Introduction

Ease of Use

The DSC-TX1 is the latest model in a long line of fashion-conscious Sony Cyber-shot touch-screen compact cameras, coming after the T90 and T900 which rated well on Photography Blog earlier this year. Like both of those earlier models, the TX1 features a sliding faceplate that covers and protects the lens when not in use, and also acts as another means of activating the camera when it's slid open. The TX1 is minimalist and slender, measuring a mere 14.1mm at its narrowest point, with a large 3-inch, widescreen ratio 230k-dot resolution LCD screen at the rear.

As you'd expect with a screen of that size on a compact, the TX1 has no optical viewfinder to fall back on. In fact the only physical controls the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 possesses are a rectangular playback button situated top right of the LCD, plus a top-mounted on/off switch recessed into a mirrored strip. Alongside this is a second larger rectangular button for the shutter release and a small rocker switch for gliding through the 35-140mm equivalent focal range provided by the internal non-extending lens.

The mostly metal TX1 feels rock-solid sturdy yet lightweight at just 142g with the supplied NP-BG1 battery inserted. Providing the only actual means of gripping the camera are a narrow 'bezel' around the screen, with a couple of raised ridges and eyelet for attaching a wrist strap over to its right hand side. As well as inevitably festooning the screen itself with fingers and thumbprints (that only show up when it's switched off), the polished front plate also attracts smears. So you'll be wiping this camera clean almost as often as you'll be taking pictures with it. Commendably both the body and screen do seem resistant to scratches, although it's a good idea to invest in some kind of protective cover.

The lack of physical substance also suggests the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 will be prone to camera shake. So Sony has fitted a dual image stabilisation mechanism in the shape of both optical SteadyShot and an ISO range that extends up to ISO 3200. If not quite class leading, it's better than you'll find on an average point and shoot. As with its recent predecessors, present and correct on the TX1 is the increasingly ubiquitous ability to shoot High Definition video clips at a maximum 1280x720 pixels video at 30fps, here in PC friendly MPEG-4 format with use of the optical zoom and the ability to fire off a snap in the middle of filming. There's also a direct HDMI output from the camera, useful for playing back the 60 minutes of footage that can be stored on a 4GB Memory Stick (Duo or Pro variety), although sadly there's no HDMI cable supplied in the box.

Sony has included intelligent auto scene recognition in its line-up of shooting modes, accessed via the left-hand onscreen toolbar, and working in virtually identical fashion to the intelligent auto modes of Panasonic's and Canon's compact ranges. The user points the TX1 at a scene or subject and the camera analyses it and automatically chooses one of 11 pre-optimised settings to best suit. Adding to its snapshot simplicity, this feature joins enhanced face recognition and smile shutter functionality on board, the former mode biasing human faces in the frame and the latter mode firing the shutter when it detects a smiling subject.

Front	Rear

With the camera looking fashionably understated when inactive, press the teeny, recessed power button on the top plate or slide open the faceplate to reveal the lens and, like its forebears, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 readies itself for action in a just over a second. The rear LCD bursts into life sound tracked by a musical flourish (which thankfully can be turned off). The adequately sized shutter release button has a definite halfway point, determining focus and exposure with a bleep of affirmation, focus points highlighted in green on the LCD. Go on to take the shot and maximum 10 megapixel resolution JPEG images are committed to memory in a single second, the screen momentarily blanking out and then displaying the captured image before the user can go on to take a second shot.

In revealing the lens, also exposed is the TX1's built-in microphone, plus a small and narrow window for flash and a porthole for the self-timer/AF illuminator. As we've found in the past, with the lens situated to the far top-right of the camera's front, when holding it steady with both hands, it's all too easy for the ends of fingertips to dip forward and therefore into shot. However, once thus 'bitten' you quickly learn to subsequently avoid it.

Talking of fingertips, to the right of the shutter release button, if viewed from the back, is a small rocker switch for operating the zoom and alternating between wideangle and telephoto, the raised lip of which is only just large enough to connect with the pad of your digit. The action of the zoom itself is leisurely smooth rather than rapid, gliding unhindered through the focal range in a single, steady motion.

With the TX1's degree of design minimalism meaning that is it for the front and top of the camera, moving to the rear of the TX1, we find a single playback button top right of the screen. Other than that single physical control, every other operation takes place in the virtual realm, the central portion of the screen displaying the image in 4:3 ratio on its default setting, while two menu bars with white text or icons on an all-black background frame it on either side, in effect cropping the screen's full 16:9 ratio.

The screen on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 is responsive without being overly sensitive and, with use, we didn't find ourselves accidentally selecting the setting next to the one we intended as often as we initially thought we might. Touch-screen operation is either love it or hate it. Luckily the buttons and icons on the Cyber-shot TX1 are just large enough for finger operation (with an alternative plastic stylus provided in the box that clips onto the wrist strap). That said the busy array of options around the screen - especially in Program mode - can be rather distracting, although thankfully easily toggled on and off.

