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.

[smith]

I chose not to obsess over the battery/indicator and put my camera to 'normal usage' test this weekend. I was very satisfied! I took pictures, video (60fps, 30fps, and slow motion), and zoomed a lot. After loading them on my computer I was amazed by the quality. This camera is super 'smart'. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the options and settings. I did have to tap into my spare battery, but performance exceeded my expectations. I guess my experience was very similar to "filipb". Canon undeniably needs to fix the confirmed issue. And since it appears they are working on it, I will be keeping my camera as it is serving it's purpose just fine for me. In fact I'm blown away by this camera's capabilities.

[Davy]

As many have said...... if the battery was the problem... why should it continue to take photo's? OK, it *could* be said that taking movies IS taking photos continually (which it is in effect), but a warning after just one minute or so, no this isn't a battery capacity problem now is it? Do lets put our cards on the table uh... think about what we are saying here -:

Sooo a brand spanking new 700mA/hr battery will give 700mA for one hour after it has received a few discharge/recharging cycles - this is how l-ion and nicads behave, don't take my words look it up, read for yourself!

We are saying you won't get full capacity from a brand spanking new battery OK, that is clear.

Shooting AV that camera is not gonna zap 700mA in one minute or so brand new battery, used or otherwise. ...... it barely last  a few minutes before the warning enabling one to ignore the 'red flag waving'  until the battery finally gives up!  When it does...  no movies, no stills until no power!

Now to me that ain't a battery capacity problem since it camera can be re-powerwed or the warnings ignored and still be used until 'zap' time.

Still, Canon UK are twiddling their fingers while I ponder Panny's TZ40... comparing the TZ40 and the SX280, the TZ 'appears to me a lot more sharper, I dunno.

Canon as let me down big time here.... never ever go or the pre-release hype, how ton Gods Earsth can Canon release a peice of  untested workmanship -  I call it shoddy.

No wonder one UK source is selling them alittle over £200 - Canon returns no doubt!  SX280

Dave

[tzm]

I too have the battery issue. However, after reading posts I followed others and fully charged and discharged a battery a few times. Then I did a test.

I was able to record for 25 minutes without one shut down. Indicator was blinking but it recorded fine. Then took some photos before battery gave out.

Yes, Canon should be ashamed of themselves for releasing such an obvious bug. But the camera is otherwise a great value and performer for the money. I can easily wait for a firmware update to address this issue.

[filipb]

Hi all,

No doubt there is still an indicator (and auto-shutdown) problem.

Just saying that recharging a few times seems to ameliorate the problem.

That's on the objective side - on the subjective side: just shoot normally and don't be over conscious with the battery; it seems to help too! 😉

Regards,

Filip.

[UnionStation]

What puzzles me is that some of us are seeing different results - some cameras shut down, some keep on shooting (usually with a toggle of the on-off switch) and some claim they've seen no problem whatsoever. My uneducated engineering guess is that maybe different control figurations cause faster perceived battery drain by the camera - or maybe actual battery drain.  But if you read this thread and other reports on the internet, it almost seems that different cameras are behaving differently.

For MarioV - no need to apologize. We're all on the same side here. By working together, I hope we call can put pressure on Canon to answer up or fix this problem sooner rather than later. And I really hope that Canon will take this sad episode to heart and think twice before releasing a camera before it's been properly tested.

[plfeist]

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@smith wrote:
I chose not to obsess over the battery/indicator and put my camera to 'normal usage' test this weekend. I was very satisfied! I took pictures, video (60fps, 30fps, and slow motion), and zoomed a lot. After loading them on my computer I was amazed by the quality. This camera is super 'smart'. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the options and settings. I did have to tap into my spare battery, but performance exceeded my expectations. I guess my experience was very similar to "filipb". Canon undeniably needs to fix the confirmed issue. And since it appears they are working on it, I will be keeping my camera as it is serving it's purpose just fine for me. In fact I'm blown away by this camera's capabilities.

---

I agree with smith. I have spent several hours reading through the pdf-manual (and writing up a set of notes) for this camera, and it has more functions than I will ever need. "Wink" to take a photo? Registering faces? I can't imagine I'll ever use those features, but they are there, and impressive. I've been taking the camera on hikes and playing with the GPS and shooting stills and the battery is fine. I just stay away from videos, as that is not what I got the camera for anyway. For me, it's just a travel camera because I don't want to lug my dSLR overseas this time. I chose this camera for the zoom and the small size. (And I bought two extra batteries.)

In fact, my complaints with the camera are leaning from the flashing red battery issue to how difficult it is to turn the dial (the one around func. set) without accidentally clicking on the up/down/left/right arrows. And my fingers are small! Also, I often accidentally press the movie button. I set the flash to "off" to prevent it popping up. But what else can manufacturers do when they are trying to stuff so many functions into such a small package?

[dswansonil]

"But what else can manufacturers do when they are trying to stuff so many functions into such a small package?"

Maybe Canon should build a slightly bigger camera to accommodate the ergonomics of the user's finger with a bigger sensor and a bigger battery for those of use that recognize that we don't need Winking, GPS, WiFi, miniature mode, etc. but rather better basic photographic and video functionality.

[cannonball]

My SX280 always flashes the low-battery indiciator while shooting video, even with a fully-charged battery.

Mine also exhibits another problem:

I can connect the camera to my computer (Mac) via Wi-Fi, which is verified by the automatic launching of the CameraWindow software on the computer. However, as soon as I attempt to do anything in the CameraWindow application (such as download photos from the camera), the camera disconnects from Wi-Fi, which results in the CameraWindow app reporting that:

"The camera has been disconnected. The software will now close."

(For the record, I have no problem d/l-ing via USB cable, in that case CameraWindow works ok.) 

Has anyone else seen this problem? 

Is anyone successfully using Wi-Fi to download photos from their SX280 to their computer?

[pawl]

I've not had that problem. (Macbook Pro, OSX 10.7.5)

[RCJ]

I have used mine to download a few, just to see if it works, and it seemed to work OK. (I have had a couple wifi functions fail and give the same message, but worked on a second try.) Given the significant speed difference I normally just pop the card in a reader to download.