Third Party batteries

[Doctor27]

I'm buying a backup battery for my Panasonic FZ30 and wondered if I should buy the Panasonic brand (which they advise in the manual), or an cheaper alternative. Is there a difference in quality, or could a third party damage my camera?
Jessops have the Panny for £60, but i've seen alternatives going for a tenner! (Jessops own brand is £30).

Thanks

[icemanonline]

I suppose in theory 3rd party could well damage the camera. In saying that I have 1 Sony battery and 2 3rd party batteries and have had no problems.

I just would not give them the rip of amount they demand because it has the "Brand Logo!!" on the goods........But That's me!!

Its up to you but I wouldn't buy the branded battery. At the very least I would maybe go for a Jessops battery as you can go back and moan if you have issue's. I got my other!! batteries online.

icemanonline

[lloydy53]

I've just bought a 3rd party battery as a second battery to go in the grip of my Pentax K10.
It cost very little from 7dayshop.com ( who delivered etc very efficiently ) and works ok in the camera alongside the original Pentax battery.

The only difference I can see is when I charge the batteries the charger light goes green when the Pentax is fully charged, but it stays red all the time with the cheap battery. It is charged, and it doesn't take any longer, the charger just doesn't sense when it's charged.

It's no great problem though.

[xcitant]

The third party batteries I've bought started to underperform after a relatively short time, compared to the OEMs. I would stick to branded 3rd party ones like Ansmann or Uniross - forget the cheapo ebay batteries.

[Mike.P®]

Originally Posted by lloydy53

The only difference I can see is when I charge the batteries the charger light goes green when the Pentax is fully charged, but it stays red all the time with the cheap battery. It is charged, and it doesn't take any longer, the charger just doesn't sense when it's charged.

It's no great problem though.

I have a original and cheap battery for my K10D and I have never seen the charger light go green, it just goes out.


I haven't bought a branded battery for any electrical equipment including my Archos video player, camera, phone, dvd player etc and never had a problem with any of them.

[tomson]

I never buy branded batteries - complete waste of money if you ask me. Up to £100 for a genuine Canon one for my 1D versus an unbranded one for 11 quid from 7dayshop. I go with the unbranded every time.

[Doctor27]

Cheers guys. I will probably go with the Jessops brand.

[loz]

Canon LP-E5 batteries for my 450D can cost up to £39 each.

So how about 2 for £4.89
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-Battery-For-...QQcmdZViewItem

So I bought 2.
Arrived in just 3 or 4 days.
Seem to work fine.

I have taken a 150+ shots on the one I have in the camera and it is still showing a full charge on the indicator.