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.

[karamgh]

Dswansonil, i guess that you are very confused about what choose i can tell you by 100% do not buy the sx280 , today i shipped it back to its ebay seller it has a bug that as far as i know no firmware will fix, so dont take yourself into this situation , i recommed you to buy Canon sx50, or sx270 if you want a moddle that close to sx280 but not sx280 itself , and if you would buy a camera that not from Canon i recommend , panasonic tz30 or sony hx50 or maybe nikon 9500, if i would chose one from those it would be the sx50 that i mentiond before and i will buy it soon, and about the guy i am sure hes talking about the sx280, choose wisely according to your need.

[Davy]

The SX270 is extactly the same as the SX280... except no GPS n'  WI-FI.

They may well be different firmware, certainly pay more attention to this if you don't want to suffer the problems that others have suffered, was'nt the SX270 mentioned earlier on the matter?

I'm pretty sure they both suffer the same fate.

Dave

[filipb]

Yes, the 270 and 280 are identical wrt battery issues - was confirmed (more than once I think) here ...

[karamgh]

Dave:

I really dont know if the sx270 suffers the same issues, for this point i hear no one mentioned a battery indicator problems or a short life battery using video, but maybe your right and i dont this the gps+wifi would drain that much power in short time its all about the long zoom or and i am almost sure about that its an error in the industry line.

as i mentioned before Panasonic and Sony has great cameras in sx280/sx270 level and price so going for one of them would be Less risky, and for Canon sx50 if you can pay more.

[bkoldys]

Adorama had a special running in Ebay for the Nikon D3100 with 18-55 VR lens refurb for 299.00. Now it not nearly as portable but I was having to carry enough batteries with me to build my own Chevy Volt!!

[Limmie]

I just returned from a 2 week Utah National Parks+Grand Canyon vacation where I shot 17 GB of media.  I shot about 150-300 photos per day with 20-30 videos (rarely zoomed) that were each mostly 10s, maximum 30s, duration.  Firmware is upgraded.

I had a brand new battery as well as an identical one that came with another Canon I bought a few years ago.  Normally about mid-morning and after only a couple of very short videos (perhaps 4 minutes total) and 100 stills, during a video shoot the battery warning would start flashing.  If I switched back to stills mode it would continue to flash.  If I power cycled the camera the level indicator would say it had a full charge.  I could continue to use the camera until mid-afternoon when I would get a battery warning even with stills, maybe up to a shutdown, and I would swap batteries.  To me this strongly suggests the battery indicator issue isn't 100% fixed, not if I have to power cycle (which itself uses power) to get a truer indication of power available which may be over a hundred shots past when I first get the warning.

What saved me on this camping vacation was being able to charge both batteries every night from the car battery.  That said, the battery life seems to be pretty much as advertised, but only if you don't mind living with the false warning until you power cycle, and you have a spare battery and patient subject when the end abruptly comes.

On a general level there's many things I like about the camera (love that 20x!) but probably just enough I don't that I may return it tomorrow when my 30 day trial period (really only tested during the vacation) is up.  I was buying an upgrade to last me another couple of years and I am not sure I want to live with these glitches for that long.  I'd say 95% of my photos are taken on vacations which won't happen again for another 6 months or so and I can live without this camera until a hopefully better model comes out.  No camera's perfect but at this price level I have the be picky since I can't afford to buy new ones every model release.

If I knew Canon was working on this issue I would keep the camera, but I have 24 hours in which to return it so I am likely ot play it safe, sorry Canon.

Some things that also annoyed me were:

- I never got used to the flash popping up under my left finger (and of course then telling me I had to power cycle to reset the camera). I kept it off permanently in those modes where I could do it, but if course then missing a few snap shots where I needed it instantly.

- You cannot permanently disable flash in night scene mode.  If I am using this mode it is likely to be of a scenes where flash isn't helpful anyway so why not make it so you can turn it off and have it stay off through a power cycle?

- I really, really, really want a panoramic mode.  PhotoStich isn't the same.

- Even after two weeks of heavy camera use I would still often accidentally press the video button when turning the mode dial, of course then sending the camera into a tizzy of battery level warning.

- I never use hybrid auto, but I do cycle between P, live, and auto modes a lot.  Stick the hybrid mode down near the video mode on the dial.

- I forget in which mode I was surprised to find the camera was still on after 10 minutes, but there isn't a universal power down completely timer.

- The Eco mode is clever but the duration is really short and cannot be configured so I turned it off.

I am thinking about the Sony WS300.  It's auto only (+ mode settings, similar to simpler Canons) but I found I never really used the 3 manual modes (M, Av, Tv) on the 280.  Photo quality isn't quite as good at the extremes and I do not like cameras where you have to charge the battery in the camera, tying up the camera (unless you pay a ridiculous price for the external charger).  I may just wait until my next vacation and go back to my 1300is until then.

[bkoldys]

The WX300 is fine. You can get a Wasabi external charger and two batteries for around 19.00. The manual modes were nice but what good is a camera if it has such battery issues. I sold mine and got the WX300. Its very small, which is a strong and a weak point. But the battery will run forever compared to the sx280hs. Its wifi mode if you work through it is much better than Canons, ie the Canon uses an existing WiFi connection to transfer photos, the Sony camera creates its own wifi connection which allows you to transfer the images to your phone or computer anytime or place, not needing an external wifi connectinon. The WX300 actually becomes the wifi connection.

[Limmie]

A hard decision but I ended up returning the 280 yesterday.  No camera's perfect and I am willing to put up with some things, but my list just added up.  I decided if it wasn't giving me the warm fuzzies inside (though I liked many things about it) then I shouldn't hold onto it.  I suspect a firmware release could address most of them (except physical placement of the flash and the movie button) but I am not willing to bet on any others appearing.  I could always buy the camera again if a release appears, and the price will likely keep dropping.

I looked at a WX300 while in the store and it's a possibility, though I hesitate to buy something for the same price as the 280 that most ratings say doesn't produce the same image quality as the 280 (and I do a lot of photos under the extremes, e.g., low light).  I also saw a Panasonic ZS19 in a big box retailer.  It's a slightly older model but at slightly under $200 (sale) vs. current price of the 280 I wouldn't feel I have to keep it for the next 5 years.  Again, not the same camera (but got good reviews in its day), but also not the same price. No GPS or wireless (vs. ZS20) but I had the 280's GPS turned off most of the time because it wouldn't work in a car, and for power saving.  I don't need/use wireless.  Both Sony and Panasonic suffer from needing to recharge the battery in the camera, but it seems you can get pretty inexpensive third party chargers and spare batteries.  Of course I would also have a more reliable estimation of remaining battery life.

[VijayC]

I have seen in the forum that almost everyone that used the upgrade, has met with little if any success.

My question is for people who bought the camera that did not need the firmware upgrade (serial number more than 2 in the sixth digit from left). Did they also have this battery issue or is it limited to the earlier models? I was just wondering if Canon did some hardware changes in the later models to resolve this issue.

I ha

[dim]

Good question! I would be interested in me. I would ask if someone removed the defect in service canon.