Canon TX1 First Impressions Review

by Emily Raymond
Published on March 08, 2007

Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour
Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options
Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion
Specs	Photo Gallery

 

  

Model Design / Appearance

The Canon PowerShot TX1 is designed to be held vertically, departing from the traditional horizontal appearance of most compact digital cameras. The TX1 is boxy with crisp edges. This box quickly loses shape when turned on though. The LCD screen folds out like a wing on the side and the zoom lens pops out of the front. The body is very compact and constructed from stainless steel. Its base is fine when turned off, but when the LCD is folded out the camera leans toward the monitor and sometimes tips (a common problem with any upright camera or camcorder design, as in the Sanyo digital media cameras). The TX1 isn’t a drop dead attractive digital camera, but it still looks good when turned off..

 

Size / Portability

The PowerShot TX1 is “Elph-sized,” as the Canon booth representatives put it. I think it’s a little bigger than most of its Digital Elph relatives, although it’s still quite small when compared to similar models that have its feature set. The TX1 measures 3.5 x 2.4 x 1.1 inches and weighs 7.76 oz without the card and battery. This is fairly heavy considering its size. Its heft makes it a little tougher to handle, but doesn’t complicate portability much. The TX1 has a horseshoe-shaped strap eyelet at the bottom of the camera’s front; the camera comes with a wrist strap but probably shouldn’t be dangled from a wrist. It is quite durable and could fit into a bigger coat pocket or a backpack, although a small pouch or carrying case would be a good idea.

 

Handling Ability

The Canon PowerShot TX1’s body is fairly flat and free of handling features. This camera is held differently than most. The middle and ring fingers grip the front, while the pinky finger offers some support on the bottom. The index finger sits at the top, and since the top is much taller than most digital cameras it has to stretch a bit farther. The thumb sits on the back and splits time between the zoom control in the middle and the surrounding buttons. This is designed to be a one-handed camera, but its hefty weight and unevenly distributed base make it a little harder to keep steady.

 

The controls are small and crammed between icons, for the most part. The shutter release on the top of the camera is square-shaped and nicely placed. The print button is also atop the camera, and it can be set to perform other functions within the setup menu.

 

The right side of the camera hosts a dime-sized mode dial that rotates nicely. On the left side of the TX1 is a power button that is nicely sized and marked with a green LED. On the back is a flurry of icons around the navigational joystick designating the multiple functions the control can perform when not in the menu.

 

The joystick control is very small and was probably chosen for this layout because it can fit in a very small space, but it isn’t very comfortable. It isn’t easy to navigate quickly, although it works fine if daintily pushed.

 

There are Menu and Display buttons on the back as well; they are undersized and almost look like the bolts that are placed beneath them. The zoom control is also on the back; it is placed upon the crest of a small bump. It is shaped like a horizontal paddle that can be pushed up and down to move throughout the 10x optical zoom range.

 

Below the zoom control is the movie button. This can be activated from any mode at any time, which is very handy. Overall, the controls are on the small side but that’s the tradeoff for buying an overall very small camera.

The menu system can be entered with the designated Menu button on the back of the camera, and current Canon users will find the menus very familiar. They are organized into tabs and placed on gray backgrounds. The text is readable – as long as you have good eyesight. The 1.8-inch-sized LCD screen doesn’t allow much room for menus.

 

Like other PowerShot digital cameras, the TX1 has a split menu system that features frequently used items in a menu accessible by pushing the joystick in.

 

Shooting Mode	Manual, Super Macro, Color Accent, Color Swap, Stitch Assist (L to R), Stitch Assist (R to L)
Exposure Compensation	+/- 2 in 1/3 increments
White Balance	Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom
My Colors	Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom (Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, Red, Green, Blue, Skin Tone all with +/- 2 adjustment in full steps)
Aspect Ratio	4:3, 16:9
Video Resolution	1280, 1280LP, 640/30, 640/LP, 320/60, 320/30
Image Size	L (3072 x 2304), W (3072 x 1728), M1 (2592 x 1944), M2 (2048 x 1536), M3 (1600 x 1200), S (640 x 480)
Compression	SuperFine, Fine, Normal

 

This menu is from the “manual” mode; when the mode dial is set to the “SCN” position, the shooting modes reflect the many image presets available. The following is the standard recording menu accessible from the Menu button.

 

Face Detection AF	On, Off
Digital Zoom	On, Off
Red-Eye Reduction	On, Off
Custom Self-Timer	1-30 sec, 1-10 shots
Light Metering	Evaluative, Center-weighted Average, Spot
Auto ISO Shift	On, Off
AF Mode	Continuous, Single
AF Assist Beam	On, Off
Review	Off, Hold, 2-10 seconds
Reverse Disp.	On, Off
Auto Category	On, Off
Disp. Overlay	Off, Grid Lines
IS Mode	Shoot Only, Panning, Continuous, Off
Set Print Button	Not Assigned, Exposure Compensation, White Balance, Custom White Balance, Digital Tele-converter, Disp. Overlay, Display Off, Play Sound Effect

 

The previous menu is the first of three tabs that appear. It has a camera icon on its tab, while the central tab has an icon of a wrench. The setup menu is as follows.

 

Mute	On, Off
Volume	Startup, Operation, Self-timer, Shutter, Playback all with 1-5 volume levels
Audio	Mic Level (Auto, Manual), Level (1-81), Wind Filter (On, Off)
LCD Brightness	+/- 7
Power Saving	Auto Power Down (On, Off), Disp. Off (10 sec-3 min)
Time Zone	Set Home, World
Date/Time	Set date and time
Clock Display	0 sec-3 min
Format	OK, Cancel
File Numbering	Continuous, Auto Reset
Create Folder	Create New Folder (Yes, No), Auto Create (Off, Daily, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monthly), Time (0-24)
Auto Rotate	On, Off
Distance Units	m/cm, ft/in
Lens Retract	0 sec, 1 min
Language	English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Korean, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Thai, Arabic, Romanian, Ukrainian
Video System	NTSC, PAL
Print Method	Auto, PTP
Reset All	OK, Cancel

 

There is also a menu tab that allows users to customize their cameras with a choice of startup images and all sorts of sounds for operation and shutter and such. The sounds are like those on other PowerShots: howling wolves, tweeting birds, and descending aliens.

Overall, the menu system is nicely organized and very intuitive. It is composed of text, and is very readable except for the small size of the font – to fit on the small LCD screen.

Ease of Use
The Canon TX1 is very easy to use, especially if you’ve previously owned a Canon digital camera. The menus are nearly identical to those found on other Digital Elph models, and the icons and labels around the buttons are familiar too. Even if unfamiliar with PowerShot cameras, it is still easy to figure the TX1 out.