PVR8 Loc: Raleigh, NC

Nikon also asked me not to send the battery with my camera when I sent it in for repair. I think they prefer to use their own trusted batteries for diagnosing and trouble shooting.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Lithium ion batteries create shipping complications. And if the battery is truly faulty, it could catch fire or otherwise damage the camera. So there are several valid reasons they would advise not to ship it. If the camera works properly with a known good battery, then there is a good chance that the battery is the problem.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

It' a matter of weighing risk against economy. I never had qualms about using off-brand or lower priced batteries in inexpensive flashlights, and other things like the TV remote. A camera, obviously, is a much more expensive item and if something were to go wrong and a leakage should occur the repair can be expensive and such an occurrence coud cause irreparable damage.

What the risk is, actuarially, speaking? - I have no statistics, however, I have some experience from the time that I was operating a side-business of strobe repair and sharing a premises with a camera repair shop. Batteries in flash gear and cameras would leak or explode if the were overhead when beig charged in the battery compartment of the camera or the flash gear. Sometimes overcharged or otherwise abused batteries that were damage out of the camera or strobe would leak later on while in use. I only remember one instance where an entire camer was overrated and the batteries leaked. I remember a few cases where the batteries not only leaked but became swollen and extremely difficult to remove. I can attest to the fact that the stuff inside most batteries is not camera-friendly. I never repair an entire camera- just the strobes, but the camera technicians used to bring me some of the parts to attempt cleaning or restoration of a small circuit board- very messy and usually not entirely successful- ugh!

So...If the camera simply malfunctions and needs to be sent in for repair, the repair depot may request not to ship the batteries. If , however, the batteries do leak or somehow do become jammed or stuck in the unit, off-brand batteries may void the warranty- this depends on the terms or the warranty and the company policy. I would guess that the original manufacturer's batteries or recommended batteries would carry some kind of guarantee in an of themselves.

With flash gear coming in for repair, , I always wanted to have the batteries in hand in order to see if they were the cause of an issue. Oftentimes a strobe or a radio slave with malfunction just because of a intermittent battery contacts- saves a lot of time and repair costs. I would guess that coud be the case with a cameras as well.

I am all for saving money on certain supplies but sometimes well meaning savings can be false economy if something goes south. Battery failure while shooting is also a inconvenient possibility with second-rate batteries. I's kinda like using a cheap filter on an expensive lens and loosing image quality or having teh rim get deformed or cross-threaded and stuck on the lens.

User ID

Yup thaz all the stuff that used to happen
with nicad, nmih and all those awful types
of cells that we are happy to be rid of and
stick with lith ions. The "bad old days" :-(

.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

I used Duracell batteries in my Pentax Sf1 and iSTD cameras, however Pentax did not offer their own brand then and they were not rechargeable. I never had a problem.
Since I switched to Nikon I tried a couple of aftermarket batteries only to have them fail within 30-60 days, since then its been Nikon only. I have had one for my D70 fail at about 5 yrs old.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

In my electronics course, we tore apart and studied batteries. Our conclusion, stay away from Ray-O-Vacs and Duracell’s.

twice_shooter

Allow me to summarize my recent experience:

$6000 camera
Bought Wasabi (not the spicy kind)
Saved $75
Battery fit but was tight. Not smooth on removal.
Batteries expand under use
Worried
Returned Wasabi
Bought OEM
Paid the extra $80
Happy
OEM always

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I use generic batteries in everything. No problems - at a fraction of the cost.

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

Rab-eye, I have used 'Duracell Only' since the film days. They stand behind their product! I had a Sunpak D511 and one the batteries went bad, and killed my 511, I called Duracell, they had me send the unit to them and in a short time I had a check for the replacement value, over $300. I have had over the years several incidencs of a failure and they have always, always taken care of me. If its not original, its duracell!
You won't be sorry!

kenthecrane

Have aDuracell in my D7200 performs well only one gripe had to shave the casing to get a better fit also have 2 Nikons which are perfectly fine . I would normally only use genuine

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

I buy rechargeable Eneloop AA and AAA batteries. But, for an emergency situation, I buy packages of Duracell Alkaline batteries in three sizes. We have a lot of wildfires in California, floods, and worst yet, earthquakes. All of my Duracell Alkaline batteries have begun to leak inside their packages. Not even a year old yet. I need these batteries for my emergency radio, and flashlights. I'll never buy Duracell alkaline batteries again.

dpfoto Loc: Cape Coral, FL

Don't leave ANY battery in your camera when storing it.

kenthecrane

Whoops sounds good to me !

rydabyk Loc: Florida Panhandle

It may just be me but, if I'm going to spend $2000 to $3000 on a camera I'm not going to try and save $30-$40 on a battery and possibly, no matter how remote the possibility, damage anything.