Third-party batteries for Canon 5d Mk II

markrichardson

markrichardson

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Hi everyone,

Have been trying to find 3rd party batteries for the 5D2. I've found plenty out there, but none so far that offer the full battery monitoring features.

Anyone know of any out there?

Mark
 
Spoke to someone at Robert Scott Associates, who do the EOS magazine and Hahnel are developing a 5D Mk II battery.

Not sure whether they're now on the market, if not they're certainly in development.

A quick Google search should say for sure...
 
I realise they are more expensive, but if you can, I think you should go for the proper Canon one. I suspect you could run in to warranty problems if you use a 3rd party battery.

So be a bit careful, particularly as you have a pretty expensive camera. Don't spoil the ship for a penny worth of tar as they say!
 
Badger UK said:
I realise they are more expensive, but if you can, I think you should go for the proper Canon one. I suspect you could run in to warranty problems if you use a 3rd party battery.

So be a bit careful, particularly as you have a pretty expensive camera. Don't spoil the ship for a penny worth of tar as they say!
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Can't see how it could possibly be a warranty issue? For starters how will they ever know it was run on a non-canon battery I seriously doubt the camera checks and records the fact!

The genuine Canon betteries for all there cameras are ridiculously over priced if you ask me the 3rd party ones are normally a fraction of the price and last longer.

Back to the OP do you really need all the battery monitoring features surely as long as you have two batteries on you all you need to know is when it's flat?
 
Badger UK said:
I realise they are more expensive, but if you can, I think you should go for the proper Canon one. I suspect you could run in to warranty problems if you use a 3rd party battery.

So be a bit careful, particularly as you have a pretty expensive camera. Don't spoil the ship for a penny worth of tar as they say!
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I'd love to know where to get Canon batteries. :(
 
a1ex2001 said:
Can't see how it could possibly be a warranty issue? For starters how will they ever know it was run on a non-canon battery I seriously doubt the camera checks and records the fact!

The genuine Canon betteries for all there cameras are ridiculously over priced if you ask me the 3rd party ones are normally a fraction of the price and last longer.

Back to the OP do you really need all the battery monitoring features surely as long as you have two batteries on you all you need to know is when it's flat?
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It records the facts when you're using a Canon battery doesn't it? How can you be so sure there is no way of detecting? I'm pretty sure that a company that spends a lot of money on building imaging systems with complex circuitry can tell what caused a problem. I wouldn't trust a 3rd party battery anyways for a variety of reasons, including battery life, warranty, safety.

As for only needing to know when the battery is flat, that's like saying you don't need a fuel guage on a car because you only need to know when there's no fuel left. What school of logic did you go to? ;)
 
It would be useful to have the battery level. Doing wedding photography means that you need to know you're going to have enough juice to get you through the next part of the day. Also, being able to know how charged my batteries that aren't in the camera are would be a plus.

It's not an essential but would be useful. I've looked for the Hahnel and haven't found them yet.

The other big issue is that a lot of 3rd party batteries for the 5D2 need a different charger to the Canon ones, which would be inconvenient.

I've used 3rd party batteries in all my cameras without any problems - usually performance is actually slightly better.
 
KayJay said:
I wouldn't trust a 3rd party battery anyways for a variety of reasons, including battery life, warranty, safety.
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Canon don't make the batteries, a 3rd party makes them to Canons spec.

As long as you buy batteries from a recognised source (not ebay or the back of a van) then you should be ok. I've been using 3rd party batteries in my 300D/30D/50D for years, they last longer and are 1/10th of the price :)
 
KayJay said:
I wouldn't trust a 3rd party battery anyways for a variety of reasons, including battery life, warranty, safety.
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Why did you change the brakes and wheels on your MINI then? Surely a company that that spends a lot of money on building cars with complex parts know what they're doing too ;)

For the record, all my Nikons and both my G9 and G10 are have been or are running on 3rd party batteries, without any problems :shrug:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Why did you change the brakes and wheels on your MINI then? Surely a company that that spends a lot of money on building cars with complex parts know what they're doing too ;)

For the record, all my Nikons and both my G9 and G10 are have been or are running on 3rd party batteries, without any problems :shrug:
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Because I know the companies that made the wheels and brakes well enough to know they were better than the BMW parts :P I guess you could say the same with batteries. I don't know! I don't know the reputations of any third party battery manufacturers well enough to use their products.
 
I have to ask 'why do you need one' ? Are you able to drain a fully charged battery in one day?
 
KayJay said:
Because I know the companies that made the wheels and brakes well enough to know they were better than the BMW parts :P I guess you could say the same with batteries. I don't know! I don't know the reputations of any third party battery manufacturers well enough to use their products.
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BMW don't make their own brakes and wheels, just like Canon don't make batteries :lol:
 
I reckon 3 is a good number for minimum. You can use them in rotation too that way.
 
have not followed Our instructions in the product manual, or those of the manufacturer; or because of damage or defect due to willful neglect or negligence by anyone other than Us; (b) to loss of quality, degradation of performance or actual damage that results from the use of spare parts or other replaceable items (such as consumables) that are neither made nor recommended by Canon;

The above is an extract from Canon's Terms & Conditions. I would suspect that the batteries you'd buy from reputable place will be Ok although I still say you should be careful with batteries. They are complex pieces of equipment these days.
 
I was told by someone at Jacobs HQ that a large battery manufacturer were releasing a 5DMk2 battery with full compatability at the end of May.
 
mrgubby said:
I've got seven & I don't rely on my camera for a living :eek:
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I should point out that I haven't shot a wedding with my 5D2 yet (hence not having multiple batteries yet).

For my previous camera I had 6 batteries! For the 5D2 I think I can get 300-500 shots per battery so 3 is probably the magic number for a day's shooting to be safe.
 
markrichardson said:
I should point out that I haven't shot a wedding with my 5D2 yet (hence not having multiple batteries yet).

For my previous camera I had 6 batteries! For the 5D2 I think I can get 300-500 shots per battery so 3 is probably the magic number for a day's shooting to be safe.
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Some of you guys kill me :bonk: 900-1500 shots at a wedding, god help you if you ever have to do a wedding using film :lol:
 
Actually I have!

I don't do 900=1500 shots per wedding (I prob take about a third to half that many frames over a day's coverage) - multiple batteries are still a must for backup purposes. But there are changing expectations in terms of number and style of photos. Besides, why not shoot more if there's no cost?
 
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