SX280 - battery life shooting video

[factoryguy]

UPDATED May 5:

I apologize to the forum for mixing two different problems.  They are unrelated.

Problem #1:  User error.  I thought I was using a class 6 SD card but I was wrong. The yellow "!" indicates a pathologically slow card.  Upgrading to a class 10 resolved this problem.

Problem #2: UNRESOLVED.  Red battery indicator comes on prematurely.  On a fresh charge, it'll turn red after recording for a couple of minutes.  On a partially drained battery, it turns red immediately upon entering movie mode or pressing the record button.  Turn the camera off and then right back on in "still" mode and it shows full charge and works fine ... until trying to shoot video.  I have not precisely measured recording times but it'll record for at least 20 (maybe 30?) minutes while flashing red.

[yoron]

Naah, what is interesting here is that some folks try their hardest to produce 119 pages of whining. If it was so that one had bought this camera, hated it because one lost the ability to constantly know your battery's life length, as this, and making '20 GB' one hour movies in 60 bps was ones expectation of it? And then when you tried to exchange it furthermore got rudely refused?

Sure, I would feel for you, even if I didn't agree with your expectations.

But that doesn't seem to be the problem here. Most of the folks being disappointed seem to have solved it, one way or another? And as I look to what I want, not what others want, that battery-meter problem may be solved through some later fix, or it may not? Doesn't really matter, I want this camera anyway. I'm having a lot of fun with it, battery meter or not. And it does produce videos, although I definitely will avoid 60 bps movies myself. Both for the battery not being dimensioned for it, creating too much heat for my taste, as well as for the file size growing all too big, too fast, even for a 32 Gb SD card.

Otherwise?

I like it.

==

That 'unpredictability' you refer to hasn't showed up yet, and as the number on this one is '2', then according to the thread I should update it. But as long as I find it predictable in its behavior I decided to wait. Would it be so that it started to die, while photographing, I definitely would reconsider though.

But as it is it seems to 'die' only when the battery gets exhausted, making videos, and as it tries too hard to please the processors and zooms demands. When I took those movies I made sure to constantly move the zoom, as that seemed to be a major problem. Doubt I ever will zoom that much filming a event. And please, stop assuming that because I enjoy, and so are prepared to defend, this camera I also must be some 'Canon affiliate'.

It embarrasses us both, and makes me grouchy.

[Bluestar48]

Yoron wrote: "But that doesn't seem to be the problem here. Most of the folks being disappointed seem to have solved it"

 Really? Look  if you want that camera badly, no argument from me, but coming here to say that " Most of the folks being disappointed seem to have solved it"  it's kind of saying the world is flat.

Yoron wrote: "one way or another? And as I look to what I want, not what others want, that battery-meter problem may be solved through some later fix, or it may not"

Sorry mate, this is delusionnal thinking, Canon has already forgotten that lemon, they have moved on, you are the only one who seems unable to move on.  Anyway good luck. 

[yoron]

Don't agree Mr Blue. I came to see if there was more people like me that enjoyed this camera, and I still think there are. But as this primarily seem to be a thread about being abandoned by Canon, I guess they move to other places. As for telling me that those buying one, finding it worthless for their purposes, not having that matter solved is a surprise? I know I could solve it if I ever get the kinds of problems that would make me consider such a move. Anyway, it doesn't really matter, as I'm happy with it anyway.

As for me caring for that meter? Did you really read me there? I stated that I didn't care, any which way, solving it or not. And that really tickles some the wrong way, doesn't it? Everything I've used it for has worked, I agree that the battery is not good enough for its capabilities, but there are other third party batteries out there. And as I didn't buy it as a camcorder, but as a camera with the possibility of taking a video in HD I'm quite satisfied.

==

Another thing?

You state that 'Canon has already moved along', This camera came out last year, so what you're suggesting is to me then the equivalence to a new OS getting discontinued one year after its introduction. Now, if this is how Canon treat customers I would be annoyed too. Not because i deem this battery-meter to be all important for the cameras functions, just because of the principle of taking responsibility for ones products. Although, I would then show it by not buying their products.

[dswansonil]

"This camera came out last year, so what you're suggesting is to me then the equivalence to a new OS getting discontinued one year after its introduction"

A very poor comparison.  The world of point and shoot digital cameras is very much a one year life cycle as each manufacturer moves to the next generation to one up the competitor.  The emphasis is not longevity but new flashy features.  The SX280 is now heavily discounted (~$200 versus the original $379) and soon will be another relic on Canon's digital camera road map.

