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.

[dmw]

Same problem here, with an SX280HS purchased Nov-2013, with firmware 1.0.2 already installed. After full charge, In still-photo mode, it shows a full battery and takes pictures, but if you switch to movie mode and just use the zoom once, it shows the red flashing empty battery and then shuts down with a "Charge battery" message briefly displayed. Clearly the power consumption in that mode is triggering a low-voltage sensor even when the full battery has plenty of energy left in it.

Canon, fix this. I am in Hong Kong. Will someone in the USA please launch a class action law suit? After 92 pages of complaints on this thread, this is obviously not an isolated problem.

[UnionStation]

Look at the top of page 92 and you'll see that the MODERATOR edited a post by astorki. Yes, folks, Canon, has been monitoring these complaints all along - and is well aware that its loyal customers are complaining. They've just plain don't care.

[astorki]

Welcome to the club.

[astorki]

Dear friend for now you can use it this small trick but is not complete solution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDsy5E7bh2Y

[UnionStation]

The COMPLETE solution is returning the camera and buying one that actually works. That worked for me!

[Davy]

Geesh, just been reading on Amazon, there's loads n' loads sending em' back, some complaining of flash not working. It makes folks on here lacking!

Gotta stay away from this lot, how can you trust them with any new product now... looks like the S100 another one,  a 'lens sticker' this one.

Bet there's a load of proud people at Canons HQ in Ōta, Tokyo, TKY, Japan, probably 'desk banging'.

Dave

[UnionStation]

Interesting point, Davy. Don't want to seem to criticize other cultures, but the Japanese sense of pride and honor seems to make saying "sorry, we screwed up and our product sucks" a very, very hard thing to do. Remember when Toyotas were literally speeding up on their own and killing people, and how slow the people at Toyota HQ were to admit the obvious problem actually existed? Maybe the same thing is at work here. My guess is that the sx280 is quietly phased out and the people at Canon hope we all forget how we were treated.

[HR]

It's not just Canon.

Other manufacturers have sometimes also problems with a specific camera.

Look at Nikons D600 and the oil/dust problem.

And there it is a pricy 2000€ camera and not only a 250€ camera.

[Davy]

Didn't Nikon honor their warranty? At least they fixed it... I could be wrong of course.

To be honest, we can't blame Canon USA, Canon UK or Canon anywhere it's Canon themselves the problem, they must not have put these through the 'washer' before release.

Today, it's all about beating your rivals that alone isn't any excuses for almighty blunders - this must be costing the company dear, I did start to count and make a pie chart on Amazon - I give up!

Wasn't there the Dell lappys that caught fire thanks to 'you know who' batteries.

Anyone can accept being sent a 'dodgy' device no matter what it is we can accept that but things like this on a calamitous scale where the company is not doing anything about it under warranty ought to be criminal.

Have they put a warning on the box recently? This camera will film moving videos for 25 seconds or whatever  PLEASE DO NOT USE ZOOM WHILST FILMING, "NO".

 Why not remove the movie feature altogther..... because the camera woudn't sell, can you use it at a wedding - I doub't it  could be relied on.

This isn't a one off it's on a widespread scale all over the globe - the product is at fault and Canons ignoring it and letting people buy it.  Its not fit for purpose and completely a deceivement on Canons side.

And Canon expects us to trust them on their new products...... like hell!

Dave

[UnionStation]

One of the posters in this forum said he doubted our word - and God knows how many others on Amazon and elsewhere on the net complaining about this camera. He reasoned that "professional" reviewers would've been all over this problem - if it really existed. He said he trusted in Canon to take care of him. And Canon's counting on people believing that there's no way a company that big and respected would put out a substandard camera, deny there's a problem, and then just ignore the ongoing complaints. But what would happen if Canon ADMITTED there was a problem and recalled all of them? It would be bad publicity for Canon - and a bad business precedent. Better to let people who haven't seen how bad this camera is to think we're a bunch of whiny cranks. I was a loyal Canon customer for years - and now I'm doing everything I can to warn everyone I know to take their business to a company that stands behind its products.