Where would you take your TX1?
Hey folks, I am going to be on holidays for the next couple of weeks, TX1 firmly in hand whilst I travel around Switzerland and Italy. We've got a pretty full itinerary, taking in Zermatt and the Matterhorn in Switzerland, then a trip on the world's slowest express train, the Glacier Express through the Alps across to St. Moritz. We have booked into the first class panoramic coaches so I am hoping for some pretty stunning scenery. After that we head south into Italy for a few days at Lake Como, then further down into Tuscany, Florence and finally up to Venice. If I can't manage a few keepers in the photo and video department then I ought to send the lot back for a refund!
I intend on posting from the road, but we'll have to see how accessible the Internet is in some of the places, and I don't know whether I really want to be sitting at an Internet cafe tapping out technology related stories when there are so many other relaxing things I could be doing - and more importantly, looking at.
I'm taking my cameras (EOS 400D, TX1), an iPod with Video and an E65 Nokia smartphone (for Gmail of course), but my mum who's over from Australia is outdoing me by packing her iBook, so you never know how many posts I might get in on the road!
Speaking of trips and vacations, if you had your pick of places, where would you want to pack your TX1 and head off to right now? And what other gadgets would you pack in your bags?
13 comments:
I am about to travel to Peru for 2 weeks. Taking the TX1 with a Hyperdrive Space 160GB and a few 8GB SDHC cards. Also taking a Canon 350D.
Wow, this is crazy!
Reading the comment just left (about 350D + TX1) I am honestly shocked at how perfect this very small "community" fits my profile!
My girlfriend purchased a miniDV camera for me for my birthday for a trip we are going to be taking next year this time (backpacking around western/eastern europe for 3+ months). I decided (very quickly) that 1. I needed something smaller and 2. Although I'll also be bringing my 350D + 17-50 Tameron, having something that fits in my pocket to quickly whip out would be nice. My last tour of europe (backpacked around right out of highschool 4 years go) I brought a S230 (canon elph series). This time around I'm thinking the TX1 would be the PERFECT companion.
Which is why I want to thank you so much for your time/thoguth when making this here blog. It's been the resource I've always wanted! I want to buy the camera but it's a lot of money for me so I want to make sure that I know exactly what I'm getting.
You mentioned that you have a 400D, as a person I'm assuming who is somewhat interested in photography, can you tell me your feelings when you consider the image quality of the two (TX1 vs 400D). I realize this sounds stupid, and I realize that the 400D is leaps and bounds better (for many reasons) in the image quality department, but your personal feelings - if you were to be on the Glacier Express (which thanks to you I'm gonna consider doing on my trip) and you took a photo with the TX1, do you think it 'd make your heart weep, wishing you'd have taken the photo with the 400D instead?
By the way, off topic but I'd be really interested to hear how the Glacier Express is. I've always wanted to take a beautiful scenic train ride (perhaps through Russia) complete with reasonably priced dining cars, couchettes for sleeping, that type of thing. The glacier express seems beautiful, if not the multi-day adventure I would hope for. I'd love to hear your impressions!
I bought the TX1 for my honeymoon in Italy. We'll be going to the Amalfi Coast as well as Lake Como. I'll be taking a lot of batteries, though. I just used the TX1 for the last few days, and the thing ate batteries like crazy when shooting video! It's insane! I have four batteries and I'm thinking about getting more!
Has anyone had experiences with Canon vs non-Canon batteries?
Also, I want to add that the 8GB Kingston SDHC (c6) card works like a charm. I have two of them and have had no problems.
Hi guys. Well you may not believe this but i am actually sitting on the glacier express right now taking in the breathtaking sights of the alps.
We are 3 days into the trip and are having a great time travelling on all the alpine railways. So far we have gone from Geneva to Visp on a conventional train and then swapped to the open windowed Matterhorn Gotthard Railway for the leg to Zermatt. That was completely brilliant because you could literally hang out the window shooting stills and then swap to video in mere moments. I got some excellent shots and footage.
The TX1 performed very well but i have to say i did get a memory card error at one point which gave of a mild panic. Upon review that night there were a few corrupted files on the card but nothing serious as i was grabbing only 5-10 seconds at a time. Still these ongoing flash card issues are a concern and i hope Canon issue a firmware upgrade soon to address this otherwise it could cruel the reputation of the camera.
As for the picture quality it is great. I always favour the 400D for stills but the TX1 holds its own as a happy snapper. In fact the 10x zoom has allowed of to get a few close up photos i would not have otherwise got.
Anyway thats it for now. The view is just too stunning to miss. I will come back to these questions and thread of discussion when i have some more time.
Cheers for now. Matt
That is pretty funny. Seems like everyone likes the TX1 as a companion to their DSLR. I too will be going to Europe (cruise, then Italy) in a few weeks, taking my TX1 with 20D. Just got the TX1 a few days ago.
Thank you for your experiences ALL...i will be in paris (my hometown) in 10 days from now...i bought 2 extra batteries and i have three 8 Gb C6 card from kingston.
so when i pick up my TX1 upon arrival in france, i be sure to have incredible pix and videos of the city of light !!!
i have 2 questions though.
matt, in video mode, does a battery hold a full 8 gb card since it seems that's the type of card u have ?
also matt tavani, the memory card error occured on what type of card.
and lastly, which program did u use, or would u use to edit those heavy MJPEG videos...movie maker 2 is suffering with those type of files !!
thank you all.
Just got back from 2.5 week vacation to Switzerland/Italy/Austria with the TX1
Took a lot of pictures during the day using a set of replacement non-canon 1000mAh batteries, with a spare always in the pocket. Battery usually lasted a day around 100 superfine large pictures with tons of starts/stops and a few small <1 minute movies.
Felt great having something small in pocket and could pull out for quick videos/shots at a moments notice.
If you plan to take a lot of movies, I would have at least 2 spare 1000mAh batteries with you so you could swap out.
Kevin, for me, the 400D is worlds apart from the TX1 for stills, but this is based on a couple of things - changeable lenses and RAW format.
I have a very wide angle lens (16-35mm) and a 28-135mm zoom that I use on my 400D and I love them both. The 39mm wide setting on the TX1 really hurts when you can access 16mm.
And I now shoot RAW exclusively on the DSLR because of the almost infinite tweaking you can do in post.
All of that said though, when your shooting off some HD footage, it's emminently convenient to hit the shutter on the TX1 and get a still without switching to the SLR. As a point and shooter, I think the TX1 is absolutely great.
Kevin, one more thing, I must mention that the manual settings on the TX1 are just not up to par as compared to an SLR, so that's also a big factor for me now, as I am used to having full control over aperture, shutter, ISO, white balance etc, and combinations of all of those.
Matt, I have one genuine and one non-genuine battery for the TX1. Whilst I favour the genuine one, I can't say I've noticed that it lasts any longer. I've used non-genuine batteries bought off eBay for years, and have never had a problem.
Where would I take my TX1,....almost anywhere. I just finally got mine a few days ago and the first official trip will be to Jackson, WY for a wagon tour of the National Elk Preserve. I suppose I could actually carry a larger camcorder but I won't. The quality I've seen on these HD videos is wonderful.
I'll always have this one with me for the grandkids games and other events.
This is a wonderful camera in every way I know to judge a camera.
Hi.
I bought a TX-1 in Kyoto and have been shooting photos all over Japan. Just found your blog, pictures and videos on my own blog are all from a TX-1 starting January 20.
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