It is crucial that you use genuine accessories with your digital camera. It doesn’t makes sense to save money purchasing duplicate accessories in your high-end machine. Its like using cheap oil in a high performance race car. Doing so will deteriorate the car’s performance as time progresses. It will also cause havoc with the car’s circuitry. Even your DSLR is like a high performance sports car and using a pirated battery pack can affect its performance.
I recommend purchasing a genuine Canon battery pack since;
1) Long Battery Life – They last longer. Without battery, your camera is as good as a paper weight. A longer lasting battery means you can shoot on and never miss any potential shot.
2) Smart Chip – The Original Canon battery packs bundle in a smart chip which communicates seamlessly with your DSLR. This helps in providing you with accurate information about the status of your battery(battery health) and even battery charge.
3) Safe – Since its a genuine battery pack, it will provide stable power supply to your high precision DSLR’s which are sensitive in nature. Non-genuine battery packs have a tendency to fluctuate in supply voltage which can have adverse effect on your camera.
Here is how you can check if the Canon battery pack you are going to purchase is genuine.
# Cost – The cost of original Canon battery packs are twice or thrice than the third party/pirated counterparts. So if you feel its expensive, its probably the genuine thing. However, its foolish to simply go by the price. Some unethical vendors may fleece you by over-pricing non-genuine battery packs.
# Canon Hologram – Check if your Canon’s battery packaging has a small hologram in the corner. The hologram changes when you view it from different angles. This is a mark of an genuine canon product.
# Font – The font on the battery is another indicator which will tell if its genuine. On a genuine Canon battery pack, the font used is slim and the size is small. On a pirated battery pack, it is large in size and somewhat bold.
In addition, the original canon battery pack comes with a packing which cannot be resealed. You will also find instruction manual bundled smartly inside which can be accessed once you tear along the dotted lines on the rear.
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I’d have to disagree.. Not just for cost effective, but some aftermarket batteries can out perform the OEM. Using your high-end sports car analogy, you wouldn’t want to run OEM oil, OEM tires, OEM turbo, OEM injectors, etc. you want o upgrade, bigger, better, faster, etc..
Some aftermarket Canon compatible batteries offer more power. I think my OEM batteries are 900mAh ? I can’t remember off the top of my head, but my 4 of my aftermarket batteries are 1500mAh, same voltage, same everything, just more capacity. These aftermarket batteries were slightly cheaper, and last longer. I have 2 genuine Canon OEM batteries and 6 aftermarket batteries. I also pair them together in parallel via an aftermarket Meike extended battery grip, not a Canon grip.
I’ve been using these batteries and cameras for many photoshoots, professional and personal, hours upon hours of use, charges, etc. and I have never had a problem.
Yes, Canon batteries are good, but that doesn’t mean there are not any other batteries that are not better. Pop one open, compare the circuitry, the quality. See if they pass your expectations. I work in an electrical factory in quality control, so I see all kinds of bad wiring, circuitry, solders, etc everyday. Some of these aftermarket batteries are junk quality, but there are some good ones out there.
Have you ever had an aftermarket battery fail? Ruin equipment? Know someone who has ruined equipment from aftermarket battery failure? If so, which make/model camera, battery make/model? I’d be very curious to know. Thanks.
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I partially agree with your comments on the aftermarket batteries out-performing. The thing with OEM is, the camera generally displays a full charge status but they(batteries) run out of charge without prior intimation.
I had one friend using Nikon D3000 who bought a third-party battery which though served his purpose of providing a half of day charge. However, after a period of six months the battery got inflated and soon there was bulge in the centre which made replacing the battery from camera compartment slightly harsh. He then replaced it with an original Nikon battery for his camera model and till date he has no problems whatsoever. I don’t remember the make of the third-party battery he used but it was definitely not a well known brand.
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