OMD Spare batteries

[smartwombat]

YEs this is the kit. Stated voltage is 7.6 same as the olympus battery.

I bought the Best Batt and discovered that while the charger is great, the batteries do not fit in the HLD-6 grip !

Well that's putting it too strong perhaps.
They are a tight sliding fit, so sight that the spring does not push them out when the battery catch is released.

Strangely my Olympus original battery is a sliding fit in there too, and I can see a growing scratch mark on the case.

The MallBox batteries fit just fine, but seen to have low capacity.

 

[smartwombat]

I went into the local store in Vienna, where I bought my OMD 4 weeks ago, bought one spare battery and went out again.
Obviously different supply in different parts of the world. This time Austria wins

So we could all come visit Vienna just for the batteries

 

[etrigan63]

I bought the Best Batt and discovered that while the charger is great, the batteries do not fit in the HLD-6 grip !

Well that's putting it too strong perhaps.
They are a tight sliding fit, so sight that the spring does not push them out when the battery catch is released.

Strangely my Olympus original battery is a sliding fit in there too, and I can see a growing scratch mark on the case.

The MallBox batteries fit just fine, but seen to have low capacity.

I had the same experience with the grip as well. One has to pop the latch and lightly tap the battery pack to get the battery to come out. Kind of like Heinz Ketchup...

 

[ptomsu]

So we could all come visit Vienna just for the batteries

Let me know in advance, so they have not run out of batteries by then

 

[etrigan63]

Ptomsu,
I will be there next June visiting friends (and celebrating my daughter's "quince"). We will need to meetup.

 

[FlypenFly]

I wouldn't use non OEM batteries. Not just the danger part but under/over volting sensors/electronics leads to corrupt memory cards.

 

[pophoto]

Just realizing about the availability status of the batteries gives me a headache, I haven't even hit the buy it now yet!

I searched and searched about for it and it's still pretty much pre-order here in the US!

 

[henningw]

I wouldn't use non OEM batteries. Not just the danger part but under/over volting sensors/electronics leads to corrupt memory cards.

I've used a large variety of digital cameras over the past dozen years and only bought the overpriced OEM batteries if 3rd party weren't available. I've saved $4-5000 ($3000+ for Leica alone) and had no problems other than low capacity at times. Card corruption due to 3rd party batteries requires other iisues with the camera; in practice it just isn't going to happen.

Henning

 

[FlypenFly]

Sure it is. I actually have a degree in electrical and computer engineering although it is not my career any more.

Circuits designs expect a certain level of voltage. If that voltage changes in the middle of an operation, fail safes take place but you can't fail safe every scenario.

 

[Allan Ostling]

I've been waiting for Olympus OEM spare batteries because I've heard mixed things about the generics that have so far made their way to the market. I'm leaving on a photo trip in two weeks and am starting to run out of time to wait. :cussing:

Faced with a similar problem, I cancelled my OM-D pre-order and bought a Nikon 1 V1 with three lenses. Lightroom 4 has profiles for all the lenses.

I'll take this on an August trip to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. An advantage is that the Nikon 1 has an accessory GPS unit, so I will be able to geo-tag all my images.

 

[henningw]

Sure it is. I actually have a degree in electrical and computer engineering although it is not my career any more.

Circuits designs expect a certain level of voltage. If that voltage changes in the middle of an operation, fail safes take place but you can't fail safe every scenario.

Great. I have a masters in Physics and my work involved a lot of circuit design. Voltage changes in the middle of an operation is hardly what we're talking about with 3rd party batteries. Also, all cameras have a number of voltage regulation circuits to handle that eventuality, including some additional ones before the data read/write blocks.

Henning

 

[kwalsh]

FlyPenFly and Henning - before the walls get stinky from a pissing contest, you might be talking past each other...

Batteries don't randomly alter their voltage and there are excellent regulation circuits in the cameras. The chances of a generic battery "glitching" its voltage is somewhere close to zero. Battery chemistry just doesn't work that way. If there is a quality concern with a generic lithium cell it is the number of cycles it will take and the risk of shorts/fires. It won't have a freaky output voltage, there is no way for it to over voltage the camera. It could run out of charge faster than expected though.

On the flip side, estimating remaining charge, giving fair warning and cleanly shutting down often involves a combination of "smarts" in both the battery and the camera. The result can be the some generics on some cameras (the GH2 being a good example) can result in the camera losing power without warning at the end of the useful charge of the battery. So far a few E-M5 users have reported something similar with some generics but it hasn't been clear if it was just a "fast" shutdown with little warning or if the camera actually cut-out in mid-operation. If the battery dies without warning then yes it is possible to end up with a corrupted filesystem on an SD card. Typically this means losing your last image. For video though you may lose the entire video in progress.

