30 second avi limit...what's up with that?

[bbolero]

ok, I recently bought an S60, obviously to take pictures...but figured it'd be great to be able to record video as well


so I ran out & bought a 1 gig CF card


Canon has a 30 sec limit on the video recording time....WTF?


1 gig of RAM should be good for at least 10x that, no?


has anyone heard of Canon upgrading their firmware to fix this?

I did a bit of reading about the 180 sec hack, but at this point don't want to void my warranty etc since it's a brand new cam

thx!!

[Belmondo]

Sorry. I can't answer that.
I had an S230 that I gave to my bro-in-law, and didn't realize until later that you could shoot video with it.

[ByteTheBullet]

I have an S50 and S70. I assume the 30sec limit is for full size 640 video. That is the same for the S70. At 320 and smaller it can take up to 3 min. I understand that this limit is caused by the memory buffer size in the camera. The camera writes to the buffer then to the memory card. Not sure about the hack but I am interested in learning more.


ByteTheBullet (-:

[X-Vert]

bump... I just registered here to find out about this aswell.

This 30second crap is really annoying. Dont get me wrong, I love my canon s230 and the quality on 640x480 is amazing, it's just that the 30second limit is pissing me off. Is there a way to hack the camera and change that? I need the extr minute or so sometimes !!! :(

[captainmorgan]

x-vert,
Do a search for s230 hack or something like that. You can extend the record time to 3 minutes on the s230 with a really easy firmware hack.

[Avalonthas]

Well there is a 30 second limit because 30 seconds of fottage is the maximum amount of data the buffer can store before it gets full, then it writes it to the CF card. The firmware basically overclocks the buffer much like you would overclock a computer. It will give you better performance (much longer video recording), however it will take its toll on the camera faster then regular usage. Over usage could result in an overload and permanent damage to the cameras buffer, basically killing the camera if u abuse it, which is why u void the warranty once u alter it.

[fdelement]

this is why u get a sd300 with the new digic2 which allows unlimited video recording (as long as the memory card can hold) at 640x480 with 30fps

[kaido]

I know of one firmware hack, but it's for PowerShot (A70/A75/230/Pro1) series:

http://nostromo.dynalias.org/canonhacking/

If I decide to RMA my A75, I think I'm going to try the firmware on my new one.

Just click Cancel if you get a popup login.

[tech249]

I have a Canon PowerShot S500, am I also limited to 30s at 640?

Thanks.

[natemeister]

Same reason why I bought my SD300 instead of the S series. I've owned several Canon digicams over the years and didn't like the idea of 30 second clips either and was surprised that their newer cameras had the same limitations, except for the SD200 and SD300 models. Not sure about other models, but read the specs :)

[adrianweller]

Doesn't really bother me. I stop recording and start again. Can always put the clips together with Movie Maker later. First time I tried I did a 20 minute 'collage' of clips with fades etc.Turned out really good too. That way you can edit the shaky bits out too.

[xdjoynerx]

even if you hack the firmware to extend the recording, youll have to buy a super fast cf card.

[Terry_G]

I have modified my A70 to shoot up to 3 min. at 640x. without problem.

I don’t think it is an overclock fix, I believe it is just an arbitrary Canon decision to limit the video to 30 sec., just as it appears to be an arbitrary decision to limit some of their new cameras to 640x 10fps.

I have found that you don’t need a fast card to use the modification. Before the modification it to took about 6 sec. to save a 30 sec. 640x clip with a slow card and about 3 sec. with a fast card. After the modification it took about 1 sec. with both cards because the buffer was writing while you shot.