I've only had this camera for a few hours, but I had to rush to give an initial impression. In one word, WOW! For a compact point and shoot, Sony has the market leader. First the photos.... Very good. For a point and shoot camera, I can say that the photo quality is as good as most of my previous canon point and shoot cameras. The photos have good color saturation and clarity and focus, and there is little shutter lag. Now video...... AMAZING. This little camera has as good video quality as my Sony CX-12 AVCHD video camera. The video is sharp, clear and the sound is excellent. The difference is this finally combines a decent camera with excellent video capability. Another great feature is the wide angle lens, it gets the whole shot it without needing to back up. I was unlikely to tote my video camera on every trip, but now I don't have to be concerned about pocketability. The only downside is that because of the small form factor, camera shake can be an issue. The OIS steadyshot is good, but could be better. Also, you cannot make changes to settings while shooting, such as increasing the exposure, you have to stop shooting and then make the change. Overall, those are small prices to pay for such a compact camera that I can take anywhere and play videos on my 55" LCD that are jawdroppingly good.For comparison:
I am currently using a Panasonic ZS3, which had average photos but very good video. To me it can't compete with the Sony. The Sony has better photos and much crisper video (both use AVCHD, although the Panasonic uses AVCHD lite). I recently bought and returned the Canon SD4500IS. I went back and compared photos between the canon and the Sony. Both are close, but the edge goes to canon for clarity (although the Sony does handle white balance better in the auto setting). Where the Canon failed was in the Video: No wide angle lense, and the quality was below that of the Panasonic ZS3, very grainy and fuzzy.
UPDATE
After playing with this camera for about 8 hours I am quite impressed with the image quality from photos and the video remains stellar. In comparing to the Sony WX5 (which I also have at the moment) the video is slightly softer, but the TX9 handles camera shake better, picks up sound more accurately with the mic on the front rather than the top, and does not have zooming noise from the lens moving while shooting video. Taking photos, this thing blows away my Panasonic ZS3: Photos are constantly clear and vivid and the white balance is spot on. Shooting outdoors or in a room with adequate light, the shot to shot times are excellent. The only downside I see to this camera is the shot to shot times when using the flash. It takes at least 3-4 seconds to take another picture with a flash, due to the charge cycle on the flash. It also seems to take the camera a bit longer to process the image after a flash, so that adds time. I will say the photo quality with the flash is astonishingly good. When using the ZS3, it was hit or miss on flash photos (either white balance was off or the photo was overexposed), with the TX9, just about every flash photo looks great. Overall, this is a great camera that takes excellent video and photos. I forgot to mention one great feature is the intelligent auto which picks the scene automatically for each shot, so far every picture I have taken (which is close to 400) has been very accurate with little post processing required.
UPDATE 2
Took the TX9 on a trip to Disney and it performed without flaw. Took close to 700 pictures and a little over an hour of video. Of all of the pictures that were taken, I'd say maybe 2 dozen would have been tossed, the rest turned out very nice with excellent color, sharpness and saturation. The video taken on 17M FH setting are stunning. I have no need for my Sony CX12 video camera anymore since this camera is ultra portable. One reviewer noted a significant fisheye effect because of the wide angle lense. I will say if you look for it you may see a slight effect, but I have not seen it very often.
But the TX7 is very similar, the main 2 differences are 1. that the TX9 has an extra 3D mode which is gimmicky, it looks like crap and so I don't use it and 2. The sensor is 1/2.4 instead of 1/2.3 which translates to virtually no difference in quality (yes there are more pixels). Save yourself the $100 and get the TX7.The TX9 comes with no memory card, but it does accept SDHC cards formatted to FAT32. With the 32GB card it the camera predicts that I can take around 6000 photos in 12M Pixels.
The touchscreen is not bad looking, it is reflective like the Ipod screen which makes image looks clear but at the same time it is also more prone to glare. The touch screen is resistive, not as responsive as the capacitive screen we are used to with the iDevices. This is conform by the fact that it came with a slim plastic dog tag looking contraption with a pointy end. My girlfriend ask what it was, we were puzzled until I went to read the manual... apparently it is a stylus. Only resistive screen can use random plastic object as stylus.
