Purchase Advise: Canon SX280 HS or SX260 HS or Other

Hello Expert Friends,

Please advise for my purchase of a Compact Digi Cam for general use at Home and outside when going for some trip with family.

Features Looking for: Good Picture quality, Clear Images, Good Zoom, Full HD video, Wide Angel View, Good Low Light Picture and Video.

Now I have a Canon SX20 IS and it is good but bulky for travel purpose so looking for a compact camera with above features. Now I have sort listed Canon SX280 HS and SX260 HS. Please advise your view on both and if you have a better option with above features please advise.

Even if you suggest better option, still I need input on above 2 models and which one will be good among both?

Once I purchase a new cam I will plan to sell the SX20 IS :).

Thanks
Prabhat

I have the SX280 HS and find it to be a nice upgrade to the SX260 HS, which was already an excellent camera. Image quality on both is excellent but the 280 has better low light performance than the 260. One of the biggest differences is that the 280 focuses much faster and is more responsive overall in just about every way thanks to the brand new Digic 6 processor. A feature that I like is "Zoom Plus" which lets you zoom digitally past the optical limit of 20x to 40x while maintaining an incredible amount of detail. Beyond 40x though, it looks like most digital zoom modes, which is to say not very good. In a way you have a camera that will give very good results from 25mm to 1000mm, but 25-500mm with the optical zoom gives the best results. Video options are better than on the 260, but I tend to not use video too often. Some have complained about the lack of a touch screen such as on the Panasonic equivalent, as well as auto panorama modes also found on other similar cameras. While those features are indeed lacking on the 280, most reviews still give it the edge over the others in the area of image quality and for me that's what matters the most. High ISO performance is good, with images looking very good through ISO 1600. ISO 3200 is still pretty good but you can notice a loss of detail, and 6400 is very noisy and not advised. Still, ISO 1600 on a non-G series PowerShot is pretty impressive and not something any of us would have considered just a few short years ago! We own 7Ds, a G11, and a G15, and I find myself grabbing the 280 most of the time because of its sheer versatility and because I know that I can get great shots with it. With the improvements in AF speed and operation speed in general, plus the high ISO performance, I think it's almost the perfect camera to keep with you at all times. It's smaller than my iPhone (but thicker) and rides in my pocket just perfectly. If you find a 260 for an incredibly low price, you can't go wrong, but if you can spring the extra cash, then the SX280 HS is an awesome with noticeable improvements over the SX260 HS.

Andy

PrabhatN wrote:

Thanks @Andy for the compare. It was nice to know those.

Reg. the Touch Screen I don't need this to be in safe side from my kid, but it will be good to have the Panorama stuffs. It is OK to miss this feature as well as we can stitch using computer programs. But a good image quality, low light images and good video features are good to have in a mega zoom compact camera.

I just read some compare @ snapsort and seen that SX280 does not have 24p Movie. What does this mean and how much this impact the HD videos?

Also I see SX280 HS can record 1080p @ 60fps. So is 60fps is better or 30fps is better?

Other inputs will be great to make my selection final which is now moving towards SX280.

Thanks.

60fps is better than 30fps from the point of view of possible video flicker, that is assuming you need these movie resolutions at all.

The other thing to research about the SX280 is the problems they have had with the battery indicator showing empty almost immediately in video mode especially with the earliest firmware.  From what I have read some people think the updated FW has fixed this and others don't. I am not sure as I have a SX260 and don't ever use video mode.  Search the forum for SX280 battery indicator problems.

Other than that I think the 280 is a slight upgrade from the 260 as the other poster has detailed.  I do think that both of these produce a very good image and either would be a good choice.

Brian

PrabhatN wrote:

Can some user please confirm this if this has been fixed?

And Reg. SX280 does not have 24p Movie: what does this mean and how much this impact the videos? And what is the movie type in SX280 (in the similar scale of 24p? 20p? I am not sure).

Thanks,
Prabhat

I sold the sx260 to my sister(she loved it, when she saw the photos it captured), bought the x280, both have excellent IQ. The firmware didn't completely fixed the battery warning/shut down issue. A fully charged battery records movie without the warning appearing, but when the battery drains 60-50% or not fully charged the problem returns in movie mode. So not quite fixed! Still much better than the sx260 feature vise.

That's 24fps 1080p no impact at all. sx280 movie modes= 1080p 60fps 30fps; 720p 30fps; 640 30fps 120fps; 320 240fps for slow motion..golf swing etc. If you're not into movie film production 24fps is jerky and not as smooth as the higher frame rates. sx280 also have Wi-Fi which works very slick with sending pictures to a tablet/computer.

PrabhatN wrote:

Thank you all for the input and feedback. I am sticking to SX280 HS now.

Good choice. And there is a firmware fix: http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/digital_cameras/powershot_sx280_hs

Seems to have fixed the battery issue.

