Why does my still camera stop recording video on its own?

Question

I have a Nikon s3300 and wish to take video at a concert however no matter what card I put in the available time says 8min and 11 seconds. Am I doing something wrong or is there a way to fix this.

Answer 1

You are not doing anything wrong, and there is no easy way to fix your issue. You have discovered a classic limitation to DSLR video, the clip limit problem. So DSLR cameras are built for still images, as you know. Video was introduced later, and it generally does video really well. The biggest issue is that on many cameras there is a clip limit of 4 GB or there abouts on file size (depending on your camera). This means that the camera will stop recording when the file reaches 4 GB, at which point you will need to hit the record button again. I have worked around this issue for years using my Canon 5D Mkll by using a second camera that is staggered with the first shot. There is no way to fix it, except buying a camera where there is no clip limit such as a Sony A7 series.