Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: allenbirnbach on March 17, 2009, 12:06:57 am

Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: allenbirnbach on March 17, 2009, 12:06:57 am: I'm not sure what the problem is, but I cannot find any spare OEM batteries at the major suppliers. Has anyone had good experience with third party batteries? I found one supplier online that has a charger+battery for $60. The fear, of course, is that if it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. Has anyone found a third party replacement they like?
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: marcmccalmont on March 17, 2009, 02:45:36 am: Quote from: allenbirnbach
I'm not sure what the problem is, but I cannot find any spare OEM batteries at the major suppliers. Has anyone had good experience with third party batteries? I found one supplier online that has a charger+battery for $60. The fear, of course, is that if it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. Has anyone found a third party replacement they like?

I had good luck with third party batteries for my 5D but have not found any for my MKII
Marc
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: Chris Nutt on March 18, 2009, 06:06:24 am: The 5D Mk2 accessories seem to be in short supply world wide. I manged to obtain a grip last week and a battery this week after much shopping around in the UK- but the batteries are SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than the good old BP-511As. The problem with the copy batteries (i.e. non-Canon) is that they don't have the battery monitor chip inside - so you won't see the state of charge or the battery condition. Personally after having 4 DSLRs using the BP-511s I think this is a great step forward. At least you can now see if you have a duff battery before going out on a major shoot. The battery life on the 5D Mk2 also seems to be very good. I have taken over 700 shots (all with IS) and the battery is still showing over 50% charge!
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: neil snape on March 18, 2009, 12:47:47 pm: None are available here in France. Not even the Canon OEM batteries. I will confirm that the battery life is exceptional. The power management is also on par , so running out of battery is unlikely. Perhaps if you are using continuous focus, flash and image stabiliser then it would require a second battery.
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: timescapes on March 18, 2009, 04:42:48 pm: I ordered my forth battery from adorama like 2 months ago... still hasn't shipped.
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: Ronny Nilsen on March 18, 2009, 05:02:46 pm: I finally got the complete system together today.

I got hold of the focusing screen with the grid today.

I got the camera in January in a shop that got a shipment and didn't have a waiting list.

I got the battery grip from a shop that had that, but no cameras.

And I got a extra battery from the same shop that had the camera when they got
a shipment of batteries a couple of weeks after I got the camera.

And I had pre-ordered the L-bracket from RRS before I got the camera so it
arrived about the same time I got hold of the battery grip.

But whenever a shop get 5D MkII stuff it usually sells out in days or hours.

Ronny
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: digitaldog on March 18, 2009, 05:37:22 pm: Quote from: timescapes
I ordered my forth battery from adorama like 2 months ago... still hasn't shipped.

They seem to be trickling in. I ordered a battery and charger from a company recommend here I think, Tally's back in January. Just got word it shipped today.
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: Easton on March 18, 2009, 07:05:00 pm: I got generic batteries off ebay, they work fine but the function where the camera knows how much power is left is absent when using generics - until you put the real OEM battery back in.

Maybe better generics will eventually come out. Or maybe they're already out there!
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: rcdurston on March 18, 2009, 07:51:02 pm: I've been using Lenmar batteries in all my Canon and their AA's for sometime before that. I spoke with their marketing dept. and they are working on it but it won't be out for a few months. Feel free to call them and inquire and give them a little prod. The overall life of the battery is 10x that of Canons at half the price. I have been abusing some of mine for almost 5 years now.
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: David Sutton on March 19, 2009, 02:37:24 am: Quote from: allenbirnbach
I'm not sure what the problem is, but I cannot find any spare OEM batteries at the major suppliers. Has anyone had good experience with third party batteries? I found one supplier online that has a charger+battery for $60. The fear, of course, is that if it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. Has anyone found a third party replacement they like?
A question of finding a supplier that's reputable, preferably with a real outlet. I've used third party batteries in canon cameras for several years and they have sometimes outperformed the OEM batteries. I see my local supplier has third party Mk2 batteries + charger for about US$50. (http://www.flashcards.co.nz/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2153), so your dealer is probably pricing roughly right.
David
Title: Canon 5D MkII battery
Post by: pete_truman on March 19, 2009, 09:06:06 am: I've had one on order (UK) for weeks now and still waiting. Fortunately the supplied battery has never run completely flat and lasts so much better than the 5D's BP-511 I'm not yet particularly worried. I believe there are plenty in the shops in Japan though...