Ken

 

[Terry]

This was the thread over at DPReview that went through some of the issues.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=41497802

 

[jonoslack]

I just placed a forward order for some proper batteries . . . . . . . .

I seem to have slipped a 75 f1.8 pre-order on too

Worth mentioning that I've completely failed to run a battery flat in a day's shooting - you need to remember to recharge each evening, but that's not a deal breaker . . . . . . . . but maybe I'm more abstemious with my shooting than some people?

 

[henningw]

FlyPenFly and Henning - before the walls get stinky from a pissing contest, you might be talking past each other...

Batteries don't randomly alter their voltage and there are excellent regulation circuits in the cameras. The chances of a generic battery "glitching" its voltage is somewhere close to zero. Battery chemistry just doesn't work that way. If there is a quality concern with a generic lithium cell it is the number of cycles it will take and the risk of shorts/fires. It won't have a freaky output voltage, there is no way for it to over voltage the camera. It could run out of charge faster than expected though.

On the flip side, estimating remaining charge, giving fair warning and cleanly shutting down often involves a combination of "smarts" in both the battery and the camera. The result can be the some generics on some cameras (the GH2 being a good example) can result in the camera losing power without warning at the end of the useful charge of the battery. So far a few E-M5 users have reported something similar with some generics but it hasn't been clear if it was just a "fast" shutdown with little warning or if the camera actually cut-out in mid-operation. If the battery dies without warning then yes it is possible to end up with a corrupted filesystem on an SD card. Typically this means losing your last image. For video though you may lose the entire video in progress.

Ken

You are completely correct that this is possible, and sorry to all that I fired off the last message as I did. We all have skills and backgrounds that others are unaware of, and these should never be used to 'trump' a post.

Standard design in cameras today is though that a hard shut down is not allowed. In actuality, even with Li-Ion batteries the voltage (and power) doesn't drop to nothing from a 'full voltage' with zero gradient. Remaining power, even though no longer acceptable to the camera for LCD or shutter operation is used for a safe shut down. As I mentioned before, for there to be data corruption due to a battery, the cameras has to have a number of other issues; possibly production anomalies resulting in a defective camera. That a camera like the GH2 might get confused by poorly written firmware in a 3rd party battery is a possibility, although a faint one. Mine has never had a problem; on the other hand I've not tested EVERY 3rd party battery with it.

I've used probably 50 3rd party batteries in the last 10 years with no issues; not even on the various late model Pansonics and Canons that have proved difficult with 3rd party battery manufacturers. With the money I've saved I'm more than halfway to a Leica MM. I'll keep on this path.

I've ordered 4 batteries off ebay for the OM-D; I'll report how they work.

Henning

 

[Terry]

I just placed a forward order for some proper batteries . . . . . . . .

I seem to have slipped a 75 f1.8 pre-order on too

Worth mentioning that I've completely failed to run a battery flat in a day's shooting - you need to remember to recharge each evening, but that's not a deal breaker . . . . . . . . but maybe I'm more abstemious with my shooting than some people?

I am using two batteries with one in the body and one in the grip. I have the camera set to use the grip battery first. I haven't made it to the camera starting to use the body battery yet. At the end of shooting I just charge the grip battery (and then don't need to remove the grip). Three batteries seems optimum to work this way I can't possibly run out of charge in a day.

As for the 75 f1.8 I had no doubt that it would find its way to your home.

 

[JMaher]

I ran a generic out somewhere around 300 shots. I haven't run down the original but I haven't pushed it past 200 yet. I would rather have originals but I have a two week trip planned and originals are not available.

Jim

 

[jonoslack]

I've used probably 50 3rd party batteries in the last 10 years with no issues; not even on the various late model Pansonics and Canons that have proved difficult with 3rd party battery manufacturers. With the money I've saved I'm more than halfway to a Leica MM. I'll keep on this path.

Congratulations Henning . . . I don't think I've spent more than $200 on batteries in the last 10 years, (although I think I might have inadvertently stolen some from Leica :ROTFL. Long ways to go before I can pay for even the strap on an MM!

 

[henningw]

Congratulations Henning . . . I don't think I've spent more than $200 on batteries in the last 10 years, (although I think I might have inadvertently stolen some from Leica :ROTFL. Long ways to go before I can pay for even the strap on an MM!

I certainly didn't SPEND that much on batteries, but if I had bought the 18 or so I've gotten since the M8 came out from Leica instead of $11 third party ones, I'd be down that much money. Various places here want $200 to $250 now per battery. :bang head:

Most days a couple of batteries are enough, but some days I've gone through a dozen on 3 cameras.

Henning

 

[f6cvalkyrie]

Hi,

I received a 3-battery set with charger from China. They seem to perform correctly with regard to capacity.

But, they are very difficult to take OUT of the grip ... no problem getting them in, and also no problem in the camera body ...

Anybody else faced this ?

C U
Rafael