Battery duration using SD780IS for video?

[reefrat]

Does anyone know what sort of duration I can expect from a Canon SD780IS camera battery when used exclusively for HD video.
With an 8GB card I should be able to get between 1.5 and 2 hrs of video- but would the battery go the distance?
Cheers
RR

 

[anferney]

I have an SD780 and I can't give you exact numbers, but recording video really eats the battery. If you want I can put in a fresh battery and let it record a video until it dies?

I usually do a mixture of stills and video on a dive and the battery is only good for one 50-60 minute dive.

 

[reefrat]

Thanks Anferney
If you get a chance that might be a good test- the battery is supposed to be good for about 260 stills (if I remember correctly) but I want it primarily for a super compact travel HD video.
Also looking at the Flip UltraHD in an Ikelite housing but the lack of image stabilization worries me!
The Picsio is supposed to be good in bright light but I have heard it is noisy in low light with not as good colour saturation as the Flip or Cannon sd!

 

[anferney]

So I've been running the test since my last post and the results are better than I expected.

I charged up a fresh Canon battery then recorded the following video clips (at 720p HD) until the camera powered off. In summary, I managed to get 85 minutes of HD video recorded on a single battery totalling up to almost 15gig footage. If the batttery lasted much longer my 16gig card would have filled up...

Test results:

Clip# Duration FileSize

Clip1 20 mins 3474 Mb
Clip2 10 mins 1691 Mb
Clip3 11 mins 1855 Mb
Clip4 10 mins 1744 Mb
Clip5 11 mins 1977 Mb
Clip6 10 mins 1745 Mb
Clip7 10 mins 1783 Mb
Clip8 3 mins 514 Mb

TOTALS 85 mins 14783 Mb

I recorded the clips back-to-back without any breaks. The camera got warm to the touch - nothing concerning above water but it might cause some serious condensation when in a housing.

 

[reefrat]

Thanks very much for doing that, frankly I can't believe you went to the trouble but I'm glad you did and in doing so answered my biggest doubt about going with this camera.
Thanks again and I suspect that this information may be useful to others contemplating P&S cameras for UW HD video.

 

[Gujustud]

Thanks also for this information. I just got a SD780IS and I'm getting the Ikelite case, before a trip to Thailand in March. I think I'll be picking up another battery to be on the safe side.