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.

[ruko]

I wonder how many thousands the firmware update has worked for? There are a great number of people, like me, that usually don't bother to post  when something works. They only post when it doesn't work. The Canon fix worked for me and more than likely it worked for many many others too.

[jimrac]

Hi Ruko,

I have been monitoring this forum and Amazon waiting for folks to say this problem has been corrected, so it is reassuring to hear about your experience.

I am curious, are you using Canon batteries?

Thanks,

Jim

[ruko]

Yes, I'm using a Canon battery.

[UnionStation]

Fascinating how every time someone posts something here about the problem not being fixed and Canon ignoring our feedback, one or a couple of users chime in with several messages that aren't exactly on topic - attacking other users or asking for advice on batteries for a camera that's supposedly working as designed. Check the Amazon reviews carefully and you'll see that many people are complaining that the problem was made a little better by the firmware but not fixed altogether. Many of the users who are satisfied the problem has addressed by Canon admit that they don't shoot much video. The topic of this thread is about battery life when shooting video, which is problematic with this camera even after the firmware upgrade. Canon has played users for chumps with this camera, and, thankfully, many here have responded by returning their SX280s. Do you really want to spend your hard-earned cash on a camera that doesn't work as promised from a company that doesn't care about your satisfaction?

[ruko]

UnionStation

Understand I'm certainly not attacking you but may I suggest with the utmost respect,  you should  get some rest.

[LSousa]

I'm also a new user that comes from other trademarks thinking, that Canon is a fine company after that after so many bad experience with that shut up people,  I have my opinion Canon is being with my money,  have sold me a article that doesn't corresponding to the device on the "paper" at least the minimum that Canon can do is stop selling that camera or delete the video properties out of their publicity.... 

[Limmie]

jimrac:

Unless there are actually different production models of 280 out there that respond differently to the upgrade then I think the effectiveness of the upgrade is one of user perspective.  The initial problem was indeed one where you shot a few minutes of video and the camera powered down completely, though clearly it wasn't out of battery.  I suspect a complete shutdown was unacceptable to anybody.  The firmware upgrade cured this extreme behavior. However, if you shoot video other than just infrequently (and I would only do so for a few minutes out of every couple of hundred photos) there are still issues.  I found that after using the camera enough so the battery was not fully charged but still had a fair amount of charge on it, the camera would flash low battery in video mode but would not (as before) shut down completely.  I would powercycle and the camera would say I had a full battery! So which was it, almost dead or full charge?  I could continue to use the camera for quite a while longer (10 minutes of video plus 100+ photos), but when shooting video I would have to live with the warning light flashing and not knowing if this time it really meant it and would shut down in a second or two or not for another 5 minutes.  I couldn't even turn the camera to still mode to reset the power indicator, I would have to powercycle completely which in itself would drain the battery even more.

Does this make the camera unusable? No.  If used primarily for stills the power level indicator is okay, and even if used for just one or two videos when the battery is fresh.   On the other hand the camera is unreliable if you are shooting video of timing critical events (a wedding, somebody skiing down a hill, etc.) unless you keep a fully charged battery in it all the time (carry a pocket full of them and swap them out every 10 minutes).  Fortunately when I took it for a test run I was mostly shooting landscapes in national parks. I carried two spare batteries for a day of shooting. There's no recharge points in the wilderness so you do want to carefully monitor and maximize your battery life and not just change when the one in the camera still has hundreds of shots on it just because the video mode can't reliably tell you how much battery is left. If it suddenly gave out while I was filming a panorama I could put in a new battery and re-shoot.  It was a nuisance but it worked because I had static subjects (though the family got impatient when they couldn't see why I was shooting a panorama again that I had just apparently shot).  Still, I decided I was probably eventually going to do more than shoot scenes that would stay put for me while I installed a new battery. I bought the 280 because I wanted a more video-capable camera so I could shoot family event video.  It wasn't reliable enough to do that, and had several other features I didn't like, so I returned the camera.  If all I had been wanting to do was shoot stills then I would probably have put up with it (but it was lousy for panoramas with no panorama mode) and hardly noticed the battery level issue

[UnionStation]

Limmie, you are absolutely right that this is an issue of user perspective - and thanks for your take on the shortfalls of the firmware upgrade. While some users are happy shooting only stills, many want to shoot some video as well. As you point out, the firmware upgrade cured the premature shutoff, but didn't fix the blinking battery warning - which leaves the user completely clueless as to how much time is left. You eloquently point out this camera's downfall:

" ... when shooting video I would have to live with the warning light flashing and not knowing if this time it really meant it and would shut down in a second or two or not for another 5 minutes. ... the camera is unreliable if you are shooting video of timing critical events (a wedding, somebody skiing down a hill, etc.) unless you keep a fully charged battery in it all the time (carry a pocket full of them and swap them out every 10 minutes)."

For a lot of users, that's unacceptable. So is Canon's response to this debacle.

[dswansonil]

I watch these conversations pop up in this form every month or so and they go around in the same circles.  Limmie sums it up nicely in his extended message that it's a user perception issue based on how important the video capability of the camera is.

I'm a long time Canon user going back to the 35mm film days with the AE1 Program.  I wanted to replace my S5 IS which had moderate zoom (12x) and a huge battery life (4AA's) which was great for shooting high school sports video which was my primary usage.  (I have a 40d with a variety of lenses for still shots.) 

I gave it a try but with its flashing red light uncertainty and limited battery life, like Limmie, the 280 wasn't going to work for me even with a pocket full of spare batteries.  My alternate, the Panasonic FZ200, was a bit pricer but with a much better battery, a much faster lens and a functional battery level indicator, it's a much better option for me for video (and the occasional still shot.) 

[Bluestar48]

Up to now, I have not met a single person who has bought this camera and who has not been plagued with that horrible battery issue. Any device that you buy, it must do what it says it is meant to do, if it doesn't it is a manufacturer flaw and it would be silly to pay and keep that kind of lemon.