I think I'm done with cheap batteries.

[Ezookiel]

A genuine battery was almost $80, so thought I'd grab a spare one off the net for about $15 to my door.
It's supposed to be decoded to work perfectly with my camera, but it just won't hold a charge. 1.5 weeks in the camera bag since I filled it, and it's dead flat without being used.
It did that to me once before, but it had been in my bag about a month at that time.
My genuine battery sitting in my camera, will show no visible loss on the battery indicator, after weeks, and that's while keeping the camera clock running etc, so has more right to go flat than an unused one in a bag.
The one time I did get to use it, it dropped from "Full" on the camera, to 75% on the camera very soon

Now what I'm wondering, is whether this is a single faulty cheap battery, and that others have been fine, or is this common with all cheap ebay batteries?

Any experiences with copycat batteries would be greatly appreciated.
I haven't put this in Canon, because I'm interested to know about all generic cheap batteries, to see if this is one dodgy battery, or common with cheap copies in any brand.

[JM Tran]

Probably just your single bad experience.

I used a lot of aftermarket batteries for the cameras and LED light panels, non Canon and Sony ones. Never have had a problem so far.

[arthurking83]

bought two Nikon replacements for my then D70s .. about 7 years ago now, and they work perfectly all the time!!

The two batteries and an allrounder charger(12v+240v) for it cost less than half what an original Nikon battery cost.

Batteries are supposedly 15% higher capacity than the original Nikon battery, but that's just marketing guff .. as long as it works is all I care about.
All three batteries basically sit idle for months at a time now, as the camera is now my son's, and he doesn't use it regularly, but I check them every now and then and the camera still says full charge(for all three) .. even tho I think they may not have been charged for well over 6 months or more most times.


I guess that's the problem with cheapies .. it's a bit of a lucky dip.

[Ezookiel]

That's quite a relief. Because I can buy a heap of cheapies for the price of a single genuine one. For the life of me I don't understand the pricing structure of the camera companies. Wouldn't it be better to sell thousands of them at $20 than to sell a few hundred of them at $90? Seems such a stupid thing to do in today's market where fleabay and the like will steal a huge portion of your sales if you over price your stuff. Considering the originals are probably made in the same country as the cheapies anyway.
I guess it's just as well I'm not in charge of one of the camera companies, I'd have the profit margin so low on them that every person that bought a camera would buy four extra batteries just in case, but buy them from me instead of ebay. Hell, I wouldn't bother with ebay if the real ones were even $30, but at $80+ versus $15 to my door, it's a no-brainer. Might try a different seller and hope I do better this time around. This one is little more use than a paperweight sadly.

[Tannin]

There are three sorts of batteries:

1: Camera company branded ones. (Canon, Nikon, etc.) Excellent quality, very, very expensive. The camera companies don't make them (not even Canon, which makes many more of its own parts than the other majors, and even a lot of the machinery used to make the parts), they just buy in batteries made by any of perhaps a dozen or more different specialist battery makers.

2: Quality branded aftermarket batteries. Excellent quality, generally manufactured to the exact same specs in the exact same factory as the Canikon-branded ones. Very reasonable prices. Buy these with confidence.

3: Chinese junk. Sometimes work quite well for a while, but that's just a matter of luck. Can be terrible. Cost $15 on Ebay.

[ricktas]

Agree with Tony, there are three classes of batteries, and getting the middle ground one is hit-n-miss at times, but generally they are a bit cheaper than the originals, but not that cheap compared to the third selection.

[Bennymiata]

There's an Australian company called Master instruments that make batteries for Canon cameras etc., and they are very good.
Not as cheap as some of the Chinese batteries, but at least as good as the factory batteries.
The brand is called Master.

I know the company, as I used to do business with them, and they are also the importers of all the Sanyo batteries amongst others, and they only use premium cells in the battery packs.

[Tommo1965]

can anyone recommend a middle ground version for the D700 ?...

- - - Updated - - -


There's an Australian company called Master instruments that make batteries for Canon cameras etc., and they are very good.
Not as cheap as some of the Chinese batteries, but at least as good as the factory batteries.
The brand is called Master.

