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.

[iamgeorge]

@bkoldys

Thanks for the post on the SX700. I suspect the digic6 and or the motor are power hogs and this is why you see the low battery indication when in video mode. IMHO, 40 minutes of video on a pocket cam is not bad if you get decent pictures and movies. Buy a couple of after market batteries for $15 and you are good for a whole day of shooting.

Can you please check to see if the camera is continuously focusing in video mode even when you are not recording.

btw, how is the video quality in 60fps - this is one of the reasons I want this camera 🙂

I had the SX40 which we took on a 3 week trip and I do remember shooting at least 15-20 minutes of video & ~150 pictures everyday.  The battery would be down to 1 bar or flashing by the end of the day.

I have the SX50 now and I have taken a single 20 minute video with some zooming and the battery level was still showing full. I use a Vivitar 1200mah aftermarket battery.

Both the SX40 and SX50 have the digic5. If the problem is in the digic6 processor, then they must have fixed it on the SX700 and from JKS3's experience, I wonder if they released an updated version of 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.

[ethanol]

I managed to get an early SX700. It arrived today (a few weeks before it is generally available I think).

Some photos of the unboxing

Quite a few sample images

After a full charge, I took the camera out for a spin today. Wanting to confirm whether the camera suffered from the same battery problems as the SX280. It was well suited to a family trip we had planned to Dreamworld.

I took around 200 photos and about 8 mins of videos. Battery is still showing as 2/3 full and initially had no red battery warnings when using video / zoom. Later in the day, the flashing red battery symbol started to flash, but I never had a shutdown from lack of battery and as mentioned its still showing as 2/3 full. Zoom at 30x (tiger, Koala,..) shows some usable results.

I also took a few videos - all at FHD 60p :

Rollercoaster

Dodgems

Tigers

Big Drop

Log Flume

Apart from a High speed video which bumps the framerate up to 240fps iit drops the resolution to 320x240 :

Slow Motion

[UnionStation]

In other words, Canon has produced another generation of camera that has a battery meter you can't trust. Flashing red light means "battery low" - not "battery still maybe 2/3 full but proceed at your own risk - maybe you'll get some shots, maybe you won't." We now have reports from 2/2 testers that suggest the meter in the sx700 is giving false low-battery warnings. Despite how great this camera (or the sx280) may be, what good is it if you don't know whether you'll be able to more pictures or just have the camera shut off and die when you need it most?