EN-EL3e D90 Battery

Skatterball said:

Well, to me, here in Toronto, it's a savings $55 to $65. The OEM
battery sells for about $85.

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Probably Henry's?
The Camera Store in Calgary has the Nikon brand EN-EL3e for $69.95.
Same at Simon's in Montreal.

--
Patco
A photograph is more than a bunch of pixels

I must admit, I still fail to see your point. It is a "so what"? You don't contradict what I stated originally, you just throw out a statement without any substance. It sort of ad nothing to the equation. My point was being a bit careful concerning the claimed capacity of 3rd party contra original batteries (yes, even original batteries can be mislabeled or simply...bad). I have on occasions had 3rd party batteries that where excellent and that I've used for many years. Unfortunately to my subjective experience they are few and far between. Regardless I still buy 3rd party batteries mostly for my devices, simply because they are a lot cheaper and often work just fine, even if they are not quite as good as the original ones.

Sorry if I do, but I don't mean to sound harsh.

Mac

--
Visit my blog at http://www.mindovermadness.org

“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.”
— Lillian Hellman

The fact is, my $9 clone battery is giving me approximately 10% more shots per charge than my Nikon branded battery is giving me on average.

I have observed this over several sets of charges.

It's a fact. In my specific Nikon D80, the $9 no-name clone battery I have been using is averaging 10% more shots than my Nikon-branded battery, across several different charges for each battery. It is what it is.

And the simple fact is my personal experience DOES differ from yours. I have been doing photography for over 35 years, and I've bought many dozens of clone batteries. In my experience, on average, generic batteries are no more, nor no less reliable and useable as the OEM-brand battery. I've probably had 5-7% dud batteries with each, but invariably, the generic batteries cost around 1/4th what the branded batteries cost. Usually a difference of $15-40 per battery, and in the case of my D80, it's $9 vs. $40, and in this specific case, the $9 battery has proven to be very slightly BETTER than the $40 Nikon battery.

DougJGreen said:

What risk is that? And how do you know that a similar risk does not
exist with genuine Nikon-branded batteries?

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The risk is that if one were using a non-Nikon battery that failed (short circuited, exploded, some sort of voltage spike, etc), Nikon would have the right to deny any kind of warranty claim.

At best, a non-OEM battery is the exact same battery that Nikon sells, made at the same factory by the same people. That's great. Congrats, you saved XX% by buying it over the OEM battery. However infinitesimally small the risk is that a Nikon battery would suffer a catastrophic failure of some sort, that same risk applies to the non-Nikon battery. The only difference is in possible warranty implications by Nikon.

At worst, a non-OEM battery may look like a Nikon battery and appear to function as such, but be made with sub-standard production methods, chemical purity, etc. Many may be perfectly ok, but others may be woefully inadequate simply due to having too little quality control or even to the extreme of being made by negligent companies. It's a gamble. However slight the risk is, it's there.

But if you don't believe me that non-OEM batteries can cause problems, that's fine. Just ask IBM.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/140074/fake_flammable_laptop_batteries_prompt_ibm_lawsuit.html

Delta5 said:

DougJGreen said:

What risk is that? And how do you know that a similar risk does not
exist with genuine Nikon-branded batteries?

Click to expand...

The risk is that if one were using a non-Nikon battery that failed
(short circuited, exploded, some sort of voltage spike, etc), Nikon
would have the right to deny any kind of warranty claim.

Click to expand...

Since my camera was bought 2nd hand, this is irrelevant to me, I have no Nikon warranty. And I have not seen any evidence that the risk of voltage spikes, explosions, etc, is any different from a properly working and tested generic 3rd party battery than from a Nikon branded one.

Delta5 said:

At best, a non-OEM battery is the exact same battery that Nikon
sells, made at the same factory by the same people. That's great.
However infinitesimally small the risk is that a Nikon battery would
suffer a catastrophic failure of some sort, that same risk applies to
the non-Nikon battery. The difference is in possible warranty
implications by Nikon.

Click to expand...

Actually, it's perfectly possible to get 3rd party batteries that are slightly better than the name brand ones - for example, Nikon's battery is rated at 1500 mAh, and my aftermarket battery is rated at 1800 mAh. Assuming both batteries actually meet their rated specs, then the aftermarket battery is slightly better. And, as I said, since my camera was bought used, the warranty issue is moot for me.

