 Best camera I've had so far |
| Review Date: September 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: John S. Dean, Sturtevant, WI United States |
I was looking at this last month when it was announced, and had decided I was going to go with the forthcoming 980 from Canon. My last four digital cameras were all Canon, and i was happy with them. But the more I dug and waited, the more I saw that there were things on this one I was hoping would make a difference, since many of my shots are indoors with my 5 year old, and the lower light benefits of this camera may make a difference.
I was getting tired of the grainy blacks indoors even with good light on automatic settings... They looked better if I manually set the ISO, but if I'm just pulling it out for a quick shot, i don't want to have to remember to go to manual settings all the time. This is replacing a Canon Powershot SD40 Elph that I liked very much other than the grainy blacks...
So I thought I'd take a chance. The smile shutter may be useful with a 5 year old, the panorama mode looked pretty slick, battery life was more than acceptable compared to my SD40. I liked the thin form factor even if it is a little larger the other two dimensions. And the 3 inch touch screen would be a very nice upgrade from my tiny 1.2 or so inch on the canon.
Since the big thing I was looking for was better indoor pictures with lower light and less grainy blacks, that was the first set of shots I took. I had both cameras in my hands, one on top, one below. Took shots at the same time from the same distances with the same lighting, both left on automatic. I know I can always get into manual modes to compensate for things, but I wanted something I didn't always have to do that with. And this low light boasting on the TX1 had me curious.
Got the pictures onto my computer, loaded them side by side, and dang if every single picture I took was not GREATLY improved with the Sony compared to my older Canon. The blacks were black, not grainy grey. The details were better (makes sense since it's 3 MP more than mine) but the clarity of even far away things that weren't in focus was astounding.
I have played with a family member's 900 version of the TX, and while it took good pictures, I didn't see that much difference between those and my older SD40. So this one is definitely a notable improvement even over newer Sony cameras.
The 10 shots per second is amazing - and they are great shots, not like they dropped in quality to get them so fast. panorama is cool, but I need to work on the speed to get the best speed it needs, since mine so far have a spot in most of them where it gets a little fuzzy, probably where my speed changed. Not very noticeable, but there nonetheless until I can figure out my panning method.
Video i'll want to wait till tomorrow to test out more, as it's moving into evening here, indoor light is very very low. Video still looked much brighter in the viewscreen and on replay than it really was when recorded, so you can see the power of the light gathering in everything you do with the camera. But it was blurry when panning a bit (but i've yet to find a camera that doesn't break the bank that doesn't do this) so it's certainly not going to replace my hard drive based non HD camcorder for everything.
I'll have to play with the more advanced features later after the battery recharges again, so I can test out the way it will take 6 shots and average them out for a crisp picture. And some outdoor night shots. But based just on what I've seen so far compared to the pictures I've been used to taking, I'm not too worried about them. Even if they aren't as stellar as the photos, just having this kind of noiseless indoor low lighting shots more than satisfied my needs, and made this camera worth every penny.
I would definitely buy this camera again. And if you're like me, on the fence trying to figure out a good thing for indoor use, I can say that this is the best I've ever used so far.
Edit a few days later - Movies I take in good light turn out fantastic. Pictures, movies, everything I've done with this has been outstanding. VERY happy with this camera. |
Pocket Rocket
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| Review Date: September 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Craig T. Niedzielski, Jacksonville, Florida United States |
I normally buy my products through Amazon, but I am here in Taiwan when the TX1 was released and I decided to take a stab and buy one from the local 3C.
I was wary of getting the touch screen version, having tried my sister's T9 from last year and not liking the interface. But I have to say that the screen on the TX1 is very much improved and now I wonder if I could go back to a conventional interface. Taking pictures with this camera is so much fun.
Because it is so thin and light, pressing the shutter release button without adding shake to the shot takes a very steady hand. I rather prefer to use the 2-second timer, which gives me just enough time after pressing the button to steady up the focus frame on my subject. My only caveat so far is that I could keep it on 2-second timer as default, rather having to set it for each shot.
This, combined with the various technologies give great low-light shots, really incredible for hand-held. The TX1 is my so-called "American Express" camera, replacing my much larger and less-forgiving Fujifilm F31fd. It is really hard to take bad shots with this camera, and if you take the time to learn the benefits of the various modes, I am certain you will get great results too.
I was also skeptical of getting the rather narrow range of the 35mm lens, thinking I would prefer the wider lens on the WX1 when it comes out next month, but the panorama mode is awesome so I don't miss having the wider lens. All of the technologies work well, and are not just Sony's hype. This camera really deserves way better than two stars.
Give this little gem a spin. You can always return it if you don't agree that it's the best little camera out there. |
Cool Camera, BUT YOU HAVE TO READ THE MANUAL
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| Review Date: October 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jorge Alberto Reza, |
Hi everyone and thanks for reading my review
If you are reading this chances are that you are in the market for a good point and shoot camera...
In my opinion, you have to look no further.
Most complaints about this camera basically tell you that the new image sensor that sony uses is not "that great" or that night images are good but day images are not...
These complaints would ALL go away if they read the manual. Even though the camera is really simple to use, there are small tweaks that you have to adjust in order to create a perfect picture.