Besides the camera, the package came with a small docking station and a battery charger. This is a nice touch apart from the fact that is doesn't come will all the accessories for the docking station to fully function. It needs a separate AC adapter with Sony's own proprietary plugs which cost no less than $39.99 from Sony's website. Model AC-LS5, I included this, because I personally had a hard time finding this oddball adapter. The docking station has a HDMI and a AV connector, the package only comes with the RCA cable, so again you need to buy your own HDMI cable. I ordered the Amazon Basic ones, since Best Buy loves to insanely overprice these HDMI cable after Circuit City disappeared. With the HDMI cable, the TV out function is very nice. The picture displayed on the screen is amaziningly sharp and clear in 1080i HD and you won't need to bring a computer to show your photos to your friends on HD Television. On the down side you will not be able to recharge your camera on the docking station if you don't buy their AC adapter. Personally I find this really inconvenient. Update: I purchased the adapter, and it does not seem to recharge the camera's battery.
The basic modes of Photo on the Tx9 is Intelligent Auto Adjustment and Superior Auto Adjustment. The Intelligent Auto adjustment is the classic point and click and forget mode, the new superior mode take multiple photos at once then process it to improve picture quality. This does create noticeable clarity, but it needs around 5 second delay after each photo for processing. So this is not so useful if you have impatient friends that wants you to snap quickly.
There are only a few buttoms on the camera, as most of the controls can be done on the touchscreen, the physical buttoms are there for fast access. Photo Mode, Video mode, Shutter, power, zoom and thats it. There are some primitive editing tools on the camera but they seem way too simple to be useful on a small resistive screen. It is more of a gimmick.
There are 2 3D modes, the sweep panorama 3D photo which requires you to have a 3D TV to view and the Sweep multi Angle Mode which appears to changes prespective on the screen when you tilt the camera, similar to a holographic sticker. Since it depends on you to accurately perform the sweeping motion to get good photos, most of the time the 3D photo don't look correct. I also did not find a way to view the Multi Angle Mode photos outside of the camera.
The photos are automatically organized onto a calender very similar to the way Nintendo DS does it. I found this to be a nice feature. The include photo software for the PC was not so useful, it decided to scan all the photo's from my other drives on the computer instead of just the camera, which made a mess of things.
All the previous function are there, iSweep panorama,auto shutter on smiley face, etc, but unlike the TX5, the TX9 is not waterproof. I found it funny that Sony would called their trademark feature "iSweep" panorama. Without knowing the facts, if you have to guess which device the feature "iSweep" came from, Apple or Sony, which would you guess?
All in all the strongest Pro on this camera is the point and click photo quality. It can do 1080 HD movies, but it's not the best of quality, however it is very good for it's compact size (The sound seems to be too loud when recording movies). On the down side, it doesn't include everything you want right out of the box, it only includes what you need, (minus the memory card) and buying Sony proprietary accessories isn't cheap.
Update:
I don't have a 3DTV but I found a zero cost alternative for viewing the 3D pictures on your computer, at least for novelty purpose. Is the use of Nvidia 3d Vision. You just need a blue and red anaglyph glasses (came free with a one of the issues of maxim) and Nvidia 3D translate the photos for you into 3D. Note that at the time of writing, this does yet work the Nvidia release drivers, it only works with the Beta video drivers, which probably would've already been released by the time people read this.
Even if you were going for the more expensive 3d option from Nvidia (with 3D vision kit kit + 120hz monitor) it is still marginally cheaper than buying a 3DTV, plus it has the added option of playing games in 3D. But the main attraction for me was being able to view the 3D photos from the TX9 at almost zero cost, as long as you already have a PC computer with a nvidia gfx card.This camera has turned me into a total geek after just a few days of use. My friends and family are tired of me showing them pictures and talking about my new camera. I am not one to easily fall in love with a product, but I'm in deep lust with the TX9 so far.
The camera functionality is a little confusing at first because there are so many options, but then I came to realize that if I just leave in the automatic it does a great job on its own selecting the best mode for the shot. Plus after just a few minutes of really playing with it, the functionality and features started to become very intuitive and make a lot more sense (e.g. switching from playback to camera to video with just one button).
