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.

[JKS3]

I use DSTE batteries for my Olympus mirrorless camera. They are quite good in terms of how many photos can be taken, but do seem to lose their charges quite fast so topping up is essentially before a trip.

[MarioV]

Thanks ethanol

200 photos and 8 mins is acceptable to me.  If I was travelling a lot that day, then I'd carry a spare battery and replace it when it starts flashing.

ps. could you please put a fresh battery in the SX700 and see how much 1080p60 video (with zooming) you can take before it starts flashing?

Thanks a lot.

[ethanol]

MarioV - 200 photos and 8 mins is approx. 1/2 the battery. I'll keep shooting and see how far it goes. 

[MarioV]

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@ethanol wrote:

MarioV - 200 photos and 8 mins is approx. 1/2 the battery. I'll keep shooting and see how far it goes. 

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Even better.  Much appreciated.

Your photos are excellent so I'm willing to put up with a small quirk, if there is reasonable and consistent performance.

[Bluestar48]

Mario, What 200 photos and 8 mins is acceptable to you?  If you are travelling a lot that day, then you would carry a spare battery and replace it when it starts flashing, right? This is lame, so each time you want to shoot another 8mins you will have to replace battery, right?

For a recent camera this is terrible. My old SX230HS can shoot and film for days before I need to use any spare battery. I have seen myself a whole day outside on snowy mountains or in outdoor situation, if my battery would last only 8 mins, I don't know how many batteries I would have to pack. Look it is your call Mario if you are prepared to put up with such a lemon, but I among many here cannot accept to fund Canon failure, there are so many cameras out there that do not suffer from such an inherent flaw. Period

[ethanol]

If you read the post or my reply to Mario, 200 shots AND 8 mins of video (plus a fair bit of time reviewing / playing around) and being left with 2/3 battery I don't find bad at all.

According to Canon's own specifications, you should get : 

250 photos

40 mins video

4 hours playback 

so my experience yesterday is in line with if not better than their standard specifications

[MarioV]

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@ethanol wrote:

If you read the post or my reply to Mario, 200 shots AND 8 mins of video (plus a fair bit of time reviewing / playing around) and being left with 2/3 battery I don't find bad at all.

According to Canon's own specifications, you should get : 

250 photos

40 mins video

4 hours playback 

so my experience yesterday is in line with if not better than their standard specifications

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If you can keep shooting/filming down to 1 bar appearing on the (3 bar?) battery meter, then that would be good enough for me. I always swap out a battery as soon as its down to 1 bar anyway as a precaution.

Thanks for all your testing.

[ethanol]

Carried on shooting video / photos today and soon reached the flashing red battery indicator, so probably ended up with 220 photos + 10 mins video + normal use on one charge - in-line with Canon's own claims. 

When it did shut down on video, upon powering back on, it was still flashing red, so seems to shutdown on video when it really is low on battery (unlike the SX 280 used to for me).

Charging up again now and will give it another go.

The battery in the SX700 is the NB-6LH, I did try it with a spare NB-6L that I still had and it seems to work OK, video + zooming, no shutdown / low battery warning (for the cursory checking I did).

[MarioV]

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@ethanol wrote:

Carried on shooting video / photos today and soon reached the flashing red battery indicator, so probably ended up with 220 photos + 10 mins video + normal use on one charge - in-line with Canon's own claims. 

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Thanks.  Thats good enough for me.  Was the battery level a good indicator, eg 1 bar remaining?  Or was it still showing 2/3 battery level before it shut down?

edit: Sorry, I re-read. Red battery indicator = zero battery level.  So how many photos + video  or photos only or video only would you have taken when 1 bar appeared?  (or does it go straight from 2/3 to red?)

Thanks.  Sorry for confusion

[ethanol]

It has 3 levels -

- Full (all 3 bars)

- Half full (2/3 bars)

- Red (1/3 bars)

Once it reached the Red level, it struggled to take any video. Could still shoot a few photos before it died.