I got this camera and its sibling (wx1) for 2 main reasons:
1.- portability and ease to use
2.- PARTY SHOT. if you have not heard about this you are just missing out. its this little dock that rotates, pan and tilts to automatically shoot pictures... its a great neat addition to a compatible sony camera and I would highly recommend this gadget also.
so here's the things I love about the camera:
1.- Easy to use
2.- Takes great panoramic photos
3.- Captures great indoor pictures
4.-good battery life
5.-touch screen with a lot of great add ons (like basic picture editing features built into the camera) it even comes with a stylus pen.
Now the not so great features are:
1.- NO DOCK. you have to take the battery out of the camera to charge it... there is no way of charging the camera's battery without removing it.
2.- proprietary cable: I guess this is the most annoying and irritating feature (or non feature) of the camera: Sony created this weird looking dongle that is supposed to make life easier... you plug in the camera one end (again, proprietary port, not the standard mini usb port you would find in other cameras) and on the other end you have a standard video and audio jacks that you would plug into your TV and a USB port for downloading pictures. I really dont like this, but I can live with it.. just be sure to never forget your cable.
There you have it, I hope this review was helpful
best regards |
Just what I was looking for
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| Review Date: October 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: S. Good, |
Our last camera was a canon Powershot S2 IS. The Canon stopped working, suffering from "the black screen of death". Having faith and loyalty in the Canon brand (this was our 4th Canon Camera purchase, two of which were Canon AE-1s given as gifts) I contacted Canon and was sorely disappointed. Even though many other models with the same faulty CCD had been recalled they refused to stand behind this product.
After a year of research and looking at many cameras, I came across the Sony DSC-TX1. It got me thinking about all of the Sony products we have had in the past. Which included at least 2 Sony camcorders, a very early digital camera; Sony Mavica MVC-FD75, various other electronics and most recently a Sony Bravia V-Series KDL-40V3000 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV. We have been very pleased with every one of those products. As a matter of fact, the MVC-FD75 took amazing pictures even though the megapixels were only 0.3 and used a 3.5 floppy to store images. My husband still uses that camera.
So, mostly on a whim, I thought to h*** with reviews and purchased the TX-1. I LOVED it from day one! It is very intuitive, and easy to use. I used it as soon as I got the battery charged - and that, the battery, is the only thing I can say is a slight negative. I prefer a camera that uses off the shelf AA batteries, to the inconvenience of having to charge a battery. However I am more than willing to suffer that inconvenience for a quality, sleek, sexy, fun to use camera.
I flipped through the manual while the battery charged. As soon as the battery charged, I started using the camera. I found it amazingly easy to use with just that little bit of reading. I took panoramas, photos with the foreground in focus and the background unfocused and vice versa, and very clear macros (the canon could do all of these things, but it was a pain, and the macros were almost impossible). The low light pictures were much better then any other camera I have owned. The size is another thing I love...it's about the same size as my cell phone.
I suspect that a professional photographer may disagree with my assessment. That being said, if you are a casual user looking for a point and shoot that is easy and fun to use and small in size, this is the camera for you. |
The Camera That Stole Me Away From Canon! Sony TX1.
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| Review Date: October 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Aurelio Rivera, Miami, FL |
For a long time I was nervous about leaving canon elphs! Normally I stay away from sony as if it were the plague. Every sony electronic I've ever bought has had complications or broken down on me in 1-2 years (video camera, laptop, desktop, etc.).
However, I wanted a true pocket-size camera that was good in low lights, had HD video for quick memory capture, and took overall really good pics. I've had elphs, including the new SD780, since they were first releast. Great little cameras - always top not pictures, very portable, and extremely durable (I'm kind-of clumsy). Unfortunately, the last SD780 did not live to longgg (black sand at the beach). Long story short, outdoor pics were great, the camera size was excellent, and battery life was out of this world. However, indoor shots were almost always really fuzzy, the screen is tiny, and the overall camera was simply boring.
So, after some research I decided to give the sony a try...I have to say that I love it. The camera is amazing...the panorama tool and the touch screen are so intuitive and easy. The pictures it takes are AMAZING - low light and normal. I've done tons of pics in bowling allies at night, at parties, at plays, you name it, with and mostly without flash - and pics are amazing! Outdoor pics are eqaully fantastic. The camera is also really small and fits easily into my front pocket with minimal notice, the play mode touch screen options are pretty incredible, and the advance dual shot mode is pretty incredible --- e.g. sometimes for night shots it will automatically do two shots, one with flash and one without or simply alternate settings and do two shots really fast so you can choose which one to keep.
Things I really don't like:
- proprietary cable
- sony memory card (kind-of pricey, albeit a little bit faster than SDHC - definitely not a big hinderance)
- Battery life is decent (it's really not bad at all - it will last a day with tons of shooting - but i wish it was better)
Things I really like:
- size and overall design
- picture quality
- touch screen
- video recording quality
- intelligent auto mode - much better than most other cameras auto mode (for when you're in a rush)
- low light capabilities are out-of-hand...simply amazing! not kidding...
- camera slideshow and editing capabilities
- touch screen focus selection
Would I recommend: yes! Especially, if form factor, low light picture taking, and overall fun factor is important to you. This camera runs circles around the Canon SD780 and SD940 - which I'm surprised to acknowledge....
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i found this vid at youtube i am not 100% convinced that it’s true can anyone of you guys tell me? it can be found at this page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suOA6YpMBac thank you