Here’s a beautiful little package that packs a ton of power. For $500, you can score a Canon PowerShot TX1, a sort-of hybrid device that’s compact and records HD video and takes 7.1MP photos. Aside from a spectacular price tag, this baby can do 720p video, 10x optical zoom, multiple shooting modes, image stabilization, 115,000-pixel LCD, ISO settings from 80 to 1600 and – bet you can guess it – DIGIC III image processing.
Seems like Canon is all about getting its new technology to the market ASAP. If you’re in the market for a new digital camera or a video camera, this could be the ultimate killer hybrid.
I’ve been eyeing the sanyo HD2 that comes out april 1st. The main question is which does better in low light and indoor situations…
This looks sweet though.
It records in Motion JPEG, which makes it pretty damn useless as a video camera. 13 minutes of video needs a 4GB card.
I disagree about motion jpeg… the quality is extremely high (closer to true HD) than any interframe format. yes… you will fill the memory card faster, but the quality will be extremely high and you can always use a variety of tools (some open source) to convert to just about anything.
$500 is a steal….if it’s really that cheap….
Video quality would be highly dependent on both the codec AND the bit-rate.
The Sanyo Xacti HD device does MPEG-4 at 9Mbit/sec in “Super High Quality” mode. The compression artifacts are pretty glaring.
I’ve seen no mention of bit-rate anywhere for this slick little Canon.
I just found out it does 35.8Mbit/second. That’s relatively high for a consumer HD camera.
TX1 Reasoning
This is not intended to bring an end to the camcorder market, it is intended put HD video capabilities in your pocket. Just as pocket sized cameras are not intended to replace SRLs, pocket cams should not be judged by their ability to replace a camcorder. They should be evaluated by their ability to capture impromptu short film moments.
“It’s like you’re dreamin’ about Gorgonzola cheese when it’s clearly Brie time, baby.”
As to which video capture format is better for a pocket cam, I prefer JMPEG as it offers superior frame capture over MPEG4. I love the ability to grab high quality stills from video sequences that are candid and uncomposed. There are too many occasions when cameras and camcorders have failed to serve me in that way.
“Leave it to a dago to bring a knife to a gun fight.”
If you need more than 26 minutes (8GB card) of video capture, it’s typically something important. Why would you knowingly bring the limitations of a pocket cam into that situation? I would not want to be stuck holding a pocket cam that long. There are times when a dedicated camcorder is the order of the day; times when you should also have a tripod, an external mic, and a good idea of the shots you want. For everything else, there will be a TX1 in my pocket. As my two pockets also have to hold my wallet, phone, and iPod the TX1 is barely small enough for my carry everywhere needs.