Delta5 said:

At worst, a non-OEM battery may look like a Nikon battery and appear
to function as such, but be made with sub-standard production
methods, chemical purity, etc. Many may be perfectly ok, but others
may be woefully inadequate simply due to having too little quality
control or even to the extreme of being made by negligent companies.
It's a gamble. However slight the risk is, it's there.

But if you don't believe me that non-OEM batteries can cause
problems, that's fine. Just ask IBM.

Click to expand...

The fact is, major vendors have had the exact same problems with their own branded batteries. Dell, Toshiba, and IBM all had batteries that they re-branded, bought from Sony, that caused these types of fires. These were NOT 3rd party batteries, they were branded by the OEMs themselves, although they did not make them.

In any case, one can tell if a battery is running hot, it's a warning. My clone batteries don't run any hotter than the original Nikon battery does.

Now thats a response, not just a statement thrown out! Thank you!

I'd just like to point out one thing, that there is a significant difference between older battery technologies and the present-day Li-Ions, which means whatever you've experienced in your many years as a photog is fairly irrelevant. Li-Ions have only been around since the early 2000s and are by all means better than the older Ni-XXX batteries, but also more complicated and requires better quality control and raw materials. So when the makers get lazy we get widespread issues such as the Sony-laptop battery affair or exploading cellphones.

Just for the record I've worked (retailer) with electrical power tools and have intimate experience with both old and new battery technology.

mac

--
Visit my blog at http://www.mindovermadness.org

“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.”
— Lillian Hellman

M4cr0s said:

Now thats a response, not just a statement thrown out! Thank you!

I'd just like to point out one thing, that there is a significant
difference between older battery technologies and the present-day
Li-Ions, which means whatever you've experienced in your many years
as a photog is fairly irrelevant. Li-Ions have only been around since
the early 2000s and are by all means better than the older Ni-XXX
batteries, but also more complicated and requires better quality
control and raw materials. So when the makers get lazy we get
widespread issues such as the Sony-laptop battery affair or
exploading cellphones.

Just for the record I've worked (retailer) with electrical power
tools and have intimate experience with both old and new battery
technology.

Click to expand...

Just for the record, I've worked for over 20 years in the electronics industry, and I have designed power supplies, and I have access to a full test bench for testing these batteries more extensively than the places that sell them. I don't think that's irrelevant.

sigh ...it seems you are missing my points completely. I am obviously not able enough to put forth my perspectives in a manner that you can understand or comprehend. Probably best we end this here.

Mac

--
Visit my blog at http://www.mindovermadness.org

“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.”
— Lillian Hellman

DougJGreen said:

I am getting 10% more on my new, no-name batteries in my D80.

Click to expand...

OK, think you misread the title of this thread- this is about the D90.
--
David~
WSSA Member #90



. . . shoot like there's no film in the thing!

I know exactly what you are trying to say. And my experience tells me that you are incorrect.

My experience is with 3rd party batteries in the D80, and I offered it. If a reliable 3rd party battery vendor tested their batteries and guaranteed them to work with the D90, then I would say that the experience should be identical. And if they didn't work, a reliable vendor would offer an exchange with batteries that did, or else a full refund.

I just bought from this guy who claimed his would work with D90, but actually it does NOT !
A lot of eBay sellers don't even have a clue what's going on with D90.

Regardless of whether you buy the Nikon battery or the non-OEM battery, please recycle them.

I agree, only Nikon OEM for me. I tried a promaster battery in my MB-D80 battery pack on my D90 and it didn't work. I bought a Nikon battery and it worked perfectly. I don't care what people say about 3rd party batteries working in their camera, unless you have tried it successfully in the MB-D80, I'm sticking with Nikon batteries only.

I tried 3rd party batteries for two Sony cams of mine and they were both junk. The savings of about $15 per battery cost me money when I had to replace them 3 months later.

My gigs are too important to trust to some 3rd party junk.

After putting 4k into my D90 and lenses, an extra $100 for 3 batteries is nothing.

I would not put cheap tires on my car.
--
http://www.joekleon.com
http://www.g4orce-studios.com

The mah is capacity... the higher the longer it "should" run the camera.

I don't advocate third party batteries, but I'm running a couple of Power2000 1700 mah in my D90 and they work as well as the Nikon brand.

What you need to remember is that you have to charge them up BEFORE using them for the first time.