Non Canon "LP-E5" Batteries

[maestro55]

I am sitting here building my Amazon shopping list for accessories and glass that I plan to purchase for my newly founded Canon Rebel XS. I was looking at spare batteries as I would like to have a couple of spares that I keep charged. There are batteries on Amazon for as low as $9 from off brands. I am curious, coming from a guy with little experience, am I taking any real risk by using these cheaper batteries. The Canon LP-E5 is $46 on Amazon, am I buying just a label on the battery.

Anyone else use off brand batteries in their Canon cameras?

 

[clams]

I am sitting here building my Amazon shopping list for accessories and glass that I plan to purchase for my newly founded Canon Rebel XS. I was looking at spare batteries as I would like to have a couple of spares that I keep charged. There are batteries on Amazon for as low as $9 from off brands. I am curious, coming from a guy with little experience, am I taking any real risk by using these cheaper batteries. The Canon LP-E5 is $46 on Amazon, am I buying just a label on the battery.

Anyone else use off brand batteries in their Canon cameras?

There's usually no big risk to using the third-party branded battery. Personally, I use a ton of third party batteries for my Canon 40D and find no problem with them. They might not hold as much charge, but for 9 bucks, the charge difference is negligible.

 

[thatdrewguy]

My experiences with knock-off battery brands is that they don't hold a charge as long as the OEM battery. This has been the case with Canon & Olympus knock-off camera batteries and Nokia knock-off cell phone batteries. Sometimes the charge is 1/2 that of the OEM.

 

[clams]

It might seem cumbersome, but at $9, two of those third party-batteries still hold more power than one of the OEM batteries at under half the price. Some good third-party brands would be phottix or camera devices.

 

[maestro55]

Thank you for the thoughts, my only fear was of the battery exploding or something but then again I guess the same could happen with a Canon battery but I suppose either way it is pretty rare.

I think I will try a couple of the cheaper batteries from Amazon and see what happens.

 

[ProwlingTiger]

I have a few 3rd party batteries. I prefer Canon OEM myself. However, if you go 3rd party, do what I do: Buy from a reputable 3rd party company.

Don't go for the $10 Hong Kong imports. The risk is there and it's not worth it. Shop around B&H, Adorama, etc, and find a decent brand.

 

[Acsom]

I bought 3rd party batteries that are higher ma and cheaper. I forget the brand, they work great though. Might be the phottix mentioned above. Got them at Adorama.

 

[maestro55]

Looks like Adorama has their own version of the LP-E5 for $30, but get one of those for now as a spare. Still looking around and looking for input of what people use.

 

[jbernie]

When I got my battery grip for my 40D I got one extra Canon battery. I don't know if you will really need more than two, maybe the pros might, or if you will be away from any form of power for an extended period of time, but the Canon batteries seem to last a long time.

Just make sure there isn't anything in your warranty about use of non OEM batteries, saving $30 now is great but if it ruins your camera and voids the warranty you are screwed.

 

[compuwar]

The biggest risk is that you're buying batteries with cells that don't meet the manufacturer's quality controls. GIven the risk when a battery goes wrong, I'd not risk it.

 

[Zion21]

I just received an LP-E5 generic and did a 4 hour time lapse. So far everything is fine and battery life is the same as the canon brand.

 

[jampat]

On my 20D, I am getting 400-600 shots from Canon batteries and ~100 from knock-off batteries with a supposedly high mah rating. I have also had one of my Canon batteries die (one of the cells inside burst and rusted). Personally I try to stick with the legitimate batteries, if you have time to look you can get a decent deal (I think I paid ~$60 each new from the UK).

 

[ProwlingTiger]

It might seem cumbersome, but at $9, two of those third party-batteries still hold more power than one of the OEM batteries at under half the price. Some good third-party brands would be phottix or camera devices.

Yeah, but when one of those batteries goes bad, are you going to be able to contact the manufacturer? And would they even carry a warranty?

Unless you're buying a brand like POWWER or Delkin that has a bit of a reputation, it's just not worth it. Buying $9 batteries for a $1000+ setup is frivolous. In the age where iPods, Macbooks, and other brands of laptops can catch fire with OEM batteries, why risk it? If my Canon battery catches fire, I know who to call and have a strong company that stands behind their product on the other end of the line.