Poor battery life of S120 in video mode

[Hatul]

I just started doing underwater video with the Canon S120 and half way into my dive I get a red battery indicator warning of low battery.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to extend the battery life, perhaps with different battery brand or video settings of the camera?

Adam

 

[LowVizWiz]

I don't own an S120, but on my 650D I set the LCD screen to sleep as fast as possible and also set the review time as short as possible.
I can't imagine your battery being bad since the S120 is about a year old, but you could buy a new one and test it out since it never hurts to have multiple batteries.

Or maybe your dives are just too long

 

[drbill]

I haven't used Canon products underwater, but I have heard that at least some Canon camcorder models are battery slurpers. Not sure about the still cameras that also do video. I know my Canon SD940IS seems to be pretty good on battery life even when I'm shooting with the flash.

I always travel with at least three batteries for my Sony-based underwater rig. Generally I get two long dives on a single battery and then change it for the next dives.

 

[Hatul]

Thanks for chiming in. I just did a night dive at Shaw's with fully charged battery. One thing I noticed is that after I get the red battery warning the camera still continues to work, so part of it may the premature early warning.

Also I found if I turn the camera off briefly the red warning disappears for a while, like the battery voltage has recovered some.

Had I known this issue I would have bought the Sony RX100 M2, especially since the camera is only a fraction of the cost of the whole rig.

 

[Interceptor121]

If you want to shoot video with a compact camera you need to look at CIPA rating above 300. Canon cameras S series travel around 200 and are inadequate. Let alone the poor video controls. If you want to shoot video with a compact you need to look at sony or panasonic or you won't do more than 1 dive