muphoto

I’ve had the same experience. Tried the non-Nikon batteries a couple times, including a Wasabi. None lasted nearly as long as Nikon’s. In the long run Nikon is a better value.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I read through all the posts and it is a rehash of well known arguments, but as always on UHH, there passionate differences. What I see is that it comes down to your risk tolerance for a savings of around $45 / battery used in much more expensive camera bodies. So, if you want to play it safe with your camera gear, you would stay with Nikon batteries. If you have a higher risk tolerance, than 3rd party batteries are for you.

Arca

Woodworm 65

I am in agreement with others who suggest staying with the OEM. I would continue to use OEM batteries until they are no longer available, if that happens, and then resort to whatever best replacement is availble at the time. BTW, 'Happy Thanksgiving' to you and all others who read this.

Arca

mkiegold86 Loc: New York, NY. U.S.A.

I started out with two Nikon batteries and bought two off brand batteries a year later when I got a second camera. The off bran batteries died in less then a year and the Nikon's are still working flawlessly. Maybe I got a couple of lemons but in the one run I didn't save anything by going off brand.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

We use a Wasabi in the D850. Performs identical to the original that came with the camera. Did try other replacements but they usually didn't work from the beginning. It does show up how far 3rd party battery companies are behind the eight-ball. Other than Wasabi anyway. When I get a couple more batteries I will go with Wasabi as they are half the price of OEM.
I now have plenty of spares for the D800.

ToBoldlyGo Loc: London U.K.

If a third party battery damages your camera, who will fix or replace it? That's one of the main issues with third party. It doesn't matter if the quality is the same or not. Warranty is important here. My ten year old D80 has its own battery and a Duracell, I believe they offer a warranty if one of their batteries damages a camera. It actually performs better than the Nikon.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I worked for 20 years in a plant that manufactured generic versions of brand name products. I can assure you that we did not ever make our products to the same specifications or recipes or formulas as the branded products. If we had done so, we would have immediately been sued or subjected to other remedies for any of a number of product infringements, whether the branded products were patented or not.

We produced our products to provide similar performance to the branded ones. We did not use the same components or the same proportions as the branded products. And our customers (not the final consumers) were always, without exception, driven to be able to purchase our products for less money than branded, so that they could sell them at a lower retail price. Our products were sometimes superior in some ways, sometimes a bit inferior.

I have not used Wasabi batteries, but I have tried two or three other 3rd party batteries. I found them to be generally functional in the camera, but also to be generally deficient in one or more ways. In particular, I found that they did not hold a charge as well while in storage, and I found that they were much more sensitive to ambient temperature swings.

My comment is that you should not expect the world to end if you put a 3rd party battery in your camera. But there is absolutely no reason for you to expect that they are the same as the branded battery and that they will deliver identical performance.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Yes. Excellent.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

So branded batteries have their issues too. Facts don’t alter opinions.

Even when posting a link to a branded battery failure!

skywolf

I've used a Bower for a couple of years. It doesn't last as long as the Nikon, but I've had no other problems.

Bipod

What make you think EN-EL15 isn't made by the same company that makes
batteries for Nikon?

Nikon doesn't manufactuer batteries. Do you know who currently makes the batteries
that Nikon sells under its brand?

Bipod

How nice it would be if Nikon would just give a list of approved battiery make/models--
nstead of trying to sell third party batteries to you all at a huge mark-up?

As it used to do for the F2 Photomic, F2A, and F3. Guess there wasn't much money to
be made selling two LR-44 button cells.

Never, ever buy a non-Nikon camera bag--it will void your warranty!

