Third party Batteries?

UUilliam · Sep 25, 2009

I have recently been looking at batteries but for canon LP-E5 it is £30
but i can get third party batteries for £5,
I didn't want to buy the third party ones as I have heard of problems like them leaking etc..
I dont want to damage my camera..
But i have decided to buy one (got it now)
It is currently working, It is in my Battery grip along with my Default Canon LP-E5 that came with the camera

I just hope someont can give me advice to keep using it or remove it ASAP
as I say, I dont want my camera to break, or my battery grip.
although the battery grip I would rather break than my camera, so I guss it is best to keep it in my grip

Plato · Sep 25, 2009

UUilliam said:
I have recently been looking at batteries but for canon LP-E5 it is £30
but i can get third party batteries for £5,
I didn't want to buy the third party ones as I have heard of problems like them leaking etc..
I dont want to damage my camera..
But i have decided to buy one (got it now)
It is currently working, It is in my Battery grip along with my Default Canon LP-E5 that came with the camera

I just hope someont can give me advice to keep using it or remove it ASAP
as I say, I dont want my camera to break, or my battery grip.
although the battery grip I would rather break than my camera, so I guss it is best to keep it in my grip

I figure that any battery can have problems but Nikon will back me up if a Nikon battery damaged a Nikon camera. Ditto for other reputable camera manufacturers. Don't know about Canon! :lol:

Garbz · Sep 25, 2009

Ditto on Plato. Batteries are batteries, they are all most likely outsourced to some company anyway.

The cheaper batteries don't have a logo that's the real difference. Oh and they sacrifice long levity for short term charge capacity so they are often "better" to in my opinion.

PhotoXopher · Sep 25, 2009

I always use OEM batteries... they last a LONG time - so to me it's worth the $30 for piece of mind.

Big Mike · Sep 25, 2009

I've been using 3rd party batteries for several years now. They were much, much cheaper than the Canon batteries and they have a larger capacity so they last longer. No complaints here.

I have heard some people say that they wear out faster, and then can't hold a charge...but mine are still going strong. And at a fraction of the cost of Canon batteries, I don't care if they were out a little early.

With that being said, the thing to watch out for is counterfeit batteries. These would be batteries that say Nikon or Canon but are unbelievably cheap. These are the ones that are more likely to leak or just not work.

Dao · Sep 25, 2009

I was told by a owner of a non-oem cell phone battery manufacturer, he import the cells from Japan (since there were only few companies make them at that time, not sure about now) and then build the battery products in a factory in China.

So non-oem batteries can be as good as the oem batteries (some of them even better than the oem version). Then again, there are some bad one out there. If I find a 3rd party battery from a web site and the battery receive few hundreds good reviews, I will buy them if the price is right.

Remember few years ago when Sony has problem with their notebook batteries? And at the end, most of the notebook manufacturers recall their batteries. And that included Dell, Apple and many other major players in Notebook market since they all came from Sony.

Azriel · Sep 30, 2009

One thing to keep in mind is depending on the model, third party batteries wont trigger the charger to stop charging, so the battery continues to warm up, which can lead to a leak.

CSR Studio · Sep 30, 2009

I have used third party batteries for years. Have had no problem with them in my equipment or charging. They perform just like my brand name batteries. One thing that I do with all batteries is if I am not going to be shooting with that piece of equipment for awhile, I always take the batteries out.

Drake · Oct 1, 2009

I've also got a few third party batteries, not only for photo equipment. No complaints so far. After all they are exactly the same products, just with different stickers. Big companies buy batteries produced by other companies and take responsibility for them by putting their own names on the batteries. There are many companies selling the same products, just without the fancy logos on them.

MACollum · Oct 1, 2009

I get my batteries from Sterlingtek ($10 each compared to $70 for Canon).

Big Mike said:
I have heard some people say that they wear out faster, and then can't hold a charge...but mine are still going strong. And at a fraction of the cost of Canon batteries, I don't care if they were out a little early.

The first one I bought has lasted longer than my Canon battery (which died completely after about a year). Even if they didn't last as long as they have, I still would have been better off, cost-wise.

icassell · Oct 1, 2009

I have bought 3rd party batteries off e-bay many times (camera, laptop, etc.) with no problems.

CraniumDesigns · Oct 2, 2009

i recently bought 2 opteka batteries off amazon. $10 each instead of $40 for the canon brand batteries, and just as good.

Buckster · Oct 2, 2009

I've been using batteries from Sterlingtek as well for several years now, with no problems whatsoever, other than one finally died a few months ago, but with the long life of service it had, I really can't call it a problem. I bought 3 to supplement the OEM battery that came with the Canon 20D I bought when it first came out.

The original Canon battery and charger went with the 20D when I sold it, and now I'm using them in a 40D along with the OEM battery it shipped with (sorta - see below). As I noted above, one of the Sterlingtek batteries finally petered out a few months ago, and I bought two more from Sterlingtek that are rated higher, and they truly do last longer.

With those two new ones in play, the older Sterlingteks and the OEM Canon battery haven't been getting any use, actually.

I'm pretty happy with them.

BTW, the one that petered out didn't leak or anything like that. It just wouldn't hold a charge anymore.

ironic sobriquet · Oct 3, 2009

something you may want to be careful about is the specs on the batteries, make sure the voltage and wattage is the same though the Milli-amp Hours (mAh) can be different (this is how quickly the battery will drain under appropriate conditions)
you may want to see if you can find a MTBF rating (Mean Time Between Failures) which will give you an estimate on the life expectancy of the battery...
also, DO NOT, DO NOT! UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES mix any two different types of batteries... if you're using an underslung battery pack which holds multiple battery packs... only use identical batteries (I don't mean company names, you need to check the ratings and chemical composition...)
example... mixing a Li-Ion or Li-Polymer with a zinc–manganese dioxide (Standard Alkaline Battery) can cause electrolysis creating pressure within one of the batteries due to the difference in discharge rates thus resulting in the aformentioned explosion... (ps the same can happen when jumping your car as the alternator of another car does not produce the same current as the battery its flowing with thus causing overcharge in the receiving battery causing internal electrolysis which gives off hydrogen causing pressure to build... if rapid enough it will explode).

3rd party batteries are just as safe as primary source batteries (some better)
knockoff batteries should be avoided...
used batteries should be avoided...
I don't know how a warranty will cover off brand battery damage though... so it's up to you guys...

if you didn't guess... this has happend to me before... fortunately not in my precious camera... rather in my precious vehicle... RIP Busman...