I have the sx260 HS and it has been quite a solid camera for the last year and 4 months that I have owned it.

My mother just got the sx280 hs from airmiles of all places...I have't done much comparisons yet but the only difference I can find is the wifi function.  The good thing is that I can help my mother get up to speed on using her camera as most of the features and locations of them are the same.

I'll say it one more time, DO NOT buy the SX280 unless you don't need video or you're positive that the battery problem is fixed, I'm going on my fourth one that the firmware does not fix.  The maximum I've ever gotten in video mode is 8 seconds, Canon keeps sending broken and refurbished ones to me.  I paid for a new camera and they've replaced it with used defective ones, put them in video mode, try to zoom and they shut down or put them in video mode, start recording and I get 8 seconds or less, obviously nobody checks them when they send them back to me, the last one I sent back is now lost even though someone signed for it at the Canon repair facility and I have not heard a word from them, they just keep saying "sorry sir".  WTF?!  I want my camera or $300 back Canon!!!

chemrajib wrote:

Hi there,

I am planning to buy sx280hs. Can anyone please update me whether Canon has fixed the battery issue of sx280hs or not? After reading the reviews I am bit concern about the battery issue.

Thanks.

RBiswas

I bought the sx280 3 months ago, it did have the battery issue even tho the serial # indicated it would not.

Saying that, I tried out the sx700 to see if I would rather upgrade or keep the 280. By this time I had found out that the battery for the 280 was discontinued so while I had the 700, which took the new battery for the 280, I tried the new battery in the 280. No low battery indicator flashing in video, no camera shut off while trying to zoom in video.

I put the original 280 battery into the 700 and it had all the problems with the indicator flashing and the shut down in zoom. This led me to believe the problem is the battery that canon discontinued and has nothing to do with the camera. I did not try the firmware because I had also heard horror stories about it not working and making problems worse.

I returned the 700, kept the 280 and bought a new battery for it. I've had no issues at all. Some said that it would only be a matter of time before it starts again but I'm not sure I believe that due to the new improved 700 having the same issues with the discontinued battery.

I must say I am loving my new camera, it takes fantastic pictures!!! The zoom is an excellent feature. But the down side is it does not take very good close ups. I can live with that as my other 2 cameras are great with close ups.

Canon should be giving out the new batteries and I'm debating emailing them to tell my story.

stevenic wrote:

chemrajib wrote:

Hi there,

I am planning to buy sx280hs. Can anyone please update me whether Canon has fixed the battery issue of sx280hs or not? After reading the reviews I am bit concern about the battery issue.

Thanks.

RBiswas

I bought the sx280 3 months ago, it did have the battery issue even tho the serial # indicated it would not.

Saying that, I tried out the sx700 to see if I would rather upgrade or keep the 280. By this time I had found out that the battery for the 280 was discontinued so while I had the 700, which took the new battery for the 280, I tried the new battery in the 280. No low battery indicator flashing in video, no camera shut off while trying to zoom in video.

I put the original 280 battery into the 700 and it had all the problems with the indicator flashing and the shut down in zoom. This led me to believe the problem is the battery that canon discontinued and has nothing to do with the camera. I did not try the firmware because I had also heard horror stories about it not working and making problems worse.

I returned the 700, kept the 280 and bought a new battery for it. I've had no issues at all. Some said that it would only be a matter of time before it starts again but I'm not sure I believe that due to the new improved 700 having the same issues with the discontinued battery.

I must say I am loving my new camera, it takes fantastic pictures!!! The zoom is an excellent feature. But the down side is it does not take very good close ups. I can live with that as my other 2 cameras are great with close ups.

Canon should be giving out the new batteries and I'm debating emailing them to tell my story.

Why didn't you keep the 700, it has sharper images when I compared the 280 and 700. Cheers steve

I didn't keep it because it had a cheap build, the buttons were all wobbly and such. I did not like the manual pop up flash and it was just that little bit too big. I found picture quality to be quite comparable as I took the exact same pictures with both cameras. Altho close up pictures were definitely better but I have an elph I bought last year that takes great close ups. All in all I did not think it was worth the extra $120

I will stick with the 280 for now. In a couple of years there will be something better than the 700 in a smaller size than the 280.

JohnG10 wrote:

Or other...

I just bought a HS330 refurb, arrived last night but my initial impression is very good.

I had a SX280 for a few days and just could not warm up to it, on-off button was in a dumb place and the flash is irritating when it pops up unexpectedly. That's partly operator error but still annoying.

I have had a S110 for a while and like it, really did not need the HS330 but it has more zoom and is more pocket friendly.

The SX280 is getting on the large size for many situations-not easily pocketed for an evening out with friends...at least not in summer. It would be fine in a jacket pocket.

I've got the elph110 for small.. I wanted something with more zoom and still not too big.

I got used to the power button in that spot right away.. and since the camera takes such great low light shots, I have the flash turned off.