Anyone using generic batteries - or are they dangerous?

[Jon Braeley]

Out of interest and because they are so cheap I bought some generic batteries to test in the 7D. Just popped one in and I got a 'cannot communicate with battery' error warning but after that, it seems fine - albeit, there is no charge indicator on the screen.
Anyone using these are shall I bin them as too dangerous?
Also can you charge these with the Canon charger - as they came with their own charger which makes me raise this question.

[Norman Pogson]

All the non Canon batteries I have seen cannot charge with the Canon battery charger and the non Canon battery won't give a power level indication. I have been tempted by cheaper batteries, but my thoughts are after spending $2k on the 7D is to pay for original Canon batteries, it seems cheap insurance.

[Andy Wilkinson]

I've read of reports of non-Canon batteries swelling inside the camera and being unable to be removed. I'd rather buy a legit version and then your sure of the quality/longevity and know who to approach if a problem should occur (and they do occur even with legit batteries as lithium battery technology is not perfect).

[Kin Lau]

Originally Posted by Jon Braeley

Out of interest and because they are so cheap I bought some generic batteries to test in the 7D. Just popped one in and I got a 'cannot communicate with battery' error warning but after that, it seems fine - albeit, there is no charge indicator on the screen.
Anyone using these are shall I bin them as too dangerous?
Also can you charge these with the Canon charger - as they came with their own charger which makes me raise this question.

I've been using them since the 7D first came out, I got a couple and charged them before even picking up the camera so that I could test out the camera right away.

I usually use the Canon battery first, since I can monitor the levels and switch to the 3rd party ones when the Canon battery runs out. When I was shooting for 8-10hrs in Bosque del Apache in winter conditions, they worked just fine.

You cannot charge the 3rd party ones with the Canon charger, or vice-versa.

[Bruce Foreman]

One aspect of using batteries that cannot communicate status with the camera I never see mentioned is this:

What happens when the battery runs down and you have no warning. With no status indicator you can only guess at best. If you are in the middle of a "take" and you run out of juice the camera cannot close the file properly, so you will lose at least the last "take". And since you now have a media card with some kind of error in the file allocation table, should you replace the battery with that card still in place you could then lose everything on the card if the camera subsequently attempts to write anything to the media.

I won't take a chance on that.

[Mike Peterson]

I use both. They are just fine, you just can't check the levels.

[Roger Shealy]

I have used Zeikos batteries in the 7D (have 4 in addition to 2 Canons). Came with chargers and I think I paid around $14 each and other than having to use their specific chargers and being blind to battery levels, they work great. In may experience they have performed similar to OEM batteries.

2 batteries would be adequate for me; I don't usually shoot that many hours without being near a charger. I thought the 7D would chew through them faster than it does but still nice to have for remote use.

[Kin Lau]

Originally Posted by Bruce Foreman

What happens when the battery runs down and you have no warning. With no status indicator you can only guess at best. If you are in the middle of a "take" and you run out of juice the camera cannot close the file properly, so you will lose at least the last "take". And since you now have a media card with some kind of error in the file allocation table, should you replace the battery with that card still in place you could then lose everything on the card if the camera subsequently attempts to write anything to the media.

It's the same as a camera running out of juice with the regular battery. You lose the last take, but the files are fine. No FAT corruption.

I tested this by popping the battery out while recording. All previous files were intact.

Those batteries last such a long time, that I had the camera in video mode for almost 1hr in sub-zero temps, and it was still only at the 1/2 capacity.

[Mike Calla]

Off of taobao.com, in Chinese, i found a brand called PISEN, which i had a great results with on my sony HDVs. I later bought them in the photography market.

Two months and no problems, comes with own charger. they cost about 20$USD

[Jon Braeley]

My view is the same - the generics are good for back ups. I just drained one out and it took a while - seemed to perform just like a Canon. I paid $20 for two batteries plus charger. The only negative is carrying another charger, as I need to travel light in my line of work.

[Alex Payne]

Agreed, I'm a film student and can't really afford much so a new canon battery was out of the question... but I'm not about to tell all my crew and actors to sit around for two hours while I recharge the battery, so I picked up a generic to pop in while I'm recharging the canon battery and it works great. I have no intention of ever using it for anything other than waiting for the primary battery to recharge, and i think that's the best way to go.

[Taky Cheung]

Even for generic batteries, there're high quality onces and cheap ones. Those dirt cheap batteries you can find in ebay are very likely using "recycled" cell.

The LP-E6 batteries that we are selling are made with high quality battery cell. You camera won't report the remaining battery level. But for such low price, it's good to keep a few of them around. Our own wedding photographers are using these batteries with their 5D.

LP-E6 Li-Ion Battery for Canon 5D Mark II and 7D | L.A. Color Shop

[A.J. Aguirre]

yea i have one of those batteries and it works awesome, DO NOT charge it on your canon charger, only charge it on the one it came with.

[Brian Luce]

Originally Posted by A.J. Aguirre

yea i have one of those batteries and it works awesome, DO NOT charge it on your canon charger, only charge it on the one it came with.

I just ordered one from Taky. These batteries do NOT come with a charger. So you have to spend another $16 for the charger. That make it about half the cost of Canon branded battery.

[Taky Cheung]

There is a battery+charger kit for $27.

LP-E6 Battery+Charger Kit for Canon 5D Mark II/7D | L.A. Color Shop

I saw you just order the charger separately. I will issue a refund for the difference.

Taky