Off-Brand Batteries (Page 3): The battery brand doesn't seem to matter in my 5d - good quality aside. But, in the dos m-3, aftermarket batteries work with the exception that canon...

elent

The battery brand doesn't seem to matter in my 5d - good quality aside. But, in the dos m-3, aftermarket batteries work with the exception that canon batteries show their charge in the info panel and the after market don't. However, the price difference would easily allow for carrying several aftermarket batteries for the price of a single canon battery.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

As pointed out, the camera manufacturers are not making batteries. What a number of posts here seem to fail to realize is that the OEM batteries are made to a particular set of specifications set by the camera manufacturer. They are most likely not off the shelf, branded for the OEM and shipped. They are made specifically for that manufacturer to that manufacturer's specs.
--Bob

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

rmalarz wrote:

As pointed out, the camera manufacturers are not making batteries. What a number of posts here seem to fail to realize is that the OEM batteries are made to a particular set of specifications set by the camera manufacturer. They are most likely not off the shelf, branded for the OEM and shipped. They are made specifically for that manufacturer to that manufacturer's specs.
--Bob

sabfish

Just to be clear, the Consumer Reports ratings of Kirkland (Costco) batteries were ratings of AA alkaline batteries, not rechargeable batteries meant for cameras.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

My Pentax Q-7 uses a "Pentax D-Li68" battery, which turns out to have the same specs as a "Fuji NP-50" battery or a "Kodak KLIC-7004" battery. I have no idea who makes "D-Li68" batteries for Pentax, but it is a company located in China - perhaps the same company makes "NP-50" batteries for Fuji, perhaps some other company does. In some sense it doesn't matter to me, as long as the battery I put into my Q-7 lasts a reasonable length of time {I never take very many photos on any given day} and neither swells nor leaks; over the four years I've had the Q-7, I've used various brands, none of which has failed me {I do take out and inspect batteries every week regardless of whether I have used the camera recently}.

Incidentally, these batteries are all made in China because toxic chemicals are involved, and Chinese workers have less legal protection than most other workers do.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

The first thing I would do is compare the battery capacity (mAhr) and voltage with the OEM battery that was supplied with the camera. If the third-party mAhr is significantly higher, then the battery wall will be thinner and more susceptible to leakage. After an extended shoot check the battery for anything suspicious around the case seams. Owing to the battery internal resistance, there will be a thermal warming that can put the battery seams under stress. Thinner walls, less strength.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

I went to that Vanon web site and checked out their NP-FW50 for the Sony alpha cameras. The capacity was given as 1500 mAhr compared with the 1040 for the Sony OEM battery. I would not allow them in my Sony α6300. Their price seemed quite low, around $20.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Considering the price of OEM batteries compared to aftermarket the weight is heavy toward aftermarket. I have used aftermarket with no problem. Key is voltage, if the voltage is same [nearly] as OEM then fine, the capacity may be less or more but with equal voltage there can be no harm to your camera.

Some report mystical happenings but that has little to do with reality... most famous is "ya get whatcha pay for."

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

billnikon wrote:

OK, I have several personal rules in photography. Rule number one is to use only batteries that are made by the same folks who made my camera.
Many Camera manufactures recommend only their particular battery and caution against using other brands. So, I follow their example.
You can always sell your batteries on ebay to someone else.

But the camera companies don't "make" batteries. (Panasonic does own Eneloop batteries but as far as I know Eneloop only makes AA and AAA batteries.)
They contract with a battery company to make them and put the camera company name on them.
There are only a few companies that make most of the high end battery cores on the market.
Now the cheap/counterfeit stuff from China etc, those are a different story.
Wasabi Power states they use Japanese manufactured cores and I have never had a problem with one of them. Between myself, my wife and our daughter we have used Wasabi batteries in 7 different Canon models (total of 8 cameras) over the years.

BebuLamar

John_F wrote:

The first thing I would do is compare the battery capacity (mAhr) and voltage with the OEM battery that was supplied with the camera. If the third-party mAhr is significantly higher, then the battery wall will be thinner and more susceptible to leakage. After an extended shoot check the battery for anything suspicious around the case seams. Owing to the battery internal resistance, there will be a thermal warming that can put the battery seams under stress. Thinner walls, less strength.

Sometimes they rate the same battery with different mAh rating. There are so many ways to specify the mAH rating so they can do that.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

robertjerl wrote:

Wasabi Power states they use Japanese manufactured cores

The Wasabi battery for my Pentax KP itself says it was constructed in China with cores from Japan. That surprises me, because making the core is the activity that exposes workers to toxic chemicals, so Wasabi must care.

I have a hybrid system for powering my KP - Pentax and Wasabi batteries are charged using a Watson charger. The one difference I've noticed is that the Pentax batteries end charging at 100%, while the Wasabi battery ends when the charger is listing current charge as 95%.

BebuLamar

rehess wrote:

The Wasabi battery for my Pentax KP u itself /u ... (show quote)

I guess making the cells are pretty much by machines while assembling the battery packs require more labor.

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

Watson batteries have always worked for me with no problems esp the LP-6.

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

Watson batteries have always worked for me with no problems esp the LP-6.

Bill P

This is a subject that occcurs this site, and others, far far too often. We all agree that they don't last as long, and don't provide as many shots per charge but never NEVER EVER has anyone posted that they had a verifiable problem resulting from aftermarket batteries.