2 thoughts on “Canon PowerShot SX280 HS 12.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 20x Image Stabilized Zoom 25mm Wide-Angle Lens and 1080p Full-HD Video (Black)”

1. 171 of 177 people found the following review helpful

   
   Great Camera! Love the Wireless!, April 25, 2013

   By 

   Telemachus (Virginia, USA) –

   Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Canon PowerShot SX280 HS 12.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 20x Image Stabilized Zoom 25mm Wide-Angle Lens and 1080p Full-HD Video (Red) (Electronics)

   I’ve had a number of PowerShot cameras. Really impressed with the picture quality of the camera and the overall speed. Colors and picture quality are quite good and the low-light performance is superior. The previous review focuses nicely on the picture quality, so I wil stick with the human factors.

   Manual control and adjustment are simple to master, so you won’t need to rely on the automatic settings. My only concern with the camera is hat the wifi settings are difficult to set up. I’m pretty good with wireless technologies and it took me quite awhile to figure it out. Make sure you run the set up disk. Unlike many other consumer wireless gadgets, this one requires that you run the setup software. Couldn’t just turn on the camera and connect it to the router. As much as it pains me to say this, I should’ve read the directions prior to jumping in to try to set it up! 🙂

   Once it’s setup, it works great. I’ve been transferring files to iphone, ipad, and laptop; and transferring to the Canon Image site. All directly from the camera. Even emailed my wife a link to a photo directly from the camera. Camera IS a bit of a battery hog, but I was expecting it.

   Update: Since I concentrated on human factors in my review, I thought I would weigh in on flash location interfering with handhold
   position. Personally, I didn’t notice it until I read the other reviews. I’ve had other cameras with pop up flashes, so I think I just automatically adjusted to it. That said, I can see how it would annoy some people. The flash is located in the front left-hand corner of the camera, but there IS sufficient space behind the flash to place your finger. Could be a problem if you have large hands, I suppose.. Motor is also strong enough to remind me to move it when it pops up.

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   Update 20 May:: There is a glitch that’s been widely reported that shows that the battery is drained when in video mode. This is a glitch in the indicator, not the actual battery life. Cannon has acknowledged the problem and is working on a fix. Expect the next firmware update to address the issue.
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   Update 5 June: New Firmware Released Today!! Details Firmware Version 1.0.2.0 incorporates the following fixes and improvements:

   1. Increases the duration of movie shooting by 20% in cases where the optical zoom is used compared to cameras running Firmware Version 1.0.0.0 or Firmware Version 1.0.1.0 through a reduction in the power consumption of the optical zoom.

   *Time under default camera settings, when normal operations are performed, such as shooting, pausing, turning the camera on and off, and zooming. (based on conditions established by Canon).
   -Under some shooting conditions, the recording time may be shorter than mentioned above.
   -Recording time with a fully charged battery.

   2. Fixes a phenomenon with cameras running firmware version 1.0.0.0, in which the low battery level warning is prematurely displayed while shooting in movie mode.

   Firmware Version 1.0.2.0 is for cameras with firmware Version 1.0.1.0 or Version 1.0.0.0. If the camera’s firmware is already Version 1.0.2.0, it is not necessary to update the firmware. Please note that, once the camera is updated to the latest version, it cannot be restored to a previous

   I installed it with no problems.

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2. 141 of 147 people found the following review helpful

   
   A Great Campact Camera, May 1, 2013

   By 

   Just Another Reviewer –

   Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Canon PowerShot SX280 HS 12.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 20x Image Stabilized Zoom 25mm Wide-Angle Lens and 1080p Full-HD Video (Black) (Electronics)

   Enough said about how good this compact camera is in the other reviews. Only two quick comments: It is an excellent compact zoom camera complimentary to my SLR camera/lens collection on the road for quick shots (photo & video) without lens changing. Case Logic DCB-302 Compact Case provides good protection and a perfect fit with room for extra battery and SD card.

   Update 5/8/2013: Per Canon technical support, the battery inside the camera cannot be charged via USB port like your cell phone when connecting to PC or outside USB power source.

   Update 5/13/2013: When using “AUTO” on the dial as well as “”AUTO” ISO” in “P”, “Tv” and “Av”, the ISO is automatically selected from 80 to 1600, not to 3200 or 6400. To manually select ISO 3200 or 6400 in “P”, “Tv” and “Av”, you need to select “FUNC. SET” and then choose the 3200 or 6400 under the”ISO” list.

   Update 5/19/2013 The flashing “low battery” warning in the video mode is indeed a design fault of the battery indicator not the battery itself. With a freshly charged battery, I can take either around 200 photos or about 30 minutes video (1080p 30fps). The low battery warning comes in about 2 minutes into the video shooting after some zooming.

   Update 5/20/2013 Per Canon technical support, Canon is trying to resolve this “low battery” warning issue in the video mode. Decided to return this wonderful camera. Will buy it when the issue is resolved.

   Update 6/5/2013 Canon just published a firmware update for SX280 to fix the low battery warning issue in the video mode at this web link: (http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/digital_cameras/powershot_sx280_hs#DriversAndSoftware) Click on “Drivers & Software”. Select your computer’s Operating System and OS Version. Click on “Firmware”. Download the firmware zip file and unzip the file. Follow the instruction in the PDF file to update the firmware.

   Update 6/7/2013 I repurchased a new SX280 with the hope that the low battery warning issue has been fixed by this firmware update. I updated the new camera to the new firmware 1.0.2.0 from 1.0.1.0 following the procedure in the PDF file. The premature low battery warning in the video mode for the updated SX280 has improved but not fixed.

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