For the past decade I have bought cheap spare batteries for laptops, point and shoot cameras and, since acquiring a DSLR in 2011, for Pentax K-r and K-5 cameras. I have had no problems with any of them - in the case of the cameras, using them in rotation with the manufacturers' original batteries, they seem to give comparable performance.

Are there many reported incidents of cheap third-party camera batteries causing harm to the equipment or, even more important, hazards to people? The incidents resulting from internet searches on this subject usually seem to involve laptops and power tools, and with the OEM batteries installed. Also what proportion of incidents are actually due to human error rather than equipment failure?

As a result of company reactions to such incidents, I have had to return for exchange two laptop batteries (properly functioning, but following battery recall procedures), one for a HP battery and one for a Toshiba battery.

Regarding battery manufacture - aren't items like this made by robots and, if so, are the robots programmed to make the batteries safer and better quality when they are to have a Pentax label attached? Or is each battery sent to the Pentax factory checked externally, internally, and for its performance, by technicians (or robots) there, thus dramatically increasing its production costs?

So is there any significant evidence that spending up to 10x as much for an OEM battery really justifies any extra peace of mind?

Philip

Seems like a good deal for a Pentax DSLR starter kit -

link

That doesn't seem very wise when it's been drilled into - did the technician say it would be OK to use it?

Philip

I like these - they are nice shots. I prefer the ones with the more usual format rather than the panoramic (or letterbox) ones. Subjective opinion of course, but they all look even better to me when the exposure is increased 1/3 to 1/2 a stop and a bit more contrast is applied.

Philip

No, it shows up less in detailed areas - look at the tree and the stone work of the cathedral. Compression shows up much more in areas of uniform but gradual colour changes, just like skies.

The Exif data of Rob's photos show that they were processed in LightRoom - so that's probably where the Jpeg setting is wrong.

Philip

Looks like the Jpeg compression level is too high. E.g. The first of these was saved with compression set at 10%, the second at 90% -







Philip

Apologies Doctor - you are right. It's an example of understanding the answer but misunderstanding the question!

Philip

The APS-C sensor of the K-5 crops a smaller rectangle (23.7x15.7mm) from the centre of the full frame rectangle (36x24mm), giving a similar view to a lens of about 1.5x the focal length, i.e. approx. a 36mm lens.

Philip

Just a minor point - isn't it the K-50 that has all those colours? I really like the Olive and Brown, but I recently bought a K-5 II instead on ebay for about the same price, so plain black it is again.

Philip

Sandstone? against a blue sky - almost perfectly complementary colours - 1 and 5 are nice shots!

Philip