3rd party batteries

if one 3rd party battery failed then you've only lost £6 ( assuming it wasn't a failure that blew anything else up.

But really you don't heart of batteries killign cameras every day do you. In fact can't say I've ever heard of it happening.

So it's prettu much scaremongering to to denigrate 3rd party batteries on the basis of them presenting some danger.

On performance, 3rd party batteries I have had have always been no different to Pentax batteries. Even if they only worked 50% as well they'd still be much better value at 10% of the price

think it's a bit pot luck in my, limited, experience.

When I had my Canon 50D's (I miss them ) I bought some ever ready ones - £12.50 each instead of almost £90 for Canon ones.

They were superb - lasted longer and held charge longer when not in use than the canon originals.

I bought a couple cheapo ones for my K5's and they start to drop a bar after less than 20 shots and before much longer are empty !!!!!

The main point of danger with lithium bateries is when charging, they are supposed to have overcharge protection built in to them but while some claim to have they actually don't. I too have never seen or heard of a camera battery blowing up but... A few months ago a friend bought a Chinese no-name head torch (so he could read at night without annoying swimbo) with a built in rechargable lithium battery, the blurb said o/c protection. He hung it on the bed post on charge after use and a couple of hours later it exploded, bits of plastic casing were embedded in the ceiling, wall and bedclothes, the wall was badly burned and he only escaped injury because it was round the far side of the bedpost.
The moral is, if you buy aftermarket batteries buy them from a known source and don't leave them unattended while on charge, at least until you know they are safe.

If worried about 3rd party batteries, I'm pretty sure that tomorrow, you are more likely to die or be seriously hurt on the roads, in the kitchen, at work, etc etc , than be hurt by a 3rd party camera battery

Non OEM batteries are absolutely fine so long as you do a bit of research first. Preferably try and find some online reviews from people who have used them for several months without issue. Some will be slightly higher capacity than the OEM, others slightly less, although allow about a 10% margin of error as manufacturers do tend to round up their figures.

Make sure the battery comes with a warranty, usually 12 months but can be 24+ and ideally the supplier should have a UK returns address and UK phone number. Try these out before purchase if you aren't sure. Get the supplier to confirm compatibility in advance with your proposed equipment.

Having taken these precautions you are far more likely than not to get a great value product at a massive saving. Not to say that occasionally you won't get a 'friday afternoon job' but this happens even with expensive OEM. Most of these batteries come from just a handful of factories anyway..OEM on the production line one week, relatively unknown selling at 25% of OEM price the next...

Batteries are extremely profitable for OEM..Gross profit can be over 500%...its the
power equivalent of printer ink.

That about sums it up



.

Over the years I have Hadley third party batteries just stop working whilst the Pentax just go on and on. Never had any third party battery blow up either.

So it depends on how mission critical your battery needs are...

I know that the one Innov8 one I have has a far lesser capacity than any of the Pentax branded ones I have for my K20d. The un branded ones for my Q are a joke although I did discover that buying broken Optios of the correct model yielded Pentax batteries and chargers for less than a fiver. The un branded Canon one I bought can't even be charged in the camera and has about 60% of the capacity of a Canon one.

I don't buy brake components for my car from Ebay either.

It is folly to assume that all aftermarket batteries are the same, I don't doubt some are as good as the original ones but I'm unwilling to wreck a shoot or a camera with a £5.00 battery

Ken beat me to it, so +1 on that.

For my K20 the Pentax battery proved far superior to the Innov8, which wouldn't hold a charge after a year or so. For my Q the Ansmann battery proved far superior to the Pentax battery which no longer holds a charge.

True, but it's also folly to assume a battery is better because it has a Pentax logo on it and/or because it costs 10 times as much. The same with brake pads


Anyone going out on a shoot with only one battery, whether it cost £5 or or £55 pounds, needs to re-examine their professionalism.

As per last post.. one battery shouldn't be the crux of a mission. Surely no one goes out without a spare battery?

Yup alway had a spare battery Smeggy but thats all they ever where just a safe incase mine happened to run out and I think I used a spare maybe three times in the last 8 years due to the Pentax battery running out. My best third party battery I had was a Hama one that SRS gave away free with the k-5, now that was a good battery surprisingly....

Now ken is being misquoted and I think it's safe to assume he takes more than one battery on a job.

FWIW, I use three Pentax batteries per camera. These are rotated strictly in order, so the 1000 or so cycle life of each battery gives quite a long lifespan to the set of three.

On a week's holiday I might expect to start on the second battery with the K20D and just maybe the third with the K-5, the latter seeming a bit more power hungry.

On a wedding I would be unlikely to break into the second, but there's plenty of reserve backup there if needed.

Belt and braces is not scaremongering, it's assessing risk sensibly. There are no excuses if we are being paid for work.

OMG........ I totally agree with Smeggy... Well on this one at least.

Cant believe people are complaining a £5 product only lasting a year.. Which n most cases isn't true. Or want to compare it against a £55 product.

For the last three years Ive used Pentax and after market batteries in my K5ii and K7. After 10000s images. I still couldn't tell which one is in camera without taking it out and reading the branding.

If your at all concerned about buying one. Then don't... That leaves more to go around for the rest of us. Or also buy an after market grip then the battery isn't in contact with the camera.

Never had one stop working. Never had one change voltage. Never had one leak. Never had one explode.

If people want to spend their hard earned on Pentax branded batteries. Let me be the first to applaud you. But please stop scaremongering over the rest of the market.