Touch-screen	Touch-screen

The icon at the top of the left-hand bar, in regular stills capture mode, is the means of accessing the TX1's Menu with a finger or stylus jab. Press this lightly and the user is instantly provided with some of the camera's main functions - shooting mode, image size, macro mode, EV, ISO, white balance, Focus mode, Metering Mode and others - plus an icon top-right to access the 4 Settings menus. The latter includes the ability to deactivate the camera's 'bleep' that otherwise sounds at every button press.

Back to the left-hand bar, and below the Menu button we firstly find a self-explanatory smile detection icon, a second for turning flash on or off plus a forced on and slow synchro setting, a third providing access to the various self-timer choices, and a fourth for the burst shooting modes. On the right-hand side are two interactive icons, the all-important Mode button which provides access to the optimized scene settings, along with intelligent auto, program, sweep panorama, anti motion blur, hand-held twilight, plus shooting video. The movie mode has its very own underwater shooting mode and the choice of of 1280x720 (Fine or Standard) or lower VGA quality clips, plus the ability to change the EV level and curiously self-timer options.

The Sweep Panorama mode lets you capture a panoramic image very easily without the use of a tripod. All you need to decide is whether you would like to start from left or right, top or bottom. Then press and hold down the shutter release while doing a "sweep" with the camera in hand. Exposure compensation is available before you start the sweep, but the exposure is fixed once you depress the shutter button. After you are done with the sweeping, the camera does all the processing required, and presents you with a finished panoramic image. The catch is that it's of relatively low resolution: the shorter side is invariably 1080 pixels, whereas the longer side is 4912 pixels for a 'standard' panorama, and 7152 pixels for a 'wide' one. Note also that if you do the sweeping too slowly, or you let go of the shutter release button too early, the panorama will be truncated.

There are two more shooting modes that are new to the Sony T-series - Hand-held Twilight and Anti Motion Blur. In both of these modes, the camera takes six shots in a rapid sequence, typically at a high sensitivity setting and a (relatively) fast shutter speed, and then combines them into a single image that has somewhat less noise than a single shot taken at the same ISO and exposure settings. In my experience, the difference between the two modes is that in Anti Motion Blur mode, the camera is more willing to pick a really high ISO setting like ISO 1600 to maintain a fast shutter speed, whereas in Hand-held Twilight mode, it will only go as high as absolutely necessary to avoid camera shake at the chosen focal length. If light levels are truly low, however, the TX1 will pick a high ISO speed even in this mode.

Front	Battery Compartment

Pressing the drive mode icon brings up a number of options, including single shot, high-, mid- and low-speed continuous options. Out of these, the high-speed continuous mode is the most remarkable. The TX1 takes up to 10 full-resolution photos at a frankly astounding 10 frames per second, which is faster than most compact cameras and indeed most DSLRs too. The only fly in the ointment is that once the burst is completed, it takes over fifteen seconds for the camera to clear the buffer, during which you cannot take another picture. In the other two continuous shooting modes, the Sony TX1 also takes up to 10 pictures, but at slower speeds of 5 or 2 frames per second.

The default 'normal' display, as described above, can be changed to an image-only option by simply holding down dragging the left-hand icon bar off the screen (or via the more mundane Shooting Display Settings menu option), which as it sounds turns off all the toolbars and buttons (apart from the display itself). The touch-screen interface can also be used to set the focus point by simply "pointing" at the subject that you want to focus on - very intuitive, although it doesn't cover the entire frame. Gridlines can also be added to the display to aid composition, but sadly there's no histogram either during shooting or playback, which is a rather serious omission on a camera that is focusing so much on delivering better quality images.

Staying with the rear screen menus and options, switch to playback mode via either the dedicated physical button or onscreen icon, and review options are again presented left and right of screen, running top to bottom. Looking first at the left, users have the ability to dip in and out of created folders of images, view thumbnails, select slideshows and choose transitional effects and accompanying music, or delete duff shots. Also useful is the ability to be able to zoom in and scroll around an image to check focus and exposure simply by tapping and flicking the screen. Press the shutter button halfway or hit the onscreen camera icon at any point and the user is helpfully catapulted back into capture mode. And that's basically it. With a press of the Menu button in playback, users have access to a few in-camera retouching effects, including the ability to crop and sharpen an image and apply red-eye correction. 'Painting' onto an image - or more likely scribbling all over it - adding a stamp or a frame is also encouraged.

The bottom of the slender Sony TX1 features the merest of embellishments. There's a standard screw thread for attaching it to a tripod, alongside which is a narrow flap with lockable catch that protects the shared lithium-ion battery and removable media (an optional Memory Stick Duo or Pro variety with a hardly worth it 11MB internal memory to fall back on). Sony claims the battery is good for up to 250 shots or 125 minutes of video from a single charge, which isn't particularly long-lasting, so if you're looking at this as a possible travel companion you'll definitely want to take its charger and possibly a spare battery with you.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 10 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 4Mb.

The Sony CyberShot DSC-TX1 produced images of very good quality during the review period. This camera handled noise very well, not becoming obvious until the relatively slow speed of ISO 800 and then becoming progressively worse at the fastest settings of ISO 1600 and 3200 - still, not bad for such a small image sensor.

