BigD Loc: The LEFT Coast

Well some of you might have read my "book" about switching from Olympus to Canon over the last month or so. So I now have a 5DMkii and two 7D's. I have Battery Grips on all three because I like the balance and the batteries will go all day.

I got the 5D2 used and it only had a single Pro-Master battery which seemed to work well. I also only had one original Canon pack for each 7D. So the other day I am at the Camera Store and I picked up some additional LP-E6 Pro-Masters for $30.00 each and a dual charger. I get them home, charge them up, and popped them into the Battery Grip. Now I am familiar with the Canon Battery Management System on some cameras and that the batteries have a chip in them that communicates with the camera. The Pro-Masters are supposed to have the chip and are supposed to "meet or exceed original specs". Well long story short, they don't.

After several hair pulling sessions I determined that two of the three I had just bought were basically DOA and the camera would not even turn on. Number three worked fine but it ironically was reporting the same serial number as the one I already had which doesn't cut it if you want the Battery Management System to actually work. I guess they are only $30.00 because they don't bother to change the numbers from pack to pack.

The batteries have a simple chip that tells the camera a serial number. The camera can keep track of the batteries charge state along with how many Shutter Clicks it has had. So basically you can tell if you are using one battery or another more. Its a cool feature if you use and charge your batteries a lot and I wanted mine to work correctly. It's also cool if you use a Grip as you can tell the status of both batteries. So bottom line is I ended up spending $79.00 (they are $100 MSRP) per battery pack and got original Canon ones and everything works perfectly. Hummm.... Oh well live and learn. :-D

Gary Truchelut Loc: Coldspring, TX

I bought aftermarket batteries for my 7D from Adorama with no problems at all, at least so far.

jimberton Loc: Michigan's Upper Peninsula

when i bought my 7d, i bought a pro-master lpe6 because they told me at national camera in minneapolis that it was a better, stronger battery............as soon as i put it on the charger...it blinked and blinked for hours and then charged up. well i used it for 3 months and it died. i paid about $80 for that battery.

i also use battery grips on my cameras because i also like the feel and the convenience of vertical shooting. i purchased a set of opteka batteries, with a charger for about $30 on amazon. i used them hard for 7 months now and they are still going. last month i bought another set of them (still around $30 for a pair and including a charger) and i have used them on 5 sessions and every day here at work. i have taken tons of photos and i have never wore a set down to where i had to charge them. i do charge up all my batteries every week. so i have 4 opteka lpe6 replacements and the original canon lpe6 that came with the 7d .
the opteka batteries so far have been awesome. i shoot product shots at work 5 days a week plus i do the partime photographer thing in the evenings and weekensds...so i have put the 4 of them through tuff use.
definitely would not recommend the pro-master. it's a piece of junk. an expensive piece of junk.

i also bought 2 sets of opteka batteries for my old t1i (which is also a pretty good camera). i also bought the opteka battery grip for the t1i. i did buy the canon grip for the 7d and the 5dmk2 that i sold. if i had it to do over...i would have purchased the opteka grips for the 7d and 5d. they work great.

jimberton Loc: Michigan's Upper Peninsula

if you bought the pro-master batteries for $30, you got a deal...here's a screen grab from national camera that i just pulled today...

CamObs Loc: South America (Texas)

Check the voltages on the non-oem batts. Most are 7.4v. Canon is 7.2v. Doesn't sound like much...but how much is a new mother board?

LaughBrian Loc: Tn

Sad to hear after all the money you spent it came down to Batteries to mess up your great run. but then it was only Batteries and not a body or lens! Hope your having fun with your new toys. My xti makes feel cheap lol.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Next time before you buy do a search here on UHH and see what others have to say. I made the same mistake for my 7D. Mine worked fine for about three uses and then they faulted the charger and won't charge. I popped for the 'original' Canon 7D batteries and in the grip they last about 2500 - 3000 raw images before I need to recharge them.

zincgt Loc: Tucson AZ

Bought the Pearstone 2nd battery for my 60D with Battery Grip. Works ok, but I'm not sure it lasts as long as the Canon battery. Registered it with the camera and follows # of shots and charging "health". Always seems to be behind the Canon, no matter which position it is placed in the grip. Which brings up another side question of battery grips. Seems it should "flow" in series to camera, then why does it show different shutter counts for each battery?

jimberton Loc: Michigan's Upper Peninsula

i have taken 2000 raw photos on the pair of optekas and i changed them just to be sure. the charger still showed them at 50%

Jackinthebox Loc: travel the world

They are connected in parallel in the charger. That keeps the voltage the same for batteries as one battery but doubles the capacity.

zincgt Loc: Tucson AZ

in the Grip? or the charger?

Jackinthebox Loc: travel the world

Sorry, in the grip. But it has to be the same of you have a dual charger.

Jackinthebox Loc: travel the world

I am convinced that you get what you say you get. However I do not get anything near that many shots. I do very heavily use the LCD display on my 60D. 2 seconds every shot plus with a 32gb card I use the display as a display to always have the keepers handy and on display. 300 to 400 shots per battery is fine with me with 2 charged spares in the bag at anytime. Also the spares are charged as soon as they come out of the camera so they have been charged a week or more before they go back in.

The grip is nice to have but not worth the extra weight just for 1 more battery in the camera making the whole outfit more clumsy. If I had to do this for a living it would be a different story so I have no problem with any of the opinions expressed.

One more smaller advantage of the grip is that if you have one marginal battery the other one helps it level out. They are connected in parallel to keep the voltage right while doubling the capacity.

zincgt Loc: Tucson AZ

Of course DUHHH!! can't be in series it would double the voltage. 7th grade electrical shop, I forgot.... I also can barely get 800 shots from 2 batteries, but I shoot some Live view, if I'm doing Macro shots with 60D plus I have LCD on steady until I make camera change of some kind. Thought "Hey if I have 2 batteries might as well take full advantage of all camera features. Don't even have it shut off for 30 min.

zincgt Loc: Tucson AZ

One reason I got the grip, other than the extra battery, was the balance and solid base it makes for the camera with a medium to long lens attached. It still mounts very secure to tripod and takes all different strap attachments. I have the hand grip strap that takes pressure off the weight with one hand, plus when I walk a lot or hike into Mtns. I have the Sun Sniper strap that is unaffected by the grip. In fact it tends to help keep the camera more to the back of my hip with the extra weight swinging to my backside.