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.

[AndresLa]

If Canon Tech Support said that "on the serial#, if the 6th digit from the left(7th from the right) is a 2, 1, or 0, it is a FAULTY PRODUCT" Canon must to change all the machines sold with these serial numbers. ¿Dont you think so?, however Canon don´t recognizes it oficially, because the fault includes all the actual series of SX280 and SX270, and future series ...

[LSousa]

Yes you are right but Canon don't care about their costumers...  CANON IS NOT A GOOD BRAND... G

o eat the money of another person but not me anymore.... 

[miltk]

i get the sarcasm, dswan, you all wreek of it...i don't mind LOL. but if i have a chance to get a 280 at $149, it's worth the inquiry. that's why i'm asking. i'm going to call support again and ask about whether the non=0,1,2 cameras are the same only updated or a different lineup.

OR maybe you guys just like taking 30 minute vids! i don't and i won't. in that respect my needs are different than everyone else's as i am PRIMARILY buying the slo-mo functionality that only takes 30sec chunks anyway.

[dswansonil]

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@miltk wrote:

i get the sarcasm, dswan, you all wreek of it...i don't mind LOL. but if i have a chance to get a 280 at $149, it's worth the inquiry. that's why i'm asking. i'm going to call support again and ask about whether the non=0,1,2 cameras are the same only updated or a different lineup.

OR maybe you guys just like taking 30 minute vids! i don't and i won't. in that respect my needs are different than everyone else's as i am PRIMARILY buying the slo-mo functionality that only takes 30sec chunks anyway.

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miltk.  At $149, if you're only really interested in stills and not video, it might not be a bad deal.  I'm soured on Canon for the way they dealt with this issue but my main complaint was based on my plan to use the camera extensively for full 1080p video.  30 minutes per battery might be ok but not if you never know when the battery was actually about to run out of juice.  I was coming from an Canon S5 IS which ran off AA batteries and could go for hours using the lithium ones.

A couple other issues that also troubled me was the poor placement of the pop up flash and the washout of the lcd display in bright light.

[AndresLa]

The slow motion of the SX280 has two modes, one of 120 fps, 30 seconds filming and another 240 fps, filming 2 minutes. I've tried both ways and the camera consumes even more battery than in 1080p videos ...

[miltk]

andres, yes in particular the 30sec mode which has a high resolution. i believe that is the mode when i tried someone else's s100 and i got exactly what i needed - it was great. the slo mo is critical for me and i only need 30sec chunks. i never needed 30 minute hd capability

i always assumed that slo-mo eats up battery, but just so long as i don't face the indicator problem, i'm fine with it.

[dxb]

Hi Gents/Ladies, 

Sorry if this post is a bit long, but just found this forum and thought I would chime in....I bought the sx280 about a week ago, but I didn't see all these bad reviews until now.

Anyhow, after reading the dramas others have had with the battery issue, I thought I would do some battery testing, as I mostly take stills and rarely shoot movies, so didnt notice there was a battery problem. 

My experience so far has not been too bad... but as background info, I live in Australia and the camera I bought was made in Japan. The 6th number from the left in the serial is a 3, so its supposed to already have the latest firmware, according to the notice.

As for my experience with the battery (before I read this stuff and really tested it), after I brought the camera home, the first thing I did was charge it.  It took probably less than 90mins for the charger light to turn green and then I put the battery in the camera and started taking some test pics. The photos looked good (although there are some very annoying things about the auto-focus which I won't go into), but I hadnt tried the video mode until after about 50 shots and quite a bit of playing around in the menus and reviewing pics over a couple of days..

Anyway, before trying the video mode (after the 50 shots and a couple of days or so) the battery still indicated full bars. HOWEVER, after putting it in video mode, within 2mins, probably less, I got the flashing battery warning. As a lot of others experienced, after I turned it off, switched back to auto and powered on again, it then indicated full battery. I went back to video mode and tried to see how long it would last but it was dead within 2 mins...

OK, so that was the first charge. The second charge, within 15mins of the charger light going green, I put the battery in and went straight to video mode.  I recorded for a straight 12mins, including some full zooming.  All was fine and I stopped recording at 12mins, then powered off. I waited 10mins, powered back up, took 7 still photos (no flash) then went back to video and recorded for a further 8 mins (zooming in an out several times). That was fine too, no battery warning. I switched off for a couple of hours thus time and then turned back on (battery indicated 2 bars) then tried video again, but battery warning started flashing within 30secs. I kept recording though (while also extending the zoom several times again) and it lasted until I manually stopped it at the 5 min mark. Its been powered off for the last hour, and I just switched it back on again... in auto mode it says battery is full and in video mode (not recording) it also says full.

So in total so far, immediately after a full charge, I have recorded 25mins of video and taken about 7 stills.  The battery warning did not start flashing until the start of the 3rd segment of filming (which was after I had already recorded for a total of 20min).

Im curious how much longer it will go for, so I will try again in a little while and let you all know how long this "full" battery lasts for.

Oh, its the standard Canon battery.

Will update later.

[LSousa]

If Canon sells a product with 30 minutes of video recording that function must to be there even if i don't use that function (but I also need that)...  Canon sheets the people that gives money to they....  Don't be stupid.... 

[dxb]

Just a follow up for the SX280 battery test I started earlier:  

So far I've been able to record a total of 25mins of video (in increments of 12mins, 8mins and 5mins) all using the zoom, although the battery warning came up ~30secs after the start of that last 5min segment. It let me carry on recording for the full 5mins though and then I manually turned it off.

3hrs later I switched it back on (in auto mode) and the battery bar indicates full again?  I pressed the red movie record button below the mode dial, and the low battery icon started flashing immediately.  I kept recording though (without zooming this time) for another 5mins and then manually stopped. The battery warning was still flashing before I turned it off.  I powered it back up immediately (still in auto mode) and the battery is saying full again.

So I am now up to 30mins of recording time and still going. I guess I got a good copy.

Just on a side note though, I watched quite a few unboxing vids on youtube (both British and North American) and I noticed that the cameras they unpacked all had a little tag attached to where the wrist strap go, plus a circular WiFi sticker on the front of the camera, adjacent to the bottom of the lens.  Mine didnt have either of these when I took it out of the box so I wonder if mine is a refurbished copy?

None the less, it appears that this copy is operating according to the specs so I wonder how much longer I can go with video or how many more shots it will let me take.

I'll keep testing.

[bradmoss]

Mine came without those too, don't know if it is indication of anything...