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.

[bradmoss]

Problem is, if the new camera proves to be good, then everybody forgets the SX280 story and all of us who suffered it?

[MarioV]

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@bradmoss wrote:
Problem is, if the new camera proves to be good, then everybody forgets the SX280 story and all of us who suffered it?

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I think it means we learn from our experience and tread very carefully with any subsequent purchase from Canon or from any company with a damaged reputation that CAN produce good products.  No pre-orders, no assumptions, just test it when its in store and if it meets your needs then purchase.  BUT, no hesitation to demand a refund if it falls short.  No messing around. People need to be aware of their rights and exercise them.

The only problem is for those who dont have access to a store.  Then they will have to rely on forums to see if the majority of people are happy with it and judge the user's comments and samples for themselves.

This is probably sound advice with most products really.

[JKS3]

Yeah I agree. Also, if you had an extremely bad experience with the sx280 and what you got as a response from Canon isn't satisfactory, why reward them by buying another Canon? There are so many others out there. Granted, I was lucky not to get a lemon, but I wouldn't ever buy another after returning it had it been a lemon.

[MarioV]

Hi Davy

There is usual a demo model in store.  Test out the camera by bringing your own SD card.

In Australia if you purchase the camera and its battery life is not up to spec, it would be considered a major problem and you can request a refund or replacement.

These constitute a major problem:

• it has a problem that would have stopped someone from buying it if they’d known about it
• it is unsafe
• it is significantly different from the sample or description
• it doesn’t do what the business said it would, or what you asked for and can’t easily be fixed.

You can ask for a replacement or refund.

To answer your question, I wouldnt want a refurb.  I'd go straight for a refund - like I did with the SX280.

[iamgeorge]

@JKS3

Can you please post the manufacture date of your camera or when did you buy this camera.

Thanks.

[Beetle]

I'm on #5, canon has no intention of fixing the problem, just keep sending refurbished ones with the same problem, don't buy canon.  I missed several photo opportunities because of this heap, now it's doing it on stills!!!

[JKS3]

@iamgeorge,
where to find the manufacturer date?
I believe my camera is a China market model. It is not supported by Canon Image Gallery (since Facebook, Twitter etc aren't available in China). I use the wifi for transfering photos to phone only. I ordere it from Hong Kong and the language options are Mandarin and English only. It is made in Japan.

Note that like most of the users have shared here, my camera absolutely requires a fully charged battery to get 40-50 minutes of video. If it is less than full, zooming during video will cause it to auto-shutdown. This means that if I were to take a hundred photos during the day, then decide to shoot video, I'd run into the auto shutdown problem. This is why I keep some cheap compatibles with me. Video without zoom goes on normally and can go for a while. I got this camera to complement my mirrorless camera (Olympus). I wouldn't ever buy another Canon, no.

[lvillal]

C A N O N     SX 280   -  S U C K S ! !

dont buy a Canon camera.

dont give money to a company that dont care you.

[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....