Canon PowerShot TX1

The Canon PowerShot TX1 made waves in February as Canon’s first attempt at a true hybrid digital camera-camcorder. The 7.1-megapixel TX1 borrows elements like image stabilization, stereo audio, a wind filter, and video editing from bigger cameras like the PowerShot S3 and newer S5. The TX1’s compact style and palette of exposure modes is similar to the Digital Elph series of slim cameras: automatic and scene modes are the order here. With a Digic III image processor comes trendy face detection technology, but the TX1 will be noted most for its high definition video capabilities. We took the Canon TX1 for a test spin to see if it was worth the $499 asking price.

Physical Tour

Front (7.25)
When the camera is turned off, it is hard to tell which side is which. Most digital cameras have a horizontal design, but this hybrid model opts for a vertical pistol grip. The lens is near the top of the front with only enough space above it for a built-in flash and AF assist/self-timer lamp. Below the lens is a protruding highlight that looks like a smile and is perhaps designed to keep fingers from wandering in front of the lens, although it’s much too small to be truly functional. Below it is the Canon PowerShot TX1 logo. At the bottom of the front is a wrist strap eyelet that looks like a horseshoe. Much of the front is decorated with a brushed silver panel but there are matte silver edges that extend to the left and right sides of the TX1.

Back (5.25)
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. A chrome band wraps around onto the back just above the middle, and protrudes ever so slightly in a smooth bump. Atop the bump is the zoom control, which looks like a shark fin and can be pushed up and down by a few millimeters each way. Icons surround the fin depicting the zoom and magnification levels. The mode dial’s ribbed edge can be seen on the right edge. Just below the zoom control is a large, square movie button that has a red center and has a red movie camera icon next to it. To the lower left of the video recording button is a tiny LED that indicates when the camera is accessing the memory card in the door just below.

The top third of the camera is cluttered with buttons. At the very top are two small circular buttons: Disp. on the left and Menu on the right. There are two bolts below the buttons that are almost equal in size; it looks a little strange. Below these is a tiny joystick surrounded by icons for the different functions that can be activated. Starting from the top and moving clockwise, the functions are: ISO/jump, flash, burst/self-timer/delete, and focus mode.

The back looks a little strange, especially to consumers who look at digital cameras more often than camcorders. The layout, however, is fairly common on pistol-grip camcorders.

Left Side (6.5)
The left side of the Canon TX1 has the Canon logo near the upper left corner and a circular LED-lit power button in the upper right corner. Below the power button is a set of nine holes that make up 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 upward 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. "7.1 megapixels" is printed in the lower left corner.

Right Side (6.5)
The right side is quite plain looking, but Canon threw it’s logo on a silver highlight just above the middle to liven up the look. At the back side of the logo is the circular mode dial, which has a ribbed edge that protrudes off the back. The mode dial has only four positions: playback, auto, manual (this is more of a program mode), and scene. The very top of this side has a shallow cutout for resting place the finger atop the shutter release button.

Top (7.5)
The is very plain. "Image stabilizer" is printed at the front edge and at the back is the LED-lit print/share button. Near the front on the right side is a strangely shaped cutout area with a square-ish shutter release button.

Bottom (4.0)
The botton of a camera is usually the dullest side. However, the TX1 is cluttered with contours and covers. The right side of the camera’s bottom folds upwards and away 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. The thin plastic door that covers the compartment opens by sliding outward. There is a tiny rubber cover in the center to allow the power adaptor in. On the left side is a long and rectangular rubber cover that hides the three jacks on the camera body. This rubber strip doesn’t seal well, so don’t set the camera down anywhere near moisture. Towards the front is a metal tripod mount with the wrist strap eyelet just in front of it.