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.

[dazzlerbe]

@ruko:

No, it didn't solve to problem.

The red blinking light is still there.... however somewhat less frequent.

However, imho the problem is still there: with a fully charged battery you can take video's, but after a while the red led start blinking, en the message low battery appears.

Shutting down the camera and switching to photo mode gives a full battery indicator, meaning the blinking red led was a false sign.

So, it's not fixed, however it appears that time between red blinking led is somewhat longer....

Great cam for pictures, but not suitable for (long) videos.....

@ruko wrote:

dazzlerbe

Quote

"After the firmware I did the same tests, and did not see the low battery indicator.... however I did never record longer then 1 minute... it's my wife's cam, it was late, so let her test it ;)"

What were the results of your wife's test? Did the up grade work or not?

Thanks

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d

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[filipb]

So, Canon, when thinking about the next firmware update, please focus not on the premature indication, but on the instability and dual personality (still and movie) of the battery indicator ... or buy us a better battery! 🙂

[RCJ]

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@filipb wrote:

So, Canon, when thinking about the next firmware update, please focus not on the premature indication, but on the instability and dual personality (still and movie) of the battery indicator ... or buy us a better battery! 🙂

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Sorry, but I'm amazed that anyone is surprised by this phenomenon, which is also present in other P/S cameras I have used, and even DSLRs. The fact is, video recording takes significantly more juice than snapshots. The "dual personality" of the meter is probably giving you the actual amount of battery you have left FOR THAT PURPOSE. Would you rather have the meter lie, and give you the time-remaining-for-photos reading instead of the real, time-remaining-for-video reading? I"m not surprised in the least that a battery that's nearing its end for video would still produce a bunch more snapshots. It's simply a lighter draw on the battery.

Anyone expecting to shoot more than about 20 mins of video with this ultra-dinky battery cameras is kidding themselves. (There's a reason the batteries on most camcorders are 3x this size.) Clearly there was a problem with the camera as shipped, ie, dead-batt warning with a fresh battery on first use of video. But I see nothing going on with my camera after the upgrade that I wouldn't expect from this camera. It's not a dual personality. It's a gauge showing you how close to dead your battery is for your current use.

[UnionStation]

Threw in the towel today and sent the second of my two sx280s back from whence it came. 

About 30 pages ago, someone here suggested that Canon overreached and failed on the sx280 - throwing in all the bells and whistles we wanted, even though there's no way that whimpy little battery could deliver on the promise.

This firmware update suggests that either Canon doesn't understand what's causing the problem, or has just done the best it could short-term to fix a serious design flaw. 

[pawl]

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@RCJ wrote:

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@filipb wrote:

So, Canon, when thinking about the next firmware update, please focus not on the premature indication, but on the instability and dual personality (still and movie) of the battery indicator ... or buy us a better battery! 🙂

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The "dual personality" of the meter is probably giving you the actual amount of battery you have left FOR THAT PURPOSE. Would you rather have the meter lie, and give you the time-remaining-for-photos reading instead of the real, time-remaining-for-video reading?

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Your suggestion that we ought to somehow appreciate this [unannounced] split personality meter is amusing.

[smith]

I followed the clear instructions, updated my firmware, and it has resolved the problem. 

I took my camera on the ultimate test run this evening capturing my son's graduation.  I actually took more video than photos, but plenty of both.  I am home now and my battery still shows three bars.  I did not have any low battery light or any performance issues.  I was also quite pleased with it's low light performance (stage was very dim).  I do not like to use my flash- a huge plus with this camera.  The IS was outstanding too.  My big zoom, multi-functional, pocket camera continues to impress me with it's capablities.  I can finally enjoy my new gadget to it's full potential.

Needless to say I am relieved this issue has finally been resolved and I am happy to depart this forum (albeit very useful), especially the countless number of off-topic posts and venting!

Hope you all enjoy whatever camera you settle on!

[videophan]

Gordon Laing reviews about one camera every few weeks at Camera Labs and he specifically singled out this dual personality as problematic. None of us home consumers/prosumers have access to the number and variety of cameras he has to test/review.

Regarding the firmware upgrade and it indicating truly how much battery you have left to take stills and movies,I  have been using the camera off and on today and really have no idea how much battery drain has occurred. I just turned the camera on in video mode and battery level indicator indicated a full battery. I started recording with no low battery warning appearing, recorded for about 20 seconds, and decided to zoom to 3X. The low battery light started flashing. I stopped recording and turned the camera off. I turned the camera back on and in movie mode, full battery indication again. I started recording and tried the zoom again with the low battery indicator coming on. I continued the video this time and zoomed out and then zoomed in again. Video stopped on its own, camera shut down with a "recharge the battery" message. How was I supposed to know, in advance, that I could not zoom during a movie when the battery level indicated a full battery at the start of recording? You can't test this prior to initiating recording because zooming does not bring on the low battery indicator when no video is not being recorded. If this is the way the battery level indicator works, then it is almost useless.

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@RCJ wrote:

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@filipb wrote:

So, Canon, when thinking about the next firmware update, please focus not on the premature indication, but on the instability and dual personality (still and movie) of the battery indicator ... or buy us a better battery! 🙂

---

Sorry, but I'm amazed that anyone is surprised by this phenomenon, which is also present in other P/S cameras I have used, and even DSLRs. The fact is, video recording takes significantly more juice than snapshots. The "dual personality" of the meter is probably giving you the actual amount of battery you have left FOR THAT PURPOSE. Would you rather have the meter lie, and give you the time-remaining-for-photos reading instead of the real, time-remaining-for-video reading? I"m not surprised in the least that a battery that's nearing its end for video would still produce a bunch more snapshots. It's simply a lighter draw on the battery.

Anyone expecting to shoot more than about 20 mins of video with this ultra-dinky battery cameras is kidding themselves. (There's a reason the batteries on most camcorders are 3x this size.) Clearly there was a problem with the camera as shipped, ie, dead-batt warning with a fresh battery on first use of video. But I see nothing going on with my camera after the upgrade that I wouldn't expect from this camera. It's not a dual personality. It's a gauge showing you how close to dead your battery is for your current use.

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[scupking]

RCJ this should last much longer then 20 minutes of video. I never had an issue with my elph 300hs. My crapy old flip video can take 60 minutes of video with just 2 aa batteries. Also my cell phone is smaller then this camera yet has a 3300 MHa battery. This camera needs at least a 2600mha battery.

[RCJ]

I'd rather have a camera with 2AA batteries, as well. Show me one in this class, and I'd buy it. My point was simply that the battery time for video in this class of cameras is generally poor. I agree that for this price, it should be better.

[dswansonil]

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@RCJ wrote:

I'd rather have a camera with 2AA batteries, as well. Show me one in this class, and I'd buy it. My point was simply that the battery time for video in this class of cameras is generally poor. I agree that for this price, it should be better.

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Just as a point of reference as I'm looking at some competing 1080/60p zoom cameras, here's the specs I found:

                            CIPA Shots            Battery Mah            Shots/Mah        Shots/Mah increase

SX280                  210                         1000                        .210                       ------

HX50V                 400                         1240                        .323                       150%

HX300                 310                         1240                        .250                       120%

ZS30                    300                         1250                        .240                       115%

It appears that the 280 is the worst performer re power efficiency of the bunch.  And the others at least try to compensate for the power drain by having a higher battery capacity.