It's been 5 years since my last digital camera purchase, so perhaps some of the features/results I'm wowed by are now pretty common place, but to me they still are amazing. The most obvious difference from my old camera to my new is the ability to capture action shots. Please look at the shots I uploaded to the product gallery (canon fire and girl jumping into pool) to see how the camera allows you to make good-quality still images from the full 1080 HD video and high-quality images in 'burst' mode. Those two features alone make me happy I bought this camera. I never was able to capture such action before.
The regular photo mode is fool-proof. Just point and click and 90% of the time your image quality is going to be top-notch no matter the lighting or scene. You do have the option to select certain modes like "beach" or "twilight" but I haven't seen a noticeable difference from the automatic mode. There's even and underwater mode which I haven't a clue how that's useful. One problem I had initially is that my finger would sometimes get into frame. It took me a few days to learn to hold the camera different so my finger wouldn't end up in frame.
The camera also touts 3D capabilities, but I have no use for that technology yet. Perhaps it will be practical one day for me, but for now it's just a sorta cool extra that I have no way to view outside the camera. In other words, don't buy it for this feature alone unless you have a clear plan on what you need it for.
Pros:
Full HD video is beautiful and sounds great
Image quality (12.2 MP) consistently delivers vibrant, beautiful photos
Low-light shooting is far, far better than I have experienced from older cameras
Automatic mode is very intelligent
Features are easy to use
Huge display screen (note: I had very little trouble viewing subjects even in bright sunlight)
Size and weight make it easy to tuck into your pocket
Cons:
Battery goes pretty quick (I was able to get a full day of shooting and video on a family trip but had to recharge before uploading images to computer)
File sizes are huge (ballpark 500MB for a 30-second HD video and 4-5MB per image) and will really eat up space on your memory card and your computer. You will probably need a long-range storage plan like an external hard drive or something.
The power cord for the dock costs extra ($40). I chose to buy and extra battery.
Uploading your media to a Mac has been a little confusing so far. I somehow uploaded my photos twice at one time into iPhoto causing a management headache. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it, but it's not as intuitive as my old camera. Video is uploaded to iMovie not iPhoto.
Overall
Despite some minor annoyances and unanticipated extra expenses (cost of high-capacity memory card, extra battery and eventually more computer storage), I am thrilled with this camera. The functionality, results and compactness make this a worthwhile purchase. I will be able to capture many family memories with this for years to come.We currently own a Sony HDR CX12 camcorder. It takes excellent 1080i AVCHD videos as well as good still photos (but only in good lighting). Most of its indoor shots and low light outdoor shots are disapointingly out of focus. After doing some resesarch, I narrowed our choices down to Sony TX9, alpha 55 DSLR, or alpha NEX-5. My primary goal is to have a camera that can take 1080i AVCHD video as well as still photos, particulary in the low light setting. Most of our pictures are of our children and family events.
I decided to buy a TX9 becuase of its low-light picture capability. After using it for about 1 month now, I'm very happy to report that my indoor low light still photos are great and in focus. I have it set on the Superior Auto Adjustment mode most of the time. It takes 6 pictures rapidly (if necessary) and combines them to give you the best result. With this mode on and the flash turned off, pictures in low light settings almost always come out great and in focus. There is some fishbowl effect occassionally, but not noticeable to my eyes. This camera also has a large and bright LCD display which allows you to easily tell if your subject is in focus. There are very few buttons on this camera as most features are activated via its touch screen LCD.
The TX9 also takes excellent 1080i AVCHD videos (but its audio is 2 channel stereo, not 5.1 digital like the CX12). It takes some practice to hold the camera steady for video shots (when compared to a camcorder like CX12) due to its small size. Its video quality is so good that I won't be needing my CX12 any further for home videos. The 4X zoom is more limiting when compared to the 10x zoom I was used to in the CX12 camcorder, but transitioning to 4X zoom was easier than I thought.
I was able to compare the TX9 to my sister-in-law's Sony alpha 55 DSLR; both take great shots; but portability was much more important to me, so I decided to keep the TX9.
I did purchase a seaparte spare battery as others have reported that it does not last as long. A spare battery actually makes sense as this camera cannot charge its battery when it is inside the camera. It requires you to charge the battery outside of the camera via a small wall charger. Overall, I'm ecstatic that I finally found a small portable camera capabile of taking great HD videos as well as great still photos in low light settings. If it wasn't for the zoom, limited to 4x optical, I would have given it a 5 star rating.
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