks have been feeling. They responded by endowing the TX1 with a continuous mode image stabilizer! While it may not keep the camera dead-still during an earthquake or while riding down a bumpy country road, it keeps the human-jitters and minor shakes from ruining your shots. The TX1 also has "Shoot Only" and "Panning" modes for the image stabilizer, which give more specific stabilizing effects for different types of filming.

The TX1 Weighs In

Although the TX1 is a very compact camera/camcorder, it seems to weigh a lot for its diminutive size. Specifically, the TX1 weighed in at 8.6 ounces. In comparison, the similar-sized Sanyo Xacti VPC-C5 camcorder weighs 5.8 ounces. The extra 2.8 ounces doesn't seem like a lot on paper, but holding the TX1 in your hand gives you a definite feeling that the TX1 is built tough.

ISO Happy

The Powershot TX1 has an unusually wide ISO range. The ISO settings are as follows: Auto ISO, High ISO, then 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 and a mind-blowing 1600 ISO. Auto ISO, the TX1's default setting, allows the camera to estimate the proper ISO for the current conditions. High ISO is an automatic ISO setting, but it forces the TX1 to use a slightly higher ISO than would normally be used so that lower light conditions can be filmed or photographed without risk of blurred images or poor light rendering. Images may wind up a little grainier than with Auto ISO, but this is anticipated and expected. The rest of the ISO settings can be selected by more advanced photographers who want ultimate control over lighting and final image/video quality.

As for the 1600 ISO capability of the TX1, I have to tip my hat to Canon for such an awesome spec. Using 1600 ISO, I was able to shoot in near darkness and the resultant video was surprisingly good (though grainy, as expected).

Webcam Functions

There are quite a number of camcorders on the market today that double as webcams when properly hooked up to a computer system. Typically, these cameras connect using Firewire cables. The TX1 uses USB 2.0 for data transfer and, unfortunately, Canon makes no mention of the TX1 being capable of webcam use.

Macro Mode

The Powershot TX1 clearly has a great zoom capability. Want more? The TX1 can shoot stills and video in Macro mode, allowing you to get right up close and personal with your subjects. So close, in fact, that you could shoot video of a ladybug crawling on a flower petal.

Direct Printing

As if the TX1 didn't have enough features already, Canon added PictBridge direct printing capabilities. So long as you have a PictBridge-capable printer (many HP, Canon and other printers have PictBridge support) you can connect the TX1 to the printer by means of the mini-USB cable. Depress the Print/Share button and select the photos you want to print. There are several choices for printing modes. TX1 will even let you select single frames from high-def video recordings for printing to paper!

Image Courtesy of Canon