Canon 5D MkIII LP-E6 Batteries

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Am I really unlucky or is there likely to be a fault somewhere?

I bought a Canon 5D MkIII last November which came with a genuine Canon LP-E6 battery which worked fine.

Shortly after I bought a Meike grip and 2 3rd party LP-E6 batteries. Neither the grip or either of the batteries worked at all.

I managed to get a replacement grip sent to me and got a refund on the batteries then bought some different ones from 7DayShop.

This time the grip worked but only 1 of the replacement batteries worked.

For the last few months I have happily been using the camera with Meike grip with 1 genuine battery and 1 3rd party one.

On Monday night I installed the firmware update on my camera and when I turned it on again I got a message saying that one of the batteries in the grip had an inconsistent connection to the camera. This message gives the option to OK and carry on regardless and the battery actually works.

I then tested the 2 batteries direct in to the camera without the grip and the Canon battery was completely dead at first (despite showing as 77% charged when in the grip) but after a full charge it works perfectly. The 3rd party battery gets the inconsistency message but click OK and the message goes away and the battery works fine.

So, am I just really unlucky with batteries or is there likely to be a fault somewhere? Has anyone else experienced the inconsistent connection of batteries following the firmware update?

After all that, I’m now after another replacement battery. Any recommendation on a good make & supplier of reasonably prices LP-E6 batteries?
 
The experience you've outlined is exactly why I've never used anything other than a Canon battery - and have never in my whole career had any battery issue. Many people use third party batteries and are completely happy. I'm happier after having spent ££££'s on a camera to buy a real original battery and not have any worries. I'd recommend that rather than going down the third party root..
 
I remember reading some issues regarding the battery grips on the 5d mk3 when they first came out
 
The new firmware upgrade can now tell the difference between batteries used. This is good if you have more than one Canon battery as the camera can tell how much power/shots are left in each battery. Downside is it no worky with non Canon batteries and can give false readings due to the lack of Canon chip.
 
admirable said:
Downside is it no worky with non Canon batteries and can give false readings due to the lack of Canon chip.
Click to expand...

So this means that there is more than likely nothing wrong with the 3rd party battery, it is just getting an error message that was never there before the new firmware?
 
did you save a copy of your original firmware? if so, you could try rolling back (unless the new firmware is needed)
 
canon only seem to allow access to the latest version, alas.
 
So are any of 3rd party batteries any good for 5DIII? I have pretty much blown all gear budget for this year, so for now I can't afford the original grip or battery :( I wouldn't mind having spare one just in case, but it is unlikely I will need it much.
 
I've had the same error with 'compatible' batteries since upgrading to the latest firmware. The batteries were fine before and I'm sure they'll be fine now: I just won't get the camera giving me the information it gave previously. Since I only use these as backup batteries - they're only in the camera while the Canon battery is being charged - it doesn't matter too much whether or not I'm told just how much charge is left.
 
I've got a 5D3 with updated firmware and I'm having similar problems with my 3rd party batteries now. I've also got a Meike MkII grip, the one with the joystick, and some of the 3rd party batteries come up with the same message as the OP.

Clicking OK and carrying on using them and there's no noticeable drop in performance to before the firmware was updated. In the battery info in the menu now comes up with Unknown Battery (instead of LP-E6 for the Canon ones) but gives the same information as it used to. (Shutter Count, % depleted and recharge information, just the name change from LP-E6 to Unknown)

I've now tried all the batteries in both with and without the grip and as above, once I click ok at the screen message everything works the same as before. I've got 8 batteries altogether, 1 genuine and 7 3rd party, as I use the same batteries in my gripped 7D (also Meike grip) and I've tried all the batteries through the 5d3 numerous times and they all still work as well as they did before the upgrade. Just checked them all through my 7D with updated firmware and they still come up in battery info the same as they ever did and are still called LP-E6 instead of Unknown. I guess if I do get any problems with them in the future with the 5D3 I'll just get some new genuine LP-E6 batteries and use the 3rd party ones in the 7D.
 
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I have often wondered about things like this, where a manufacturer can by use of software stop you using non OEM accessories with their cameras.

Just imagine if suddenly all your non OEM flash guns and extension tubes etc stopped working.

I was brought to this thought by the recent failure of a 3 year old (but very little used ) Canon printer. It had Canon ink for a while but as soon as I got fed up with the rate at which it used ink I went to compatible cartridges - which I must say for the price I was very happy with.

Then suddenly one day turned it on and "take to a service centre" was the only message I could get.

So what if the software was programmed to self destruct the printer after a set time, or because it had been consistently used with non OEM ink???

Makes you think :suspect:

David
 
Same batteries in my 7D and I have got problems with 3rd party batteries not charging in the charger.
The batteries are fine in the camera just not in the charger.
 
The reason your printer popped up the message was because the ink drain tray would be full.

There is nothing to say a manufacturer can't use software to limit accessory use. Dell have been doing it for years with their laptop chargers.
 
My 5d2 knows the difference between cheap non Canon batteries nd genuine ones. If you use some of the really cheap ones the chip doesn't contain all the battery data that genuine ones do. Fortunately if your lucky you can find some OEM ones on evil bay that have all the data and the camera doesn't know one from the other. Any that can't be charged in the original charger will come up with that message.
I've used none Canon ones in all my cameras and never had a problem.
Don't worry about the message it's perfectly normal.
 
SpikeK6 said:
Same batteries in my 7D and I have got problems with 3rd party batteries not charging in the charger.
The batteries are fine in the camera just not in the charger.
Click to expand...

most of my Genuine Chinese cr@p batteries work ok some required the genuine Chinese cr@p charger :lol:

The durcels I have for the 7d and my 650d are A1 with the canon charger
 
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