The Little HD Shoot-out: Canon TX1 and Sanyo VPC-HD2by David KenderPublished on Jun 28, 2007 9:26 AM
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Handling
The Canon TX1 (Specs, Recent News, $399.99) looks like R2-D2’s little cousin. It’s a solid little silver brick with more class than the plastic-clad Sanyo VPC-HD2 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $585.36). Measuring a modest 42.6mm x 104.4mm x 31.4mm (1.68in. x 4.11in. x 1.24in.), the TX1 is just as portable as a digital still camera, and that it is—just one that happens to shoot HD video as well. The TX1 tips the scale at a mere 180g (6.35oz.) and you can easily fit it in a digital camera case. It’s great to have HD in your pocket—but at what cost?
The TX1 is a challenge to hold, no matter how small your hands are—you’re basically gripping a dense rectangular box with a lens barrel sticking out of the front. While the VPC-HD2 is bigger, it’s easier to grasp due largely in part to its pistol grip design. In order to properly clasp the TX1 without entirely obscuring its field of view, your hand must make sacrifices. The index finger belongs on top, resting above the still image capture button. The middle and ring fingers must be stacked horizontally beneath the lens barrel while the pinky is edged off, floundering underneath the TX1. The thumb rests conveniently atop the joystick located in back. Some will enjoy the ergonomics of the TX1, others will get an early case of arthritis. All in all, it’s not the most preferable way to hold a camcorder.
The good news is that the TX1 has a rear-mounted joystick accompanied by a trusty menu button sidekick. This enables instant, one-handed shooting. The TX1’s joystick is far superior to the VPC-HD2’s failed, wobbly mess, despite the fact that it’s about half the size. It’s responsive, stable, and won’t take you five attempts to select a menu option. The joystick also offers immediate control over ISO, flash, shot, and picture settings. Canon’s circular mode dial decimates the VPC-HD2’s scattered jumble of rear-mounted controls, allowing you to swiftly shift between playback, auto, manual, and scene modes. We’d have to hand it to the VPC-HD2 for its zoom, though—it’s quicker to respond, and offers more speeds. The TX1’s zoom is a bit rigid and slow to draw—or, more appropriately, it’s a digital camera zoom. It also generates a significantly louder whirring noise, and is likely to get picked up by the built-in microphone.
Speaking of which, the TX1’s built-in stereo microphone is located in a bit of a tight spot—on the outside of the LCD screen. The VPC-HD2 shares the same problem, yet its LCD screen is big enough to work around. The main issue we have with LCD-mounted microphones is that it’s too easy to muffle them. Two-handed shooters will undoubtedly lay a finger over the mic with their left hand. One thing to take into serious consideration with the TX1 is that you must shoot with one hand—unless you grip the perimeters of the LCD screen. But what do you expect? This thing is by far the tiniest HD camcorder we’ve seen all year. It’s bound to require a revamped style of handling.
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One of the most rewarding characteristics of the TX1 is turning it on. The burly metal lens shield slides down before the rugged lens barrel shoots out, all within a second. Those who forget to manually cover a lens or flip that dusty switch will be in for a treat. The only thing you have to remember to do is turn off the TX1. As a bonus, you get to see the same hot mechanical action in reverse. However, when the card door is opened, the TX1 powers off briefly. This would make sense if the lens barrel retracted and the TX1 acted like it should when it’s completely powered off, but it doesn’t. The lens barrel remains out while the LCD screen goes blank. When you close the card door, the TX1 powers back on, the lens barrel rapidly moves in and out once, and you’re ready to roll. This odd behavior serves no logical purpose, other than to save battery power while changing an SD card.
What’s even worse is when you open the battery door while the TX1 is on. The camcorder powers off entirely, even after you close the door, with the lens barrel still protruding. What purpose does this serve? Now you have to power on the TX1 again. Steer clear of these doors while shooting. When you flip the LCD screen closed on the VPC-HD2, it powers off automatically, but turns on again when flipped back open. You can also open the card door without the camcorder throwing a hissy fit. This makes more sense.
Another qualm we have with the TX1 is its inability to be plugged into an external power source. You have to rely entirely on the life of the tiny battery. The VPC-HD2 comes equipped with a docking station and pathetic little adapter, yet both accessories are not compatible with a tripod. Both models were designed for the road, not home movies. Canon also stacks the TX1’s A/V, component, and USB terminals along the bottom, so forget monitoring your footage while the camcorder is on a tripod. The bottom line is you’re going to have to make sacrifices for the sake of HD in your pocket.
We’ve already written our litany of handling complaints for the Sanyo VPC-HD2 in the full review. In brief, the joystick is absolutely terrible. Often, you’re required to push it several times until it responds properly. Again, the small size makes for a difficult time in finding the right grip. Our final conclusion was that the VPC-HD2 falls short of every other camcorder on the market in terms of handling.
Winner: The Canon TX1.
Menu
The Canon TX1’s menu takes the VPC-HD2’s menu, drenches it in aircraft fuel, and chucks it into a barn fire. We can’t stress enough how poor Sanyo’s menu is. The TX1’s menu is a mountain of improvement. It’s often more extensive than the VPC-HD2’s, yet you won’t find yourself lost within. Both camcorders have rear-mounted joysticks with neighboring menu buttons, however the TX1’s joystick is far superior to the VPC-HD2’s for its rigidity and accuracy.
