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chrisbet
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Do you only use Nikon batteries or do you use aftermarket equivalents? If aftermarket, which brands do you trust?
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Gilbert Sandberg
| Joined: | Tue Apr 17th, 2012 |
| Location: | Netherlands |
| Posts: | 196 |
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Chris,
I use both original and aftermarket in my cameras.
re: brands
Only ones from a trusted seller, who guarantees compatibility with my cameras.
Note esp. with new cameras, there have been compatibility issues.
Regards, Gilbert
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jk
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I find that the chipping of batteries by Nikon has resulted in third party batteries to be less than satisfactory as alternative battery purchases.
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Eric
| Joined: | Thu Apr 19th, 2012 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 4428 |
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I've often bought batteries off eBay. Despite stories to the contrary, I've never noticed any issues with their performance. That's not to say they aren't say 5% less capacity but frankly at less than half the price of Nikon originals, I just buy 2.
I've had several EXPro batteries over the years and had no issues.
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jk
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Nikon batteries are problematic.
I have a Nikon battery that came new with each of the following cameras, Nikon D600, V1, D800, D850, Z7. Only the D850 and Z7 have batteries that can be swapped between cameras, but they will also work in the lesser cameras. However the batteries from the D600, V1, D800, do not work in the D850 or Z7.
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GeoffR
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When i first bought a D2H I found that third party batteries were pretty useless, now some 15 years later it is possible to buy a third party EN-EL4a or EN-EL18 that out perform the originals or at least equal them. I have three third party EN-EL18s to one Nikon version. With EN-EL4s I have a couple of third party ones and rather a lot of Nikon originals. They all seem to work well.
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jk
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I never had a problem with EN-EL4 batteries but the EN-EL15 series now exist as EN-EL15, EN-EL15a, EN-EL15b units.
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Robert
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I understand the EN-EL15b batteries have to be charged with an EN-EL15b compatible charger to get the last ounce of juice into them, the earlier charger is not quite powerful? enough to get that last bit of electric unto the slightly larger capacity, I am reliably told.
As for the original question, avoid excessively optimistic claims for capacity, they are rarely reliable or sufficiently long lived, as Eric says, buy two batteries if the price allows. That's what I have done with the EN-EL4 batteries, I see little difference in performance between Nikon or third party batteries. Remember, there are not many manufactures of the actual cells. Nikon does not make the cells themselves, the Nikon batteries I have taken apart have as best I recall, had Samsung cells. Samsung and Panasonic are the main ones I think, there are knockoffs but they will be significantly cheaper and are largely to be avoided. The important bit is the membrane sack which contains the electrolyte, to increase the battery capacity, that membrane has to be made thinner, as a rule cheap, thin thin membrane leaks and that can cause short charge retention timescale and excessive leakage can cause overheating and even fire.
The better Eneloop and Fujitsu batteries use high quality very thin and leak resistant membrane, which is expensive, but provides long shelf life and good capacity. As usual it's a trade off situation.
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novicius
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For D3s / D3X I bought Several PATONA enel4a batt.,...as good as OEM batt.
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chrishamer
| Joined: | Sat Apr 7th, 2012 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 61 |
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I've stuck with Nikon batteries, I just don't think it's worth the risk.
That being said, I was delighted to find my D600 batteries worked in my Z6, so I still have a set of 5 without buying any new ones - though I mostly use the one it came with as USB charging is ever so convenient so don't really need spare batteries anymore.
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GeoffR
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I used to think that too but, I am sure that, like me, you would take a different view if you faced the prospect of paying £190 each for genuine batteries. Given that this amounts to around 20% of what I paid for the camera (D4) it represents very poor value. I use three third party batteries that together cost less than £100 and work perfectly as far as I can tell.
I recently bought a third party charger, mainly because it came with an adaptor to allow EN-EL4 batteries to be charged as well, it cost £44. The Nikon adaptor costs £139, if you can find one.
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Robert
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I don't believe there is a significant risk to safety or the camera using an 'after market' battery, that said I have gone to some lengths to try to ensure the battery is of good quality. Seeking confirmation from others as to the reliability of particular vendors.
Geoff makes a good point, when I was looking to use the D3 for winter night time photography the batteries, both genuine and otherwise were performing very badly in sub -10C temperatures. Four new genuine Nikon EN-EL4 batteries would have cost me £600, even if I had £600 I wouldn't spend it on batteries. I eventually decided to go with lead acid but that was before I got the D800, which although I haven't yet used it in sub -10C temperatures yet, it is performing much better than the D3 did in similarly cold conditions. Kielder, or Northern Scotland, later this year will confirm that.
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