3 year old Fuji JZ500 Compact camera. When fitted with its original Sandisk Class  4 4GB SDHC card it reports capacity for 800 odd HD photos (@14 mb each) or 11 minutes HD (720p) video. When fitted with a Sandisk class 4 32 GB SDHC card, the Fuji reports capacity for 9000 HD photos (14mb), but the video capacity remains the same @11 mins ! I've tried re-formatting the 32 GB disk, both inside the camera and in an external card reader - no joy !

 

Fuji customer service advise that the Sandisk Class 4 32 GB card is compatible with the JZ 500 and their card compatibility table on their website confirms this as sell.

 

The sandisk site says that a 32 GB card should have capacity for 200 minutes.

 

Any ideas ?

 

Thanks.

 

Nick

Edited 15 July, 201312 yr by Clunkclick

Have you contacted Fuji Customer Services with this query??  :think:

Try using the card and see how much video it will actually record??

 

BTW, do you know the bit rate it is using?? By my calculations, that 4GB would only record 5 1/2 minutes at 12Mb/s, which is the bit rate the web suggests is that required for average 720p, yet the suggested capacity for a 32GB card would suggest a MUCH lower bit rate of 2.6Mb/s and so give over 25 minutes for the 4Gb card.

 

Also, look to see if there is a firmware update available for the camera.

This review backs up my thought that it is a restriction on the length of any individual recording not the total amount of video per se. Er, this review http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/fujifilm_finepix_jz500_review/

Or use brute force and ignorance, try some long recordings and see what happens. You've formatted it so there's nothing important on the card now.

Edited 16 July, 201312 yr by 'daiking'

There is a nominal maximum length of a single video file on a camera officially classed as a 'stills' camera for cameras imported to the UK so as to avoid additional price increases caused by being classed as a 'video' camera.

But I thought this was 29' 59"... Although the review of your camera states 15 minutes.

As above, read the manual, check for firmware updates, try a long video recording yourself and then email the manufacturer if still no joy.

Thanks guys. All good stuff.

 

I think I have the answer now.

 

The 11mins (and 3 secs) displayed in the top RHS of the screen  is the maximum CLIP length and counts down to zero. Having tested it, I find that the camera will not record, in one go, more than 11minute and 3 secs of HD video @ 720p and it will automatically store the video  as a data file (On the SDHC card) when this time limit expires. The file created shows 2.09GB of data when read on an external card reader - I've recorded a couple of lesser sized files after that and all seems to be OK. So I've no reason to expect whyI shouldn't be able to populate the card with mutiple files right up to the 32 GB or near,

 

There appears to be no other limitation in the camera on the amount of material that can be recorded. The only other limitation is the recording capacity of the card. The 32 GB card only formats (using the on-board formatting routine) to 29.7 GB capacity (Similarly, the 4 GB SDHC card @ 3.68 GB capacity). So both cards only yield 92% of their stated capacity for data file recording.

 

 !I believe that,  at first instance, the image file is recorded on the camera's own internal memory before being transferred to the SDHC card immediately after recording stops.This may have something to do with the 15 minute limitation. The model review above, that DaiKing sourced, refers to a maximum clip length of 15 mins. That rings a bell as regards something I read in the manual some time ago. That would seem to be iro of what I observed. But I'm none the wiser why I'm not getting the full 15 minutes, or 15 minutes less 8% system overhead ( 92 % of 15 minutes is 13.8 not 11.05 minutes).

 

Anyway, that's minor issue, of no import, But on the main issue, it would appear that I should get 157 minutes of recording time on the 32 GB card - thats 0,339 MB a  second, very, very low -some compression there.

 

I'm astounded that the camera appears to have no mechanism for showing the size of the recorded files whether photo or video - I can only get the values thru an external card reader.

 

Does anybody know how long will the 720 mah battery (NP-45A),last  'cause I doubt the original will do 2 and a half-hours recording on one charge - (As my 20 year old s-vhs sony has just given up the ghost and being temporarily short of funds at present,  I intend using the Fuji for some airshow recording).

 

 

 

Nick

Edited 16 July, 201312 yr by Clunkclick

There is a nominal maximum length of a single video file on a camera officially classed as a 'stills' camera for cameras imported to the UK so as to avoid additional price increases caused by being classed as a 'video' camera.

But I thought this was 29' 59"... Although the review of your camera states 15 minutes.

As above, read the manual, check for firmware updates, try a long video recording yourself and then email the manufacturer if still no joy.

 

This is correct, if the camera is limited to 29m 59s then it's not classed as a Camcorder and therefore doesn't attract the additional tax a camcorder would.  There are plenty of cameras with much shorter video recording limits which I assume as mentioned is an internal buffer/cache limitation.  It is annoying that you normally are shown the total number of photos you can take but not the total amount of video, I'm pretty sure my cameras also only show the maximum clip length.

 

John

I was given tbis camera  about 3 years ago and hadn't apreciated 'til last week that it did HD video. 

 

But it looks fairly impressive, and has a x 10 optical zoom, so when my s-vhs tape camcorder finally gave up the ghost, I was scratching around for something to fill the gap, especially for action shots. I had previously discounted a 10 year old Olympus 750 uz compact  because it isn't HD and the camera is very slow in saving images and therefore no good for action. Then I discivered the HD capability of this thing

 

Now that I know the 32 GB SDHC card is ok with the Fuji, I'm regretting my caution in buying a class 4 32 GB card - the Fuji website does say the camera supports class 4 and above and a basic class 10 was only a fiver more than what I paid fir the class 4. But having been bitten in the past by assurances given on manufacturers websites, I plsyed it safe. C'est la vie.

 

Nick

I am glad you have got it sorted, I did wonmder if it was the on-board memory limiting it, but even 11 minutes seems too long - my old Fuji only gave 30 SECOND CLIPS!!!!

I am glad you have got it sorted, I did wonmder if it was the on-board memory limiting it, but even 11 minutes seems too long - my old Fuji only gave 30 SECOND CLIPS!!!!

Worked out fine as far as the available memory on the SDHC card is concerned and the couple of additional pattern batteries I got from Amazon, although not as advertised being NP-45B's with a capacity of 640 Mah, last over a hour i.e. 6 x 11 minute clips, before flashing empty. So all in all, I got probably three hours of recording capacity, more than enough for the average airshow, where an afternoon of  intermitment recording usually yileds about an hour and three quarters of material.

 

I'm waiting for delivery of a cheapo screen hood, which in the absence of an view finder, might help me keep the thing on target.

Just have to see whether there's any real improvement in individual shots over the Olympus compact when taking aerial action shots - the Olympus is very slow, you can literally count 2 seconds between fully depressing the shutter and the camera being ready to take the next shot - not ideal for capturing fast moving objects.

 

Nick

Edited 21 July, 201312 yr by Clunkclick

I had that slow action issue with my last camera; now I own a budget Nikon D40; almost instant on, instant shot (if not in "Auto" mode) and the battery lasts for months, even if you forget to switch it off.

Interesting.

 

 

Nick