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.

[UnionStation]

Allow me to translate Naomi's note from corporatese into English: "Canon has your money, and your complaints don't really count. Think of the flashing red light as your friend. But if you insist on complaining, feel free to pack up your brand new camera, send it to us (on your dime), and we'll get to it when we get to it. And by that, we mean we'll just send it back to you and say you're imagining things."

Mcasale16 - you say you had good results communicating with a Canon Customer Service Rep, but note that took you "awhile" - and recommend other users might get results from emailing Tweeting, and Facebooking.

I had bad experiences communicating with two customer service reps and a supervisor who all told me there was no problem back in late April/early May. And you know what else they told me? Send your brand new camera to us so we can "fix" it. Those who did reported back on the results - which were mixed, at best.  For anyone thinking about keeping this camera and hoping for a fix - or thinking about buying one - read Naomi's words carefully.

Canon seems to consider this matter resolved.

[eazycanon]

Hi UnuonStation, I hear what you're saying but in the UK we are pretty well protected against this kind of failure which is why no company in the UK would make a formal statement such as the one in this forum. It's probably why Canon UK doesn't provide its users with a forum. I've had a Sony hx9v for a number of years and I can shoot hours of video with a single battery. Anyway I intend to pass on the story to through UK press and so if they run with it.

[UnionStation]

If I've learned one thing over the 50-some pages of this thread, it's that this camera seems to have problems more serious than a firmware update can fix. It seems the sx280 is over-featured and underpowered by a tiny battery. This should have been caught in the testing phase - and should have been addressed when customers started complaining here and elsewhere. Glad to hear the UK has forms of redress. I'm guessing that sooner or later, someone here in the states will file a class action lawsuit and that Canon will be forced to send $10 checks or free batteries to those who kept the camera. That won't compensate for the hassle, or the lost memories when your camera runs out of juice without warning.

[Bluestar48]

Videophan: Ok, when you zoom in completely, the TZ40  has difficulty to focus indoor.  It will take pictures which are out of focus. If I use the iA mode, chance of good focus is better but still it struggles at the maximum zoom.  I tried P and A mode, it was really bad, there were more out of focus shots that I have ever seen and the aperture with A mode was set to the widest. It will nail focus when you zoom out using wide angle but when you zoom in to the telephoto end, it is terrible.  Also, I find that quite stupid that you have to charge the battery in camera.  So if you have 2 batteries all charged, when one is flat and you want to charge it while using your camera with the second one, you can’t do it. So I have returned it today, no regrets. The SX280 is way better all the way except the battery issue. I have the SX220HS which is very good at focusing with both stills and video and the battery lasts very well, that’s why I upgraded to the SX280, but I could not live with that major battery problem.  I think I will wait when Canon brings the next model after the SX280 and then I will give it a try.

[Clochard]

I have noticed vastly different video recording performances with different batteries: the Canon original battery performs best: at least several minutes at full resolutions with repeated zooming in and out without the flashing low battery indicator (I haven’t yet tried how far it will go); a 750 mAh replacement battery goes for about 2 minutes before the red light with a tendency to improve with every re-charging; a no-name cheap replacement rated at 1200 mAh shows the flashing red sign after a few seconds and 1 zoom. All batteries were fully charged in the Canon charger and I have the latest firmware installed. All batteries were back to "fully charged" (3 bars) after turning the camera off and on again and I was able to continue to shoot stills with zooming.

I wonder: has anybody compared different batteries and noticed substantial differences? I suspect that not the total capacity is that important but rather a combination of voltage and current output.

[UnionStation]

A couple of users have reported better results with the Wasabi BTR-NB6L-JWP (1300mah vs. 1000mah for the original Canon NB-6L). Amazon has a two pack of those with a car/wall combo charger for $25 with shipping. Even though your no-name replacement is rated at 1200mah, there's obviously no guarantee with these aftermarket batteries are pumping out that the kind of power the sx280 needs.

[clrdogrl]

How do I update the firmware?

I just assumed I put the zip file on a memory card saved from my computer and then insert that memory card into the camera.  But I can't find the tools or settings on the camera to enable that.

Help!

[dswansonil]

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@clrdogrl wrote:

How do I update the firmware?

I just assumed I put the zip file on a memory card saved from my computer and then insert that memory card into the camera.  But I can't find the tools or settings on the camera to enable that.

Help!

---

There's some instructions on this thread about 7 to 10 days ago.  There's a trick related to how you turn the camera on to get the right menu but I don't remember the details as I returned my 280 prior to that.

[Bluestar48]

UnionStation wrote: "The mistake we've been making, as Naomi points out, is actually using the camera - trying to shoot video, zooming and the like."

Well my SX220HS has no problem doing video recording and zooming during does not trigger that silly Flat battery warning. I used it last year during my Canada holiday, and I had only one battery with me. I had flat battery only once after overusing it, and I was using it primarily for video recording as I have my Nikon DSLR for stills.

The SX220HS can also shoot Full HD 1920 x 1080 but 30fps compared to 60fps with the SX280, but users have experienced the same battery warning with the SX280 at 30fps. The difference in zooms is only 6x, so my thinking is the SX280 has more problem hardware wise and a firware will never be able to fix, that's why Canon seems to say to SX280 users: "Get over it"

[mcasale16]

Cirdogrl, after you download the firmware and open the folder- the PDF directions are in the folder.