John Maher Loc: Northern Virginia

Enough China.

I think "Bridges" raised a good point.

Why do camera manufacturers need a unique battery for each camera.

This is like US automakers bringing out a new model every year. What if they made the same vehicle until they could add some improvement worthy of upgrading?

Paul Diamond Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA

Notorious - You assume that Chinese factories can't cast plastic cases with "Made in Japan" and labels to match? They can and do make copies of almost everything.

US Customs doesn't inspect direct USA purchases like they used to. No customs duty, no close inspection of trademarks and patents.

If you were a watch collector, you might have known of "good" copies of brand name watches for $100 to $300 or so compared to thousands of dollars for a top name brand designer wristwatch. The really good copies can get past most certified watch repair specialists, down to the use of similar screws and springs for a mechanical movement. And, if you only need to impress with the outside case and dial face, probably $50 to $100 in volume for an acceptable knock off.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

That is the problem too many people want lots of cheap stuff and don’t care if it’s made in China, until it’s their job that’s outsourced to a foreign country...

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Are you trying to say Canon or B&H are trying to pass fraudulent goods on me? China doesn’t come up with much of anything that I can see. The will copy and steal whatever they can. That’s how they roll.

greigfla

You must have some very old equipment -- or only top-of-the-line. Or you can't read the fine print and think "designed in . . . " means the same as "mfg in . . . ". Most of my Nikon's and Sony's are made in Thailand or Vietnam. My Olympus's, Panasonic's and Pentax's are from China or the Philippine's. Only my pre-21st century film equipment comes from Japan. I'll let you answer your own question regarding who is naive.

BebuLamar

On the other hand if I ask the question where is the camera made in Japan I would get an answer.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Whether or not a battery will work (firmware issues etc) a good way to tell, as mentioned earlier, is to weigh the battery and compare with an OEM. I have gone through dozens of batteries for camera and torches and bike lights and if you are comparing two batteries nominally the same the heavier one will probably have the higher capacity. And this is because everything is thicker and the internal paste is denser. This makes the battery last longer. There are all sorts of ways to cheapen the manufacture of a battery like thinner plastic, thinner metal casing, less capacity paste etc and this shows up when you weigh them.
This is especially noticeable when looking for 18650 cells. With these the heavier the better. But just watch for whether the battery has two sleeves around it. I have found where the inner sleeve states something like 2000mAh but the outer claims 4000mAh. This of course is deliberate fraud and very common from Chinese sourced products.
With camera batteries it is a little bit harder because they use a lot more plastic as a percentage of total weight so weight differences are smaller but it still helps. Here are some figures -
Nikon EN-EL15a 1900mAh 77g
Nikon EN-EL15 1900mAh 87g
Brand X EN-EL15 2450mAh 71g
Wasabi EN-EL15 2000mAh 72g
They all work, none has a noticeably smaller or larger capacity in spite of the labels. Especially the brand x one but both the brand x and the Wasabi do weigh significantly lighter.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

You are painting with a very broad stroke saying that manufacturers need a different battery for each camera. It simply isn’t true. I can used the battery from my 2007 Canon in my 2016 Canon and vise versa. Design and cost considerations are also a huge factor. That’s pretty straight forward and the trade off might be less selection and choices.

I worked in the auto industry nearly 2 decades. Much design change is driven by marketing research and product trends. When you are making things by the tens of thousands or millions tooling wears out and needs to be replaced. Often improvements are incorporated into the process as well as the product. You also need projects for engineers with limited experience to work on too. If you like the same thing poorly made maybe a Russian automobile is just what you are looking to own...

BebuLamar

Thanks for the tip. The mAh rating isn't reliable because there are many ways you can rate them. If you discharge the battery at low rate the battery generally yield higher mAh rating.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Not naive at all. I buy good stuff and find it worth it to me. Made in Japan is what it says...so are you calling me a liar or Canon a fraud or both?

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

If you search the internet for a deal on a Rolex for you S/O, and you find a hot deal for, say abt the price if a cheap pair of ladies shoes, jump all over that sucker, then “watch” your S/O’s wrist turn green. Same deal on OEM camera btys.

BebuLamar

Not so! Canon still make a lot of their cameras in Japan. Olympus makes 100% of theirs in Vietnam. Nikon except for the 4 (D5, Df, Z6 and Z7) were all made in Thailand, I don't think any of the Sony made in Japan. Mostly Indonesia. Panasonic made most of them in China. Pentax made theirs in the Phillipines. Fuji made their XT-3 in China but brought the XT-4 back to Japan
How do I know? Because I do care where things I bought came from. Of course there are lots of time I have no choice but I am aware.

greigfla

I much prefer your word "naive" to liar or fraud. Canon does make cameras in Japan, And China. And Malaysia. And I'm sure where ever else they can find a cheap labor market. Just like Nikon, etc., etc. I don't have any particular preference for where my cameras are made, only that they are made well. If you prefer Japanese factories, you can be happy you have a camera that was Made in Japan.

BebuLamar

Naive? Who did you response to? I have to do a lot of searching to find out where they make cameras these days. These information is difficult to find.

greigfla

The storage capacity of a battery is in large part determined by the size of the innards. I expect camera manufacturers get pretty close to the maximum capacity they can stuff into a particular sized shell -- competition being what it is. (which is why they bring out new, larger batteries for newer cameras) So if you see a battery claiming to have twice the juice of the identical OEM battery, it is HIGHLY unlikely. And if they lie about that, I wouldn't trust anything else they say. I happily buy 3rd party, but not from companies trying to sell me a dream.