A620 Movie Mode

[NightRaven77]

Question for ya...

I really like the movie mode...I had the Powershot s1 ...and the movie mode was great and continuous....

I want to get the A620 but cant get enough answers whether or not the movie mode is limited or not...

Now I know its limited to the size of the SD card....but is it limited to 1 minute of shooting....or can I just load the whole card up with a movie if I want to???

I like the A620 but wont get it unless I continously be able to shoot video underwater.....longer than a minute...

Thanks!!

NightRaven77:lol:

 

[huskychemist]

I had an old A70 and it was limited to three minutes. I now have an A620, and out of the water I've shot video for over a minute. I haven't tried any testing yet...so I don't know how much longer it can go... I'll try it out soon and re-post if nobody else has answered the question.

I really like my A620, by the way.

Lowell

 

[Jamdiver]

I think the A620 is limited to 1 gig of movies, before it stops and you have to start again.
I think, really am not sure of this, but it certainly is not 1 minute.

 

[clgsamson]

more like 3 minutes.

 

[huskychemist]

Well, I just conducted an above-water test for you with my A620.

I have a 2 GB card. In "Standard" Movie Mode (30 frames/second, 680x540), it said I could take 17 minutes of video. So I pushed play and set the camera aside. I just came back to my camera and it had stopped shooting video and shows 8 minutes of space left. So it stopped before getting to the full 17 minutes. I then attempted to download the video, and my computer had trouble making that happen... Using the wizard, I got a "Not Enough Memory" Error. My guess is that if I had a card reader, instead of patching directly from my camera to the computer I wouldn't have trouble. Regarless, I got 9'22" of video. Since it went off when I was working on other stuff, I'm not sure why it stopped. But this gives you an idea of how long it will shoot video. Hope that helps.

One thing I like about video mode with the A620 is the ability to zoom while shooting. With my old A70, once you chose the zoom, it was stuck while shooting video. (It appears to be digital zoom, though, rather than optical zoom. Hope I'm using the right terminology.) I think there are some settings within the video mode, but I haven't used them yet. It also has "Sports" Video mode, which is 60 frames per second, but at a smaller resolution. (320x240, I think)

From my newbie perspective, it's a great camera. I already like the pictures it's giving me, and think they can only get better with my experience. I'm hoping to splash tonight, and I'm going to try video mode. If I have anything successful, I'll let you know.

Thanks.

 

[Jamdiver]

So here's the question of the thread.

Can you actually see yourself during a dive taking 9 minutes and 22 seconds of video at one go??!!

No, Yes, i'm just curious... I can only think of a few instances...
Perhaps if you're recording some very cool fish behaviour or something like that.

 

[huskychemist]

Good question JamDiver. I was thinking the same thing as I was writing the post. I can't think of any time when I would take video for that long... But NightRaven wanted to know how long...so I tried it.

I guess I would say it's nice to know the video isn't going to stop after one minute...

Lowell

 

[Kirgan]

So here's the question of the thread.

Can you actually see yourself during a dive taking 9 minutes and 22 seconds of video at one go??!!

No, Yes, i'm just curious... I can only think of a few instances...
Perhaps if you're recording some very cool fish behaviour or something like that.

Many times I dive with the instructor who certified me. I may accompany him on some of his other classes. He likes to film the class to help his students see there mistakes. He also likes to film good examples of how things are being done correctly - everything from open water, advanced to Tec Diving drills. So in my case, yes, I would need the ability to film for quite a while. And I didn't want buy a camera for pictures and something else for movies - hence my A620 purchase.

BTW, to the original poster. The limit is 1GB as Jamdiver previously stated. There is a timer shown on the screen to show you how long you have been recording. When it approaches the 1GB limit, the time displayed turns red. I am usually getting between 9 - 10 1/2 minutes recorded before the 1GB gets used up. Then it automatically stops & I just press the record button again and it starts recording the next video.

I have purchased a high speed (150x) Transcend 4GB SD card to use with my A620, because of the long recordings I sometimes do. I know the A620 manual says it only supports 2GB, but my 4GB card is working fine - so far. I just bought it, so I have only had the opportunity to use it twice. From what I have read, your camera must support FAT32 formatting to use the 4GB or higher capacity cards. I don't know if the A620 will format it in FAT32 or not, but my card came preformatted and my camera is able to store pictures and video on it fine. I have only taken up to two videos on it at once, so that means it has only been used to record up to 2GB so far. I'll be doing more testing with it this weekend to see if can actually store more than 2GB on my 4GB card. If it does, then the only thing I may need to worry about is if I ever have the need to reformat it. I don't know how I will do that, since I doubt if the A620 can format it for 4GB use. I may have to look for some type of reader that is capable of formating a 4GB card.

--Mike

 

[mach2plus]

I've got a SanDisk Ultra II 1gb card in my A620. After low-formatting the card I was able to shoot 22+ minutes in the standard movie mode. Then, using the ZoomBrowser EX software that comes with the camera, you can supposedly take still images from the movie.

Regards to all -- Mach

 

[NightRaven77]

Thanks Husk...

I appreciate you taking the time to help me out....

I got an email from Canon......
_________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for your inquiry on the video mode in the PowerShot A620. We value you as a Canon customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

Please note, the length of time you are able to record will depend upon the resolution set and the speed of your memory card. At 640 x 480/320 x 240 (30 fps/15 fps), you can record up to 1GB or 60 minutes (whichever occurs first). At 320 x 240 (1 min. at 60 fps), and at 160 x 120 (3 min. at 15 fps).

________________________________________________________________________

Anyway...I ordered the camera anyway....I dont think I will be doing any video for 9 minutes...but its nice to know that so I can buy the right size memory card to fit the abilities if I need it....

Speaking of Memory cards.....what do I look for....Im looking currently at Zipzoomfly.com.....and they have a 4 gig for $100.....pretty good deal for that price....I didnt even know they made them that large....

But what do you look for in a memory card....I was thinking about a 2 gig myself....but for a 4 gig...at $100...should I even consider?

Thanks again....

NightRaven77