Canon Powershot Sx280 12.1mp Digital Camera With 20x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom With 3-Inch Lcd (
Canon PowerShot SX280 12.1MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3-Inch LCD (Black) (OLD MODEL)
- Make sure this fits by entering your model number.
- Built-in Wi-Fi technology allows you to wirelessly transfer your images to social networking sites through CANON iMAGE GATEWAY
- Upload virtually anywhere on your iOS or Android device with free download of the Canon Camera Window app
- Capture breathtaking 1080p full HD video capture at 60fps
- 12.1 megapixel, 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor and Canon DIGIC 6 image processor for improved low-light performance up to ISO 6400 and enhanced image quality
- Powerful 20x optical zoom and 25mm wide-angle lens with Optical Image Stabilizer
Brand : Canon
Category : Electronics,Camera & Photo,Digital Cameras,Point & Shoot Digital Cameras
Rating : 4
Review Count : 925
Canon PowerShot SX280 12.1MP Digital Camera with 20x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3-Inch LCD (Black) (OLD MODEL)
- Like many other reviewers, I knew this camera might have major issues before purchasing it, and I bought it anyway. I have a Nikon D3100 DSLR that I absolutely love, and a Canon SX20IS that I always carry along in my backpack for those instances when there\'s no time to change lenses to catch that perfect shot of something too close/far away.I love both of these cameras, but there are times I shrug off the thought of bringing either one of them because they\'re just too clunky. Sometimes all you care about is capturing those perfect family moments. Other times you feel like you\'re missing out on LIVING those perfect family moments because you\'re lugging around your own weight in gear.Last month my husband and I went to a museum, a dog park, and an arboretum, and all three times I left the camera bag at home (gasp!). It was freeeeeeeing! But it was also painful, because people without cameras use cell phones to take pictures. Acccck.We\'re expecting our first baby in five months, so I know the decision between Capturing Moments and Living Moments is going to get even more difficult. I bought this camera to compromise. I wanted something small enough to fit in my pocket but that would still take decent photos. Other features I cared about (in order or priority) were zoom, the ability to take short (5 minute) videos, manual options, and RAW capabilities.I narrowed my choices to the Canon SX280 and the Fugifilm F7770EXR. Both have 20x zoom and manual settings, and they\'re about the same size. The Canon has a bigger shutter speed range on both sides of the spectrum (1/3200 to 15 seconds vs 1/2000 to 8 seconds), better video options (60fps vs 30fps), and better image stabilization (lens vs. sensor shift). However, the Canon does NOT shoot RAW photos and the sensor is a tiny bit smaller.Ultimately I turned to reviews and decided that IF I could get the firmware to fix the battery issue on the Canon, this camera would be a better choice. It seems like the Fugi has a lot more complaints regarding video quality, and even though shooting RAW is important to me, it\'s one of those features that\'s probably best left to my DSLR anyway.So I bought the camera, checked the serial number, and verified that I needed the update to fix the battery issue. You can check the serial number by looking on the bottom of the camera, and if the 6th digit from the left is 2, 1, or 0, you need the update!The update and instructions can be found here:[...]A couple of tips about updating the firmware:*It\'s suggested that you have a 32MB SSD card. This card does NOT come with the camera! You\'ll need one anyway to take pictures.*You will also need a computer that can read and write to your SSD card, or an external adapter that plugs into your computer.*Formatting your SSD card is different than simply erasing everything on it. The instructions explain how to format; this step is super important!*After formatting the SSD card and copying over the new firmware, I waited almost an hour before popping the battery and the SSD card back in the camera. This was because I was charging the battery to 100% (per instructions), but others have mentioned a \"20-minute rule.