(Updated with further reports)
Canon unveiled a hybrid still photo/video camera today at such a low price point ($500 manufacturer recommended) with such an insane feature set (7.1 megapixel camera plus high definition video recording and image stabilization) that it almost defies belief. The new Powershot TX-1 has a lot of smart features, from obvious things like a built-in lens cap and 10X optical zoom, to more techy, behind-the-scenes stuff like being able to focus on faces automatically and eliminate red eye when the flash is used. Wasn’t it about a year ago that just the still camera side of this equation listed for $500? And my birthday is just around the corner…
You’ll also probably need a huge memory card. It accepts the new high-capacity secure digital card known as SDHC. An 8 GB card will run you about $55 at Newegg but no indication yet how much video time that would give you. SDHC is supposedly going all the way up to 32 GB, so that won’t be a problem eventually. We’ve been long-time fans of Canon cameras in our house, as I rambled on about last year once or twice. More info in the press release here.
(Update) Too good to be true? Michael Tomkins at The Imaging Resource notes a few problems:
The Canon TX1 features an F3.5-5.6 10x optical zoom lens that extends from the camera body on startup, coupled to a seven megapixel imager, plus a movie mode with resolutions up to 1280 x 720 pixels, and frame-rates up to 60fps in QVGA resolution. Other resolutions are limited to 30fps video, and surprisingly for a camera aimed at video capabilities Canon has selected a MotionJPEG AVI file format rather than the MPEG4 format found on most other such cameras. (MPEG4 is generally considered to offer better video quality, given the same file size / clip length as MotionJPEG).
And PMA Show has further info about capacity for recording. It’s looking more limited but still amazing:
Continuous recording up to 4GB Movies can be continuously recorded with a fast SD card, up to 4GB per movie clip. Approx. 13 minutes of continuous movie recording at new 1280×720 resolution, 30 fps. 30 minutes of continuous movie recording at 640×480 resolution, 30 fps
Continuous audio-only recording PowerShot TX1 can be used as a sound recorder. Sound recordings up to 2 hours in continuous length are possible. At highest quality (44.100 kHz) setting, up to 1.5 hours audio fit onto 1GB SD card. Choice of 11.025 kHz, 22.050 kHz, or 44.100 kHz quality settings
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