Let’s start with the Canon TX1 in manual mode, accessed by shifting the mode dial to the “M” camera setting. You have three options—the quick joystick submenus, the function menu, and the administrative menu. We’ll address the quick menus first. You’ll notice certain labels surrounding the joystick. Shifting up on the joystick cues the ISO settings (auto, hi, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600); down controls the shot settings (single, continuous, continuous AF, 10 second timer, 2 second timer, custom timer); right takes care of the flash settings (auto, on, off); and left is in charge of the macro/infinity auto focus settings. The menus pop up instantly when selected, but if you wait more than three seconds, your current selection is automatically chosen for you, which is not enough time to make a rational decision.
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The Canon TX's function menu |
A portion of the Canon TX1's admin menu |
The Sanyo VPC-HD2 has similar offerings when you tap the joystick in any direction: up for auto focus lock, right for exposure compensation, down for manual focus, and left for accessing the ND filter, shutter, and aperture (if engaged). While the joystick is no joy to operate, having these controls close at hand is more useful in a camcorder than ISO and flash on/off.
In order to access the function menu on the Canon TX1, press the center of the joystick. A vertical row of icons appear at the right, accompanied by a horizontal row of corresponding icons at the bottom. This looks similar to any Canon camcorder user. From the top, you have your shooting modes (manual, super macro, color accent, color swap, switch assist), exposure, white balance (auto, daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, fluorescent H, manual), picture effects (vivid, neutral, sepia, black and white, positive film, lighter skin tone, darker skin tone, vivid blue, vivid green, vivid red, custom color), aspect ratio (4:3, 16:9), shooting mode (SP/LP), and picture quality (superfine, fine, normal). In order to exit the function menu, press the center of the joystick again to bring you back to the home screen.
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The Sanyo VPC-HD2's function menu, page 1 |
The Sanyo VPC-HD2's function menu, page 2 |
There is no way to express our vexation over the VPC-HD2’s function menu other than directing you to its full review. Again, we will describe it in brief here. Most of the controls are located in a two page function menu, poorly ordered and difficult to maneuver within. You always seem to be hitting the wrong control.
The Canon TX1’s administrative menu is accessed by hitting the menu button on the back. Here, you’ll be introduced to a screen with three multi-colored tabs. The first tab, with a camera icon, offers control over face detection, digital zoom, slow synchro, red-eye, self-timer, light metering, auto ISO shift, AF mode, AF-assist beam, review, reverse display, auto category, display overload, IS mode, and set print button. The second tab lets you control mute, volume, audio, LCD brightness, power saving, time zone, date/time, clock display, format, file numbering, create folder, auto rotate, distance units, lens retract, language, video system (NTSC/PAL), print method, and reset settings. The third tab controls theme, start-up image, start-up sound, operation sound, self-timer sound, and shutter sound settings. Since the lists are so extensive, it would be a royal pain to scroll all the way up to access the tab section to switch menus, but you can skip that process by simply toggling the zoom lever up or down. Doing so immediately orients you within the tabs. Thanks, Canon! Again, check out the VPC-HD2’s review for our thoughts on its ailing menu.
The Canon also offer a number of Program AE, or Scene, modes, accessed by twisting the mode dial to “SCN,” then entering the function menu. Scene modes include: portrait, night snapshot, indoor, foliage, snow, beach, and aquarium. It’s a good thing the TX1 has an aquarium setting. Every five years when we go to the aquarium, we gripe and grumble about our camcorders not having an aquarium setting. Hooray! The rest of the function menu is identical to manual mode (minus white balance and MyColors), along with the administrative menu and quick joystick submenus.
When the mode dial is flicked into auto mode, the only available controls in the function menu are aspect ratio, shooting mode, and quality. All of the quick joystick submenus are pruned down significantly, yet the administrative menu remains the same.
Winner: Canon absolutely takes the prize here.
LCD and Viewfinder
The TX1’s only monitor is a 1.8” 115k resolution LCD screen. The LCD runs vertically along the left side of the camcorder and can be flipped out to a 90 degree angle from the body. The LCD screen rotates a full 270 degrees and does a moderate job of resisting solarization. This is by far the smallest LCD screen we’ve seen all year, but then again, this is the smallest camcorder we’ve seen all year. Based on the Sanyo VPC-HD2’s size, it is only natural that it has a larger LCD screen—but not by much.
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Canon TX1 |
Sanyo VPC-HD2 |
The VPC-HD2 has the benefit of a 2.2” 211K LCD screen, which is easier to hold, thanks to the leftover plastic from the oversized LCD panel. Since both camcorders mount their built-in microphones on the outside of the LCD panels, it makes life easier to grip a larger one. Therefore, the TX1 was not designed with two-handed shooters in mind—the ability to muffle audio with a single finger is highly plausible. This is also a fragile little screen—take caution during transport.
Winner: Sanyo VPC-HD2
Battery Life
The Canon TX1 was tested for its battery life (with great patience, given the 3-5 minutes per card capacity) with the LCD open and the image stabilization set to Continuous. In all, the ___ battery lasted for 76 minutes and 10 seconds (1 hour, 16 minutes, and 10 second).
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The Sanyo lasted 85 minutes evenly (1 hour and 15 minutes). It, too, had the LCD open and the image stabilization on during testing.
Winner: Sanyo VPC-HD2