\"Before the firmware update, the red low-battery icon would start flashing immediately after hitting the video record button, and the camera would turn itself completely off after about 15 seconds.After the firmware update, I was able to take the following videos on a single battery charge:One 1:30 (one minute, 30 second) video with extensive zooming in and out (this was just a quick test to see if the firmware update had worked at all, which it obviously had!).One 26:00 video. During this time I didn\'t use the zoom at all. The red low-battery icon light started flashing at 23:00, giving me a full three-minute warning before the recording stopped. The camera didn\'t turn off all the way, it just stopped recording video.One 23:30 video. After the 26:00 video caused the video recording to stop, I turned the camera off and back on again, then started filming a third video. This time the red low-light icon started flashing at 1:30, but the camera kept recording for 22 more minutes.So long story short, there\'s definitely still something wonky with the camera after the firmware update, but being able to shoot over 50 minutes of video on a single battery charge is more than adequate for what I need. If you\'re wanting more than that, I\'d probably suggest looking into pocket camcorders like the Samsung W300 or the Kodak PlaySport.Other notes about the camera:I don\'t like the location of the flash but I\'ll get used to it. I think it would be a lot better if they\'d put it in the middle of the camera instead of where your finger sits.It\'s really difficult to open the battery / SSD slot. Maybe it\'s just me? It seems like I really have to push, and half the time I end up powering the camera on because of the way you have to grip the camera. This could end up being a fatal flaw considering how often I expect to change batteries.Battery life sucks. It doesn\'t suck any more than other Canons I\'ve owned though. Again, if you\'re taking a ton of video, you\'ll probably want to invest in a compact camcorder that\'s designed to last longer. The batteries are removable at least, so you can charge up a spare or two to take along.I really love the build of this camera. It\'s made out of metal instead of cheap flimsy plastic, and all the seams line up really nicely. This isn\'t a camera that\'s going to fit in my pocket like my cell phone does, but it\'s small enough to fit in my husband\'s pants pockets, cargo pants pockets, or a small purse, and I have no worries about it getting injured.The pictures are really sharp. I have a brindle-colored dog and a black cat - these guys are my test subjects because the dog always turns out flat-looking (like a paper cutout) and the cat just looks like a big black blob if you\'re using a crappy camera. With the SX280, both animals looked great, I could identify individual hairs and everything! Obviously not as good as a DSLR, but a worthy compromise for sure.The auto-focus with the video is pretty impressive, even when zooming in on something in a dark room. Zooming above 10x got a little slow, but still better than I expected. I\'ve always thought it was completely ridiculous to depend on a camera to take video (photo snob!), but with a baby on the way it\'s suddenly super important to have as many methods of capturing moments as possible. This is way better than I anticipated!The time it takes to power on the camera, focus, and snap a picture is fast. Like, 2-seconds-or-less fast.I\'ve already purchased two spare batteries, a car charger, a case, and a screen protector, so this guy\'s a keeper! I look forward to all the backpack-free adventures ahead of us! :-)
- Some people have had battery problems with this camera. I bought 2 extra Vivitar batteries with higher mA-h ratings than the stock Canon batteries. If you do the math, this camera can put a huge load on the microprocessor when you ask it to take high-rate, high-resolution videos, or multiple shots. Zoom a lot at the same time, and these little batteries aren\'t going to hack it. In addition, Canon has something wrong (I suspect) with the battery life sensor/indicator. (My guess is the 1.0.2.0 firmware update that\'s available from Canon is to help that.) On the good side, that\'s depressed the price of this camera. Since I don\'t intend to take a lot of videos with this camera, I\'m OK with that. :)I may have also gotten a good one. Over 2 days of playing with it, I\'ve yet to change the battery. It\'s showing 2/3 charge. It has however, flashed \"charge the battery\" warnings acouple of times.For calibration, this is replacing a Canon A1100IS we bought about 4 years ago as a second camera.Pro (for me):Really good, clear picturesGood image stabilization (hand-holding at 1/15th of a second or slower!)Low noise, as low as ISO 1600Large zoom rangeManual focusDIGIC 6 processor (latest