Chromatic aberrations were virtually non-existent, with just some limited purple fringing effects appearing in high contrast situations. The 10 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpen setting and require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, as you can't change the in-camera sharpening level.

Macro performance is a stand-out highlight, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject, although there is a lot of lens distortion and shadowing at such a close distance. Talking of distortion, this is clearly evident in the form of barrel distortion at the 35mm wide-angle focal length. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate overall exposure.

Anti-shake works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The only real fly in the ointment is the disappointing maximum shutter speed of 2 seconds, which doesn't allow the camera to capture enough light for most after-dark situations.

Noise

There are 6 ISO settings available on the Sony CyberShot DSC-TX1. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.

ISO 125 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Sony CyberShot DSC-TX1's 4x zoom lens offers a fairly versatile focal range, as illustrated by these examples:

35mm	140mm

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft and ideally benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can't change the in-camera sharpening level.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Sony CyberShot DSC-TX1 handled chromatic aberrations excellently during the review, with very limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations, as shown in the example below.

Example 1 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Sony CyberShot DSC-TX1 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 1cm away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot	100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Sony CyberShot DSC-TX1 are Auto, Forced Flash, Slow Syncro, No Flash, with a Red-eye Reduction option in the Main menu. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Suppressed Flash - Wide Angle (35mm)	Forced Flash - Wide Angle (35mm)
Suppressed Flash - Telephoto (140mm)	Forced Flash - Telephoto (140mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Forced Flash setting or the Red-Eye Correction option caused any red-eye.

Forced Flash	Forced Flash (100% Crop)
Red-eye Reduction	Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night Shot

The Sony CyberShot DSC-TX1's maximum shutter speed is 2 seconds, which is not good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 2 seconds at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Anti Shake

The Sony CyberShot DSC-TX1 has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)	Anti Shake On (100% Crop)
1/10th / 35mm
1/6th / 140mm

Dynamic Range Optimizer

DRO is Sony's solution for improving shadow detail in photos taken in contrasty light. The selectable settings are Off, Standard [D-R] and Advanced [D-R+]. The examples show the effect of the different settings.

Off	Standard	Advanced

High-speed Continuous Shooting

One of the high points of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 is its ability to shoot a burst at up to 10 frames per second. The following series of 6 photographs was shot at 10fps.

Hand-held Twilight Mode

Another standout feature is the Hand-held Twilight mode, in which the camera takes six high-ISO photos in rapid succession, and combines them into a single image. To test this, we took the same shot twice, once with the feature enabled, and once in Program mode. The Hand-held Twilight photo turned out to have somewhat less noise, but was noticeably softer too (the other new mode, Anti Motion Blur, works in a similar fashion).

Manual Mode	Hand-held Twilight Mode
(100% Crop)	(100% Crop)

Sweep Panorama Mode

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 allows you to take panoramic images very easily, by 'sweeping' with the camera while keeping the shutter release depressed. The camera does all the processing and stitching. The catch is that the resulting image is of fairly low resolution, and moving subjects tend to be replicated. Check out some examples below.

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 camera, which were all taken using the 10 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Lens Cover Open

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Menu

Rear of the Camera / Menu

Rear of the Camera / REC Mode

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 joins the small but growing list of compact cameras that are concentrating on image quality rather than simply increasing the megapixel count, and largely delivers on its promise. But a steep price-tag (particularly in the UK), lack of manual controls and love or hate it touch-screen design ultimately limit its appeal.

Virtually identical in terms of its design to previous T-series cameras, the TX1 feels fairly run-of-the-mill as far as Sony's Cyber-shot range goes, its designers seemingly reluctant to depart from the template laid down by previous successful incarnations. On the upside the TX1 remains one of the more attractive credit card sized cameras out there, and the touchscreen interface is undoubtedly fun and intuitive to use, if not the quickest way to operate a camera. Since basically everything about it is point-and-shoot in nature, as long as you have a good eye it's easy to take a decent photo with the TX1.

This is largely because Sony's new Exmor-R sensor delivers the goods in terms of image quality, with the promise of better low-light performance certainly borne out in practice. Despite having such a small image sensor, the TX1 produces impressive results up to ISO 800, with noise not really becoming apparent until the relatively slow speed of 1600. Colours are accurate, chromatic aberrations virtually non-existent, the Sweep Panorama mode makes capturing panoramic images as effortless as it gets, and the super-fast 10fps burst mode at full resolution is the real icing on the cake. Only noticeable barrel distortion and soft edges at the wide-angle setting of 35mm (which isn't really that wide), a rather limiting fastest shutter speed of 2 seconds, and the occasional appearance of your fingers in the frame due to the extreme position of the lens detract from the otherwise excellent pictures that this camera takes.

We'd expect rather more photographer-friendly features for the eye-watering $380 / £385 asking price, with the TX1 proving too expensive for the beginner whilst not offering enough for the more experienced. The Sony TX1 doesn't quite get the balance right between style and substance, price and features, which is a real shame given the excellent results that it produces. A step in the right direction then, and still worth a look if you want the best point-and-shoot pictures around at any expense.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	3.5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 from around the web.

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