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.

[scupking]

Dswansonil,

Let me know how you like the ZS30 when you get it. One other thing I liked about the zs19 is wasabi has an external power plug and 2 1200mah batteries for only $26. That way I don't have to use the camera to charge the battery. What would make the pany perfect is if they stayed around 12MP. Other then that they are great!

[pawl]

Wow, you both quickly forgot the neg review of the Panasonic, a couple of pages back:

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.

I'm considering getting it, like you both, but I'm not thinking it'll be the perfect camera.

[scupking]

Pawl,

I read the review a few pages back before I bought the camera. I have also read lots of reviews and video reviews on the zs20 (same as the zs19 but with GPS) and ZS30. I have no issues with the auto focus on my ZS19 at full 20x or even at 40x digital. I took many great pictures of the moon last night with not one being out of focus... Also the video performance is much better then the sx280.

[dswansonil]

Pawl, thanks for reminding me of that review.  I'm still struggling with making a decision even to the point of considering a camcorder to handle my video needs.  What bothers me there is that while the cameras seem to take decent videos, the  reviews knock their still picture and low light capabilities unless you get into big $$$.

I liked the 280 except for the video battery life and the big unknown of when it would actually shut down.  I keep hoping to see the ZS30 or the HX50 show up at Best Buy so I could give them a test run without the hassle of dealing with shipping to return it.

[pawl]

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@dswansonil wrote:

Pawl, thanks for reminding me of that review.

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Worth taking with a grain of salt, as well, since it's just one poster's experience, and I'm not finding comparable comments. I don't need gps, but with twice the light sensitivity of the ZS20, the ZS30 would be my choice of the two, for sure.

[scupking]

I just did some more low light testing and outside testing at full 20x with my zs19. Again I had no issues in focusing. Granted the person that said they had an issue was using a zs30 and I have the zs19. Though I have not seen any other reviews complaining about focus issues with the zs30. I had the sx280 for a month and think the zs19 actually focuses faster then the sx280 did. I will go to an airport and take some more pictures tomorrow..

[Redom]

Updated my SX270's firmare to 1.0.2.0 yesterday - still no improvement in battery indicator. Hope this would be eventually fixed This is the only issue I have with this camera, but it's rather critical I guess (for a device with 1080p/60fps)

[dswansonil]

scupking,

I saw a video on youtube that said that some Panny cameras see purple/violet as blue because the uv filter on the sensor cuts off too much of the red range.  Have you tried to shoot anything purple with your ZS19?

[scupking]

Dswansonil,

I took the camera to a concert tonight and it performed very well, with many great shots at 20x and lots of video. Battery only went down by one bar and no auto focus issues. As far as purple coming out blue. Not the case, there was a girl on stage talking before the concert that had a purple dress on and it came out purple as it should.

[flyingski]

I guess I'm a Canon fanboy because I've had about 15 of their still and video cameras over the past 20 years.  I've had several Powershots and have used an SX230 while traveling, skiing, biking or when the T2i and a bag of lens was not convenient to carry. The video footage from the little SX230 mixed very nicely with the DSLR and HV30 camcorders. The stills were excellent.  It saw some rough duty and the lens picked up some chips and the sensor developed a spot.  I was looking forward to the SX280 as a replacement but can't live with the battery issue, so I opted for a ZS30.  It's a mixed bag. The controls, layout, menus and handling are OK and it's just a question of getting used to them.  The SX flash never really bothered me but the ZS30 is obviously better in that area.  My only concern with the ZS30 is the image quality.  I compared it to the wounded 230 and my daughter's new SX260 and at 100% the stills have noticeably less resolution, just like some of the online reviewers have noted.  The stills will be alright for snap shots and facebook but you aren't going to win any contests with the Panny.   As to the video quality I'm very impressed with the 1080-60p resolution and the battery life is excellent.  However the video looks exactly like... video.  It just doesn't have the richness and film-like quality of Canon video.  Some of this may be due to the different recording codecs or the sensors or the lens but IMHO the ZS30 is a poor second place finisher to the SX260 in both stills and video.  I think in the end it's a tradeoff between the ZS30 image quality and the SX280 battery issue.  Maybe I'll just use my daughter's 260 and hope Canon gets their act together.