I know the company, as I used to do business with them, and they are also the importers of all the Sanyo batteries amongst others, and they only use premium cells in the battery packs.

just went to their site..can see the battery I need..but cant see how to buy it...can you recommend a third party retailer..

[Ezookiel]

Steve, I'm in the same boat, I found the battery, but it seemed to require a bit of creative searching on their site to find the ordering section, in the end I found a reference to orders and payments in the "about us" that says:

Placing orders

We want to process your order & place it within our despatch system as soon as possible. Due to this we cannot accept additions to orders (within reason). All additions should be requested within 30 minutes of original order placement. Please understand many orders are placed with Master Instruments every day. Once your order has entered processing, location & alteration to an order may be time consuming therefore reducing our efficiency which may delay your & other customers orders.

We will endeavour to expedite your order as quickly & efficiently as possible. All goods where delivery is requested by the purchaser to be sent by the postal system or the customers nominated carrier are at the customers risk. Master Instruments takes no further responsibility for these goods once they have left our premises. Non payment for goods processed in this manner will not be accepted.

Orders may be placed verbally via phone, by fax or by email. Details can be found on the Contact Us page (http://www.master-instruments.com.au/page/contact_us.html).

So it looks like it's done via phone, fax, or email. Not sure how you then pay for it. How odd to not have some kind of a payments page in this day and age. And I've yet to find the price of the battery anywhere, but I'll keep looking.

[Presotto]

I haven't yet purchased a battery for my camera but I did buy about 40 for my multiple flash units. It was really hit and miss. Some have held charge and performed just like a more expensive battery, others loose charge between the charger and the flash unit or take one photo and then die. That has made me question a aftermarket camera battery, but as others have stated it is probably a case of finding the middle ground on quality v price.

All said and done though, the 40 odd flash batteries cost me virtually nothing compared to a brand name and even if I end up scrapping 50% I am still ahead. Pain in the butt when you're in the middle of something and they die though.

[Tommo1965]

....I agree that in this day and age a more fluid user friendly web interface would be good ..perhaps they are wholesale only ?

[Wayne]

Steve,
If you have a grip on that new D700, look at a Phottix EN-EL4a replacement. I had one in my D700 and used it as the main battery as I never took the grip off it. When I sold it a few weeks back, it was still holding charge forever after 2 years of use.

[koputai]

I've dealt with Master Instruments on and off for about 20 years, and they have always been great.

One retailer who carries their stuff, or at least used to and probably still does, is Wagner Electronics (WES Components) in Ashfield, Sydney.

http://wagner.net.au/catalogue/index.htm

Cheers,
Jason.

[Tommo1965]

Steve,
If you have a grip on that new D700, look at a Phottix EN-EL4a replacement. I had one in my D700 and used it as the main battery as I never took the grip off it. When I sold it a few weeks back, it was still holding charge forever after 2 years of use.

dont have a grip yet Wayne..although when I do Ill remember that advice

[Speedway]

I have a number of batteries both original and cheap Chinese for both my 400D & 7D. The only ones that are showing signs if degrading are the genuine ones, the 400D one causes the shutter to stop working after about 100 shots using OS lenses, this happens when using it in the grip with the Inca battery purchased at the same time as the camera, after removing the canon battery and I can continue shooting. With non OS/IS lenses this problem doesn't occur. In the 7D the shots per charge using the canon battery have fallen significantly when compared to the 2 cheap Chinese aftermarket batteries. The batteries that came with both Chinese grips are also still working fine.
Keith.

