Do You Use Third Party Batteries in Your Canon Cameras?

[leadin2]

Yes for dslr and p&s but not on M series so far.

 

[Omar H]

My 6D came in a bundle with a Digipower extra. I alternate them and they both work equally good.

 

[Act444]

Nope - never for me.

 

[slclick]

Only (now) use Wasabi for my extra above and beyond my 2 Canon LP-E6 batteries, have for years. They are the only 3rd party versions that work well with the charger, obtain a green light and last the same amount.

 

[privatebydesign]

The main attraction for third party batteries is that battery technology improves but Canon never revises the older models.

Totally disagree, I think the main attraction for the majority of people is that third-party batteries are cheap.

Agree with Neuro. And it isn't true that Canon never revises older models, they give the higher capacity battery a new name, the LP-E4/LP-E4N are interchangeable with the higher capacity LP-E19.

 

[xps]

Of course, I do.
Some of them are 1/3 of the price. I own 5 Canon batteries, 3 of them "N" version. Also 5 third party batteries, some of them are "N" versions too.
The cheaper batteries are about 3/4 (two of them 100%) of the capacity of the original Canons.
Life is also not as long, mostly they were defective after 24 month. My oldest Canon batteriy is from 2011. And it still works.

 

[adventureous]

My daily driver is a 5DII which I bought in '08 along with 2 additional factory batteries in '08, giving me a total of 3 LP-E6 which I have numbered and keep rotated. Never a problem, still hold up very well and is the system I will use when purchasing the replacement camera. Factory only. Plus the factory charger is still perfect.

 

[bf]

For EOS-M, did not make sense to pay 1/4 camera's price on an original battery. I bought a 3rd party and it was identical for about 3 years. Recently, my 3rd party spare has dropped on capacity whereas my Canon battery is still intact. Considering the price I paid, I am happy with this 3rd party battery.

 

[kaswindell]

No, I have found consistently that 3rd party products are not as good as the Canon originals, batteries or otherwise. I also don't use Twitter, so apparently I am not allowed to vote.

 

[Deleted member 91053]

Yes I do use 3rd party batteries in my cameras. Unfortunately, these days they (the ones I have tried) are not as good as the OEM packs - but at the price - who cares?

In the past, when I used the BP511 packs the 3rd party packs were vastly superior in both capacity and longevity. 3 Canon packs all dead within 36 months, five 3rd party packs (slightly cheaper than one Canon pack) were still performing better after 9 years than the Canon ones when new.

Pity the current 3rd party Lp-E4 and LP-E6 3rd party packs don't seem to be as good. I live in hope!

 

[SkynetTX]

Never. It simply makes no sense to buy a cheap battery to save $10-20 after you bought a camera for thousands of dollars. Not to mention the lenses and other accesories.

 

[ethanz]

In my T2i I used a third party battery. But only use $170 Canon batteries in my 1DXII.

 

[okaro]

Never. It simply makes no sense to buy a cheap battery to save $10-20 after you bought a camera for thousands of dollars. Not to mention the lenses and other accesories.

Not everyone pays thousands for a camera. My most expensive camera was 424 €. I bought a third party battery for 40 €, original would have been 90 €.

 

[tr573]

The main attraction for third party batteries is that battery technology improves but Canon never revises the older models. For example the NB-2LH is still sold new by Canon with the original 800 mAh spec but misc brands have compatible ones from 1800 to 2100 mAh. This is a huge incentive to buy non-Canon. It's not that the others are doing something sketchy to get that much power but just because the tech has changed.

those power claims are wildly optimistic. sometimes I think they actually do put enough cells in the 3rd party packs to be capable of holding that much, only because they know 1/3 of them will be DOA and the battery will then be the same capacity or thereabouts as the OEM model.

 

[foo]

Totally disagree, I think the main attraction for the majority of people is that third-party batteries are cheap.

I have a Hahnel HLX-E6N, main attraction was that real LP-E6N's were simply unavailable at the time. Yes it was slightly cheaper than the Canon, it's also theoretically 2000mAh rather than 1800mAh. In practise I don't find it any better or worse than the genuine Canon battery.
It's been used along with a couple of LP-E6N's over the last year or so with no difficulties.

Would I have bought a genuine LP-E6N if it had been available? Probably. At this point though I don't have any concerns with the Hahnel battery.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I have tried them in years past, but they were awful. I once bought a used P&S camera, and went to replace the battery, but could not get it out, it had overheated and was bulging, stuck solid. I drilled several holes until I was able to collapse it and pull it out with some needle nosed pliers. It was a 3rd party battery. The camera came with a second identical battery that did hold a charge, but I tossed them both and bought the right one.

If its not a critical use, a brand that has a actual company behind it might be acceptable. I would not trust taking one on a aircraft, or for any use where I depended on the battery to be reliable.

 

[Luds34]

My batteries are 50/50 canon genuine and 3rd party. I've had great luck with wasabi... aka so far no problems.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Folks.
I bought 4 DSTE brand LP-E6 batteries 2 each for my 7D and 7DII for <£18 a pair (£68 each from WEX) including a mains / 12v charger so I can charge them in the car, I also bought 1 spare LP-E12 with charger for Angela's 100D.
I'm not just saving a few bucks I'm saving £60 per LP-E6 battery! They are available cheaper elsewhere but I wonder if £50 paid to unknownbatteryshop.com might be a counterfeit which is even worse than 3rd party imo.
My 1DsIII came with the two batteries as supplied new so no need to buy a spare.
I have one battery that is down to 1 red square on the recharge gauge and that is a genuine Canon LP-E6, the one that came in the camera box!

Cheers, Graham.

 

[woodman411]

I tried a STK LP-E6 due to high Amazon ratings and low price. Worked ok for about half year, then saw a big drop in performance, while the OEM battery performed noticeably better over time. Since then, I have stuck with OEM batteries.

 

[coldmist]

I have two spare Wasabi batteries for my t5i which have been working decently for a couple years now. I've noticed they don't seem to hold a charge as well as the OEM battery though. When I finally upgrade to a new body, I'll likely only use OEM batteries with it.