Canon Powershot SX130 IS

[Retired]

Just bought one yesterday. I have taken 72 pictures (mostly 4000 X 3000)
and a 5 and a half minute video (HD, 1280 X 720). And one 12 second video.

I am on the fourth pair of AA Alkaline Energizer batteries. That is costly!
I have ordered a charger and 4 NiMH batteries which the camera
documentation claims will last 3 times as long (still not very mong).
Meanwhile I picked up an 8 pack of Lithium batteries (expensive) to tide me
over.

The 5 and a half minute video created a *.mov file that was 1,120,315 KB
(over a gigabyte) in size. I only have a 2Gb card in it but already have a
4Gb one coming. I then converted the same file to an avi (252,499 KB) and
an mp4 (188,792 KB) using a cheap (Boilsoft) video converter. I can't see a
nickel's worth of difference in the quality of the three files. They are
1280 X 720 and *excellent* quality! Sharp as a tack.

And I might point out that the pictures are all excellent. They were all
4000 X 3000 except for a couple I did in widescreen (4000 X 2248).

So I'm happy with the quality but really unhappy with the power usage.
And I can't understand why Canon has chosen to save movies in such a
bloated format. Or am I missing something?

--
-- I'm retired. I was tired yesterday. I'm tired again today --