(Actually, Nikon used to make an F-mount camera bag -- for the F2.
The bottom was aluminum and had F-mount cut-outs for holding
lenses upright. I have one--it's huge, but a real conversation piece.
What lens mount is your camera bag? )

sv3noKin51E

Woodworm, we use Wasabi batteries and chargers on several bodies and back and forth between chargers; have had no problems with the D7100 or D7200 or battery grip. We always keep them topped off and try to get them into the charger before they're below 1/2, the total life of the battery is lessened if you don't have to discharge them deeply before recharging. If they're supposed to give you 80% of full capacity after 500 charges, if you've only hit the batteries with 500 1/2 charges, then your total is actually only half of the normal scenario.Have never run one down all the way yet, still going strong. sv

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

This statement would be true for lead acid batteries...their life is determined by the total amount of energy in and out, which directly affects the amount of lead eroded from the plates and deposited in the bottom of the battery. For lithium ion batteries (and nicads, especially when used with a rapid charger), however, this is not true. Life span is determined by the number of charge cycles the batteries have been subjected to, regardless of whether it is for a full charge or a partial charge.

In addition, one of the functions that the embedded chips provide in most lithium ion batteries provide is protection against in-use discharge to levels low enough to cause damage to the battery. If, of course, a battery is completely discharged in use then stored without charging, it can pretty easily get to a state that will lead to damage. That's the main reason that batteries should be recharged soon after being removed from service. It's also why batteries in long-term storage should be charged periodically.

Occasionally the battery is not damaged, but the output voltage gets so low that the charging circuitry thinks the battery has a shorted cell or other fault and will refuse to charge it. In some cases and with some charger designs, leaving the battery on the charger will eventually allow a trickle charge to bring voltage up enough that regular charging will start and the battery may recover.

sv3noKin51E

Larrepage, Sorry, not being snarky nor want to engage in a debate. For the last couple of years with lithium batteries, most third-party OEM batteries work just as well in whatever application they're used in; in this case it's cameras and batter grips. I've used all sorts and types of batteries during my career and the new lithium batteries with care, last just as long as wht one can buy from the maker of the camera. Since all of the batteries are made in China, the good companies use the best machines money can buy6. They spy on each other as much as they do any one, but taking a tour of one of the lithium battery production facilities was an eye opener. The people there take care and test the batteries every step of the way. Only once did we ever get one battery that was sub par and it was replaced by the distributor immediately.

Since folks use their DSLRs a bit differently than a smart cellphone, they're surprised when the charging process proves to work so similarly. If your body battery is 55-75% full, it doesn't hurt the batter to put it ine charger; it will charge much quicker and adds only 1/2 cycle discharge to the life of the batter. After800-1000 complete discharges (adding/factoring in all ofthe times and amounts the battery has been charged to what point and if it's fully charged), and it comes out the same numbers. After all that, depending on how you used the battery (lots of burtsing frames all day), and the battery has been used hard. After 500 equivalent charge/discharge/recharges the battery should still have80 percent capacity. After a year, we tend to pick up another set.

We have some third party batteries that do much better than Nikon or Canon brand name, but they all seem to work as they should and give almost identical performance. Each battery is checked once a month for voltage but we haven't had any suffer drains or fall-offs that would be delivering less power than the equipment needs. It's always a good idea to check batteries regularly, weekly if possible. There are a couple of makers batteries that become incompatible when a camera FW update was released for a body, and didn't recognize the old battery. I always check what the update contains -prior to implementing it-. Some people feel they must update the camera as soon as new firmware is released.

It's best to get the information what the firmware actually fixes beforehand; if you don't have a need for the new firmware, and if the FW fixes don't apply to the way you shoot with an expensive lens which you don't own, then see if the upgrade interacts with the camera cpu or battery. If so and it reads of the chip on the battery differently, ask yourself if you get much out of that upgrade? If you don't need the FW yet, know that battery manufacturers do their best to roll out new chips for their batteries whenever the camera manufacturers do this type of update. The batteries are quite reliable so the situation isn't nearly as bad as it used to be.

There was a famous case when a Nikon update cause an OEM battery to report the battery wouldn't read, wasn't compatible or there was no battery/failing. The OEM reprogrammed the chips for their battery and they were back in business. We use three different brands and trey've performed just as well as the Nikon and Cannon batteries, shot for shot. At today's prices, if I can get the same battery that works great with our gear for much less, its a no brainer. I wouldn't say any of this if it weren't true, so get busy and do your own research across all of the forums, and check battery-university; it's got loads of good information, and there are others, where you can take a tour of a manufacturing facility. Good luck. sv