Sony 850 Battery Issue

[Guy Mancuso]

Not sure anyone has run into this but I bought the Sony 850 with battery and ordered a extra one with same exact model number. But the spare sometimes works but mostly get a warning and won't work. This is making me a little mad since it is a Sony battery and not some off brand unit. I had the same issue with a A55 battery too although that was off brand.

More concerned about the 850 I have to have two batteries. Any idea's on this. Like to order another but afraid i will run into the same issue.

 

[Terry]

I had 4 of the Sony batteries and never had a problem with any of them.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Not sure what it is Terry but very irritating . My shoot the other day i shot 600 images and was running really low than i still needed to shoot some more and i switched and worked for two frames than cut out. Went back to used battery and prayed. LOL

Came home charged everything and tried several times again today and still same result. Guess i will order another and see if it is okay and return this one. Just curious if others are running into it. Other than that it did a very nice job on my shoot with very few issues. It was my first real shoot with it under pressure and it did fine.

Today my 200mm came it appears to be very very nice

 

[Terry]

Guy- I have read about counterfeit batteries that say Sony on them
A) where did you buy it?
B) was it priced well below Sony retail price

If it is Sony, I would drive over to your nearby SonyStyle store and try and get it replaced.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Amazon but it came from somewhere else. May just go straight to Sony store

 

[edwardkaraa]

I never buy anywhere but sonystyle. Sony seems to give preferential treatment to its direct clients. Regarding the battery I bet it's counterfeit.

 

[dhsimmonds]

Guy

I use four of the Sony batteries for my A900 and A700, the oldest three now two years old and they have never missed a beat.

I use two of 'em in a vertical battery grip permanently positioned on my A900. This gives me masses of battery time....more than enough for any shoot. Sure it adds to the weight, but then I prefer a heavier camera, especially when balancing 400mm and 500mm lenses!

All my batteries are Sony originals. I suspect that your second battery is not!

I also once obtained a 16Gb CF Transcend card via Amazon but sent from a source in Spain.....it was a dud! Lesson learned! If something seems too cheap to be real, then it probably isn't!

 

[fotografz]

Six Sony Batteries for my two A900s, either from Sony Style or B&H. No issues. Have the Grip but rarely use it. Can't recall, but I think you have to tell it to switch batteries ... but like I said, I rarely use it so I'm probably wrong :ROTFL:

Marc

 

[edwardkaraa]

The grip will use the battery with the least juice first until it's completely exhausted, then it switches automatically to the fully charged one.

 

[Eoin]

4 genuine Sony batteries for my 2 x a900, never had a problem with any of them.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Okay it really sounds like I got a counterfeit one than. Damn

Thanks folks I will source one directly from B&H or Sony which normally I do. I went through Amazon just on the battery and Amazon must have a vendor with counterfeit units.

I bought the body from B&H which i have been buying from them since I was a kid even before mail order, GASP. LOL

 

[Terry]

get RMA from Amazon and give them feedback.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Threw all the packing away but I could

 

[lightdreamer]

I use 2 Sony and two replacement akkus with my A900.

The two original Sony are superior to both replacements
in durability and capacity too.

So guess what i buy next - two original Sonys to replace the replacements.

BG lightdreamer

 

[picman]

I've got 6 original sony batteries for almost two years. No problems.

 

[philip_pj]

Me also, I have five of the expensive little bricks for the A900 and A700, not a problem ever, they do pick up in performance after some usage and recharging. Interestingly they last much longer on the A900 than the A700, had me head-scratching...then I realised - I shoot all manual focus lenses, no SS, dim screen, not much reviewing on the larger cam, but the partner uses all that on the A700!

Ken Rockwell (don't throw rocks at me pls) believes that shallow charging work best for these batteries, so frequent recharges...it does seem to work better in my experience.

Go complain loudly - they may see the good side of keeping you happy, and their costs are quite low for each batt, I am sure. Even without the paperwork or wrapping, just be honest with them. If the counterfeit issue got big enough, and they are using brand names to fool people, the makers are part responsible for making it easy for villains to do so.

 

[peterv]

Guy, sorry to hear this. I've been using 3 original Sony batteries now for almost 2 years and never encountered any such problem.

 

[wyip]

When I had an a700, I bought a grip and extra battery for it at the local SonyStyle. After charging up the new battery, I found that the grip did not like the new battery. I got an error to the effect of 'Insert a genuine Sony InfoLithium Battery' (it was a long time ago and I forgot the exact wording). I took it back to the SonyStyle store and showed the sales rep, and he exchanged batteries for me. The odd thing was the battery worked fine if it was put directly into the camera. This was the only time I've had problems with Sony batteries and I've gone through the a700, a33, and now a850.

 

[Dave_Anderson]

2 Sony batteries, one came with the camera the other bought at SonyStyle. Never an issue, but like anything else there is the possibility to end up with a defect or counterfeit. I tend to let them run down as much as I can, that seems to help the calibration routine. Shallow charging as mentioned above seems to cause the battery to act like the fuel gauge on an old car -- goes down rapidly to 1/3 then moves very slowly from there.

 

[pegelli]

I've got 3 genuine Sony batteries (all from sonystyle) that I cycle through my A700 and A900. Two are ~3 years old and the third a little less than a year. I've marked them all 3 so I know which is which but sofar I haven't been able to detect any significant different capacities between them. Like Dave I try to run them down to the "yellow blinky" stage before recharging. Only when I have a special event or plan a whole day/weekend shooting I do a partial load to have all at 100% before I leave the house.

Btw, same with the 2 batteries I've got for my KM5D, also both original KM, and no sign of any letdowns yet.