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Secondary battery for MX-1

CMW
Posted 28/05/2014 - 23:04 Link
johnriley wrote:
Why not just buy the right battery? It may cost more, but it's the right tool for the job.

May I match your broken record with mine?

The 'right' battery sold as a spare is a ludicrous price by any measure. No one can deny its desirability in principle, but having just bought for £180 a new MX-1 for my daughter (or for me if she doesn't take to it!), paying £40 for a spare battery is lunacy.

I know from my K5 that there are batteries available that may not have quite the staying power of the Pentax original but are more than adequate and vastly cheaper.
Regards, Christopher

ChristopherWheelerPhotography
SteveLedger
Posted 29/05/2014 - 01:34 Link
But may void warranty if they damage the camera.
I agree, genuine batteries are high priced - I'd like to think there's good reason. I bought some third party batteries for a Pentax PnS years ago. They began to swell, one was still in the camera at the time and was the devil to remove. I tossed them.
gartmore
Posted 29/05/2014 - 07:34 Link
A well known camera shop is about to stop selling third part batteries
Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -
Smeggypants
Posted 29/05/2014 - 08:00 Link
johnriley wrote:
Why not just buy the right battery? It may cost more, but it's the right tool for the job.

Why not just cut the corner off and convert it into the right tool for the job and save a whole lot of money?

There's no contest between £4 and cutting of a bit of plastic and £40 for the rip off version.
[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283
Smeggypants
Posted 29/05/2014 - 08:00 Link
gartmore wrote:
A well known camera shop is about to stop selling third part batteries

Couldn't care less, I get mine from Ebay
[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283
johnriley
Posted 29/05/2014 - 08:10 Link
I understand how compelling the argument for third party batteries can be, but there is growing evidence and concern that there are some very cheaply made and potentially dangerous products out there. Both batteries and chargers can come under this cloud and there have been serious fires and burns as a consequence.

Why not cut a corner off a battery? Because it's the wrong battery, it voids any warranty and if air comes into contact with the lithium then it will overheat and possibly catch fire.
Best regards, John
dougf8
Posted 29/05/2014 - 08:15 Link
johnriley wrote:
I understand how compelling the argument for third party batteries can be, but there is growing evidence and concern that there are some very cheaply made and potentially dangerous products out there. Both batteries and chargers can come under this cloud and there have been serious fires and burns as a consequence.

Why not cut a corner off a battery? Because it's the wrong battery, it voids any warranty and if air comes into contact with the lithium then it will overheat and possibly catch fire.

John, could you provide evidence for your assertion and show that this risk is any greater than a well sourced third party battery?

Saw a story about exploding dishwashers recently, we have a Bosch. Sony laptops have been linked to battery faults. Brand names are no guarantee.

There is a little more to this than knee jerk claims and brand names.
Lurking is shirking.!
Edited by dougf8: 29/05/2014 - 08:18
johnriley
Posted 29/05/2014 - 08:19 Link
I could Doug, but I simply haven't got time. I'll have to refer you to the various regulations that have been issued by airlines, postal services and there have been umpteen press reports discussing the subject.

I'd think it's well known by now that there is actually an issue, much more recent than the Sony laptop problem.
Best regards, John
dougf8
Posted 29/05/2014 - 08:50 Link
Comment Image


Pentax make cameras, Hahnel and Ansmann "make" power products, and probably source some much larger number of batteries than Pentax will.

Lets be realistic about these things and most will be manufactured in China. The best cells may have once been made in Japan, similar to the cache of having a MIJ Ltd lens, there is an assumption that the MIJ may be better, anecdotal.

So which of my batteries will cause me an issue the 3rd party ones or the Pentax originals? I mean I have to play off Pentax vs some well established trustworthy German companies?

Might the issue be a bit more nuanced than all 3rd party batteries.

Making unreferenced and unbacked up assertions undermines the message.

I might sign up to the message that "Pentax source the highest quality cells for their batteries and ensure that the specification is suitable for the claims and performance we expect of the Pentax brand." It would be nice to see some message like this from Pentax. I've seen the perfomance graphs for various cells and all it says is, some people are prone to over exaggerate things.

But I'm not signing up to Pentax good, 3rd party bad, as it is too generalised and demonstrably false.
Lurking is shirking.!
Edited by dougf8: 29/05/2014 - 08:52
MrB
Posted 29/05/2014 - 09:02 Link
Paying ten times as much as one needs to spend on a spare battery seems to be risk aversion OTT. If the capacity and longevity of the cheap ones is less, buying two is still a big saving. There must be many millions of replacement batteries now in use in consumer electronic devices around the world, and yet reports of equipment being ruined by them appear to be quite rare. If camera damage is the main concern, that would seem more likely to occur by accident during general use, so just put it away in a cupboard and leave it there - remembering of course, whether it is OEM or 3rd-party, to remove the battery first.

Cheers.
Philip
Edited by MrB: 29/05/2014 - 09:06
johnriley
Posted 29/05/2014 - 09:26 Link
We've been over this ground many times before and all your pictures demonstrate Doug are that batteries have different specifications. You have there four different branded batteries, all intended for their own applications.

That's a totally different argument to the safety one. Performance aside, we should be very careful of cheap batteries and chargers from eBay, Amazon perhaps and elsewhwere that have no known source of origin. Some are dangerous, it's not unreferenced or unbacked, but you'll have to do the reading I've already done for yourself.

Probably Google is as good a place as any to start!
Best regards, John
Smeggypants
Posted 29/05/2014 - 09:26 Link
johnriley wrote:
I could Doug, but I simply haven't got time.

There is no evidence whatsoever that a well sourced 3rd party battery is more risky than using a battery with the brand name on it.

We've had battery threads on this forum repetitively for years and every time the consensus and evidence points to there being no more risk from using a well sourced 3td party battery.

The only difference one might find from well sourced 3rd party batteries is the some of them might not last as long. but given that teh Rip off Branded version costs 10 times as much even if the 3rd party battery only lasts 50% as long then then they are still great value.

My own experiences are this. I've owned a K10D, a K20D, THREE K-5, and one K-5IIs.

I've used 3rd party batteries alongside branded batteries in all those six DSLRs and every time the 4rd party batteries have worked equally as well as teh branded version.

I would never buy a branded battery as a spare. It's simply a rip off
[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283
wasleys
Posted 29/05/2014 - 09:27 Link
I've recently bought spare batteries for my K-5 II from digi-Quick and have been satisfied with them.
johnriley
Posted 29/05/2014 - 09:28 Link
Things have moved on Smeggypants, as have general concerns about Lithium batteries.
Best regards, John
Smeggypants
Posted 29/05/2014 - 09:32 Link
johnriley wrote:
we should be very careful of cheap batteries and chargers from eBay, Amazon perhaps and elsewhwere that have no known source of origin. Some are dangerous ...


This is scaremongering. I've bought 3rd party chargers for a multitude of devices including Pentax DSLRs and other cameras and not one of them has caused a problem.

Anything can be dangerous. Pentax batteries and Pentax chargers can be dangerous. Driving can be dangerous, Flying can be dangerous. Heck even preparing food can be dangerous, i've had a brand name microwave catch fire in the past.
[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283

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