[Tommo1965]

OK I've had progress with Master instrument , they are wholesalers but will sell to me as I have ABN...the price for the D700 battery is $44 plus GST with a $12 plus GST shipping so $61 all up

or go to Battery Direct...theres is $66 but only $2.50 shipping to WA..so I guess that road freight

http://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/shop/drill_downs/1156/Nikon/EN-EL3e

[Speedway]

OK I've had progress with Master instrument , they are wholesalers but will sell to me as I have ABN...the price for the D700 battery is $44 plus GST with a $12 plus GST shipping so $61 all up

or go to Battery Direct...theres is $66 but only $2.50 shipping to WA..so I guess that road freight

http://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/shop/drill_downs/1156/Nikon/EN-EL3e

I have purchased both my grips batteries and chargers here (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-Battery-Recharge-EN-EL3e-Nikon-D300-D700-D200-D90-D80-Charger-B9F-/160623353453?pt=AU_Cameras_Photographic_Accessories&hash=item2565e5de6d) and never had a problem The link is for the D700. 2 batteries + 12/240V charger $23.92 Including postage.
Keith.

[Bennymiata]

Digital Camera warehouse also handle Master batteries.

Master Instruments are wholesalers, but if you are in the Marrickville (Sydney) area, you can always drop in and buy them directly from them.

Also, if you have any device that has rechargeable batteries in them and they have died, Master can open it up (even if it is sonic welded) and put new cells in it for you then seal it up again.
They can even put in the newer lithium batteries into a device that has NiCads.

As an aside, Master is owned by a family named Dunn.
When I used deal with them, when I rang, I would ask for say, John Dunn. If I was told he wasn't there, I would ask for Tim Dunn, then if he wasn't there, I would just say that any Dunn'll do! :D

[Tommo1965]

me battery troubles are over....finally got a used Mint MB-D10 grip that came with a good Nikon battery from a local seller...so Im very happy

[Redfox]

I'll be buying a new grip for my 5D MK III in the near future and have always used genuine batteries but maybe I can try a good quality after market and see how it performs :-)

[arthurking83]

Even tho I'm currently planning on acquiring a new body in the immediate future, the (now 4 yo) D300 battery is starting to go south for the winter and I'm going to have to replace it, even tho it's not going to be compatible with my new camera!!

I'm going to go with another 3rd party cheapie for the D300 replacement.

[I @ M]

Even tho I'm currently planning on acquiring a new body in the immediate future, the (now 4 yo) D300 battery is starting to go south for the winter and I'm going to have to replace it, even tho it's not going to be compatible with my new camera!!

I'm going to go with another 3rd party cheapie for the D300 replacement.

:eek::eek::eek:
Somewhere in the pile of EN-EL3e batteries here is the original one ( replaced from an EN-EL3 under recall ) from a D50 way back in 2005 or 6. None of em show any signs of giving up the ghost yet.

[arthurking83]

Yeah! I hate that.

My En-EL3(a) from the D70s still works fine too .. and that's with very little use over the past 4 years(which is more of a strain on batteries than using them regularly!!)

And I'm even more pleased to also report that the same goes for the two cheapie aftermarket batteries I also got for the D70s .. and so much so that I'd say they're probably better in retaining charge than the original.

Of course En-EL3a's don't fit into a D200/D300 or any other camera that takes EN-EL3e's due to the extra notch in the EL3e, plus the extra connection for battery condition reporting too.
EN-EL3a camera's will allow EN-EL3e batteries to fit tho, which was the way Nikon used to work.. always trying hard to maintain backward compatibility as much as they could.
(but they stuffed that now didn't they!!)

So I have 3 perfectly perfect batteries that hardly ever get used, and have to put up with one that barely lasts me about 300-500 shots! :(

[flashc]

I've dealt with Master Instruments on and off for about 20 years, and they have always been great.

One retailer who carries their stuff, or at least used to and probably still does, is Wagner Electronics (WES Components) in Ashfield, Sydney.

http://wagner.net.au/catalogue/index.htm

Cheers,
Jason.


Hi...

I used to deal with WES wholesale, am still in their system and didn't think they sold retail, only trade.

I have 2 Canon LP-e6 batteries for my Canon 7D. As I kept records to see how they would perform against my old BP-511 type batteries, the first one has been charged 71 times and the 2nd, 52. I always try to drop the charge to zero before recharging even though you don't really have to with Li-ion batteries. Both batteries show 2 bars in camera remaining performance/charging rating.

At $89.00 for genuine, I would want to pay no more than $50.00 for a non genuine including freight. Cameras don't work with bad batteries out in the bush.