CANON SD 870 IS compact video mode

[dougw5]

I have a Canon SD 870 IS camera which I think is a great camera except for the following limitation. When shooting in the compact video mode the camera has a three minute time limit, at which point it automatically stops. I would like to be able to shoot continuously for perhaps ten minutes but it will not let me do that. The compact video mode is used to make videos with greatly reduced file size and lower picture quality than the standard mode. Does anyone know if it is possible to select a setting which will allow me to override the three minute time limit and shoot longer videos?

[byjamesderuvoDHQ]

This is usually due to size limitations of the memory card. But it may be a firmware limitation. Unless there's a firmware update to address the limitation, you may be out of luck. My question is, why do you need 10 minutes non stop? The reality is that the majority of video clips are less than a minute.

[dougw5]

byjamesderuvoDHQ - Thanks for responding to my problem. I am using the camera to run an experimental test. It is preferable to run the text from start to finish, non-stop. I have a two GIG card which provides adequate memory to shoot much more than 3 minutes in the compact mode. The camera will let me shoot more than 3 minutes in standard mode but it uses up memory at a much faster rate. It just seems strange to me that there would be a 3 minute limitation in compact mode but no limitation in the standard mode which takes up much more memory.