Author Topic: Sony TX5, absolutely freakin amazing. (Read 1330 times)

travfar · « **on:** September 08, 2010, 02:22:25 PM »

Today I just couldn't work up the energy to go lens hunting. So I decided to actually open something I've bought. I've had a Sony TX5 sitting unopened and unloved in the closet. I popped it open and just used it. It's absolutely freakin amazing. OK, to you purist out there, it is definitely not your grandpa's camera. It's an imaging device. The first sign of that was when I plugged in a SD card with images from other cameras on it. It popped up a messaging saying that it was importing the images into the internal database. It has a touchscreen. Many people hate the touchscreen over physical buttons. For the mere fact that I can select any point to be the focus point just by tapping on it with my finger, I have to give it the big thumbs up. The things that really blew me away are the shooting modes. I'm going to ignore the sweep panorama for now. It's been well praised. The anti-blur mode does something magical. The Sony takes a series of images and combines them to make a blur free image. I tried to defeat it by shaking the camera as fast as possible while it did this. It still gave me a clean blur free image. The thing that really blew me away is the twilight mode. I went in the bathroom and shut the doors so that there was only slivers of light coming in through the cracks. I could barely see anything. I took a few twilight mode shots. OMG!!!! It looked like I just took a shot with the lights on. I could see clearly, even the texture from the wallpaper. I could easy see things I couldn't see with my own eyes. WOW. All that and it takes pictures underwater.

I've found my new travel camera.

Centauri27 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 08, 2010, 04:20:05 PM »

Sounds cool. I've heard good things about the TX5. You should post some of these images--especially the "shaking the camera as fast as possible" one (which sounds absolutely incredible to me).

Sony must be commended for at least "thinking outside of the box" and trying new ideas. They crank out these new ideas at a furious pace. Some are flops (smile shutter), while others are a great innovation (sweep panorama).

Panther · « **Reply #2 on:** September 08, 2010, 04:37:34 PM »

All those features (minus the touch screen) are also on the NEX series

That being said, great to see you're having much fun!

travfar · « **Reply #3 on:** September 08, 2010, 07:28:29 PM »

Here's my quick and dirty sample shots. All handheld. It was dark. As in I couldn't see anything using the LCDs on the camera. Autofocus was out. So for the E-P1 I focused manually with the lights on and then turn them out for the actual shot. These are the best of the bunch for the E-P1 shots. I only needed to take one with the TX5 in twilight mode. I guess that's the point. I've been running around getting fast lenses for low light shots. I refuse to use the flash. No need now. Twilight is the future.

TX5 twilight

E-P1 ASA 400 well over 1 second exposure

E-P1 ASA 3200 1/6th second exposure

E-P1 ASA 6400 1/10th second exposure

lisandra · « **Reply #4 on:** September 08, 2010, 11:22:27 PM »

Quote from: travfar on September 08, 2010, 07:28:29 PM

Here's my quick and dirty sample shots. All handheld. It was dark. As in I couldn't see anything using the LCDs on the camera. Autofocus was out. So for the E-P1 I focused manually with the lights on and then turn them out for the actual shot. These are the best of the bunch for the E-P1 shots. I only needed to take one with the TX5 in twilight mode. I guess that's the point. I've been running around getting fast lenses for low light shots. I refuse to use the flash. No need now. Twilight is the future.

TX5 twilight

E-P1 ASA 400 well over 1 second exposure

E-P1 ASA 3200 1/6th second exposure

E-P1 ASA 6400 1/10th second exposure

you dont know it yet, but you're about to get shot.

lisandra · « **Reply #5 on:** September 08, 2010, 11:37:31 PM »

For the record, I'm with you on the whole twilight is the future thing. Did you see panther's post with a twilight shot using the nex? I almost died

cosinaphile · « **Reply #6 on:** September 09, 2010, 06:08:58 AM »

how does twilight work?

travfar · « **Reply #7 on:** September 09, 2010, 08:27:03 AM »

It's essentially temporal averaging.

Centauri27 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 09, 2010, 02:30:49 PM »

Nice examples! It's enough to make me a believer. This technology is sort of like a twist on HDR, right?

How about the stabilization where you shook the camera?

mikmas101 · « **Reply #9 on:** September 09, 2010, 04:04:38 PM »

Unnerving - was Harry Potter involved in this miracle in some way?

travfar · « **Reply #10 on:** September 09, 2010, 04:53:43 PM »

Quote from: travfar on September 08, 2010, 02:22:25 PM

Today I just couldn't work up the energy to go lens hunting.

My lens fast is over. I picked up a Cintar M33 50mm and a Helios 44 M42 55mm today. Both came with the requiste useless film bodies. I couldn't pass on the Cintar for $1. No M33 to M4/3 adapters exist so I'll have to build another Cheap-O-Dapter.

Sony TX5, absolutely freakin amazing.