generation)Very nice screenP, Av, Tv & M exposure modesCanon\'s basically good control layoutSmall and light; carrying around a DSLR can be wearyingWi-Fi is handyFits in the same case as my A1100, which was originally bought for a tiny 35 mm Vivitar I carried as a 2nd camera for years. It\'s marked \"Samsonite World Sport, Model #20\" if that helps.Cons:Not as good a macro capability as the A1100 (which is sterling at that one thing. I\'ll be keeping it for that.)No viewfinder (unlike the A1100. It\'s not needed all the time, but it is handy)Slow GPS lock in (my Nexus shows 18 or so satellites in view, and took maybe 30 sec. to lock in. The camera took several times that)GPS power hog. (It appears to suck up a lot of power, turning it on and off a few times did seem to affect battery charge indication)No auto bracket (To be fair, that\'s not common on cameras, but it should be. Canon puts it on the similar S110.)No hyperfocal distance setting (You can do it manually, of course, but, Canon, why not add another click on the focus bar? There\'s a computer in there, you know)Lithium batteries (I prefer the A1100\'s NiMH AAs so you can get a new set at any Staples for cheap or use alkaline AAs in a pinch)So, with all of 2 days of experience under my belt:1) Nice easily-portable camera at a low-ish price2) Power hog, due to inefficient GPS, big zoom, and powerful microprocessor being pushed by video, etc.I\'ll update this review someday when I have some durability information.Update: 4/27/2014 Took a nice long walk, shot 6 min. of 720p x 30fps video and took 101 L-superfine .jpg (4k x 3k pixel) photos. This used up most of a fully-charged Vivitar 1700 mA-h battery. I got a battery warn and shutdown after my walk while reviewing the video at home. The 1000 mA-h stock Canon battery would give proportionately less life. Canon says that the stock battery is good for 210 photos. A 1700 mA-h Vivitar battery should be good for 147 more than that, or 357 photos. That means that 6 min. of 720p video is worth 256 photos! I don\'t think anyone will be shooting at 1080p x 60fps much.Another way to look at it is the number of pixels processed per second by any of the 11 modes of the camera. The normal L .jpg picture takes 12.0E+6 pixels/sec (12 megapixels/sec). The least hungry mode S, takes only 0.307E+6 pixels per second. The hungriest mode is the 14 frames per second L multiple shot mode, which takes 168.E+6 pixels/sec. Since this is only in use for a few frames, it\'s not bad on battery life. The second worst mode 1080p x 60fps takes 124.E+6 pixels per second, 1037% of the normal L photo processing power! The 720p x 30fps mode I used is only 230% of the normal L mode. Remember, though, the single shot modes are on now and then, maybe a second out of every minute at most. The video modes are on continuously.NB: Good cameras with a lot of features have historically eaten batteries. I carry around a handful for the A1100.Misc.: I\'m sorry to see the little A1100 get superseded; it was a trouper. Its biggest problem was auto-focusing at long zoom, which isn\'t a problem if you\'re taking snapshots in your yard, but it can be a problem if you see a magnificent vista before you. The SX280 shouldn\'t have a problem with that (manual zoom). YMMVUpdate 7/13/2014: My one significant complaint with the SX280 was the macro focusing. As I\'ve gotten more experience with it, some of that has gone away. The SX280\'s autofocus seems to work differently from the A1100\'s. I tend to use the macro setting less, and let the normal mode carry the freight, except in extreme cases. In many cases, that\'s plenty good enough. It\'s still not as good as the A1100, though. In all other ways, this is an amazing still camera. It also still has too small a battery. Canon seems to be phasing this one out. If you need a still camera and can find one of these cheap, you might consider it.August, 2017 Update: 3 & a bit years after purchase, the camera is becoming unreliable, throwing E32 (lens) errors more & more frequently. That\'s not a bad lifespan for a point & shoot, especially with a wide-range zoom lens. The error appears to be focus related.Sept. 2018 Update: I replaced this with a 720. Much better. I actually cured the lens error with some strong blasts into the lens gaps from canned air. That\'s risky, blowing dust into the camera, but in this case, it worked. The 280 is now my office camera.
Post a Comment for "Canon Powershot Sx280 12.1mp Digital Camera With 20x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom With 3-Inch Lcd ("