[yoron]

Maybe.

But what I'm thinking of is the new processor firstly. Doubt they want to abandon that one.

==

as for it being a relic 🙂

Wow, you make a fast run, don't you?

==

The point being that I can't stop playing with this zoom

It astounds me that you can make a camera 20x optical, that then also will allow you to magnify 60x digital in 'real time'. The processor handling this has my admiration. I keep taking 80x pics of things in my room, freehand, and they come out really good in the camera. I keep zooming in on the stills after I've taken them, and they look acceptable (as zooms naturally) even after that.

I have such a hard time accepting that this little camera can present me this quality constantly, and also in low natural light. And as I'm doing 80 x it has to be the software, and processor, doing its magic, combined with this amazing stabilization. For me it's very close to what I've been waiting for, for you apparently already a 'relic'

🙂 different worlds.

[modene1]

I have this problem also on the 70 model. Given that it's a common issue why not get a bug fix Canon?

[loveAZ]

Because I believe it is a HARDWARE issue and will require a recall. It is not the battery or software.  Thus.  it remains a lemon -  was lucky to return it on time.

[yoron]

I'm not sure there AZ. I think it might be related to the battery in some way, as in heat causing it. Doesn't mean you're wrong though, heat and sensitive hardware should be separated. At least this is what seems to cause the battery issue on my camera, excessive heat built up at the end of the battery's life cycle making it happen. Used to be a common way to test faulty hardware on computers btw, had a friend using a blower for drying you hair testing circuits that way. On the other hand I read about some guys doing the update finding the same problem recurring but now in a different way, which also seem to make it a result of the code used.

I will try out a 13 or 1600 battery for it as soon as I can get one and see if it makes a difference. It's really hard to say what it is, but it seems as hardware and heat for my camera at least.

[dswansonil]

---

@yoron wrote:

I'm not sure there AZ. I think it might be related to the battery in some way, as in heat causing it. Doesn't mean you're wrong though, heat and sensitive hardware should be separated. At least this is what seems to cause the battery issue on my camera, excessive heat built up at the end of the battery's life cycle making it happen. Used to be a common way to test faulty hardware on computers btw, had a friend using a blower for drying you hair testing circuits that way. On the other hand I read about some guys doing the update finding the same problem recurring but now in a different way, which also seem to make it a result of the code used.

I will try out a 13 or 1600 battery for it as soon as I can get one and see if it makes a difference. It's really hard to say what it is, but it seems as hardware and heat for my camera at least.

---

I really hate to stoke your fire but you sure do babble on. 

First, maH ratings on batteries relate to their overall capacity and higher capacity ones have been previously tested in this thread without success for the low battery warning light.

Second, the heating effect is due to how quickly you are discharging the battery, i.e. how much current you are drawing, not the overall capacity of the battery.  It is circumstantial evidence that the system power draw is so great that it drops the battery voltage which triggers the low battery light.

Three,  if it was a simple firmware code fix, Canon would have done it long ago when it upgraded the firmware which slightly changed the trigger point of the low battery light.

Four, harking back to your earlier message on the "OS", which is really the processor, if you look at the specs on the two latest Canon superzoom cameras, the SX520 and SX400, they tout using the Digic 4+ processor not the Digic 6 implying, at least to me, that the Digic 6 in the SX280 may not be all it's cracked up to be.

[yoron]

Yep, noticed that too, as for why they choose it I don't know, could be the processor, could be the new code and programing environment not being bug free, or both. They apparently changed the programming, as well as a lot of other aspects, with this new processor. As for the rest , I wrote 'for my camera' as I can't speak for everyones, also pointing to those guys complaining about the update just rearranging the sequence for this bug to happen. So I don't know, but I do know that for this camera it happens at the end of a shoot, and the time it closed down totally was when I was shooting the 12 minute 60 bps video. And at that time, in the end, the camera was hot enough to make make me wonder about it. As for why it was so hot, well, I was also testing the zoom 🙂 as that has been a standard complaint relating to the video making, and bugs. As I also commented in the tests I made. And don't you worry my man 🙂 I have better things to do than to write here. I'll leave that to you and your peers.