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7D OEM Battery

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garmon

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I read somewhere that the battery for the 7D is chipped. If it's anything like my Canon HF100 a generic battery can be used but battery level will not be displayed. My thought was..... If I buy a grip and use AA batteries (if that exists) do you think I will get meter readings. If it does meter with AA I would also wonder if using generic LIon batteries in the grip will that give me meter readings as well.
--
Canon 40D/Rebel XTi
Canon 70-200L/2.8 - Canon 135L - Canon 100/2.0 - Canon 18-55IS
Canon 50/1.4 - Canon 85/1.8 - Sigma EX 18-50/2.8 II -
Sigma EX 50-500/4-6.6
Sigma EX 120-300/2.8 - Sigma 18-200 OS/3.5-6.3 - Tamron 28-105/2.8
Kenko 300 Pro 1.4X & 2X TC
 
The manual states that the battery level is only displayed in 4 increments when using AA batteries.
--
Mike Mullen
 
Yes, the OEM battery is chipped which provides several "features"

-- supposedly helps protect against Lithium fire hazards
-- enables a more detailed battery level display on the LCD

-- enables battery to be registered with camera, so that the camera can display a lot of information about the battery beyond just charged
garmon said:
I read somewhere that the battery for the 7D is chipped. If it's anything like my Canon HF100 a generic battery can be used but battery level will not be displayed. My thought was..... If I buy a grip and use AA batteries (if that exists) do you think I will get meter readings. If it does meter with AA I would also wonder if using generic LIon batteries in the grip will that give me meter readings as well.
--
Canon 40D/Rebel XTi
Canon 70-200L/2.8 - Canon 135L - Canon 100/2.0 - Canon 18-55IS
Canon 50/1.4 - Canon 85/1.8 - Sigma EX 18-50/2.8 II -
Sigma EX 50-500/4-6.6
Sigma EX 120-300/2.8 - Sigma 18-200 OS/3.5-6.3 - Tamron 28-105/2.8
Kenko 300 Pro 1.4X & 2X TC
Click to expand...
 
Jay Bean said:
Yes, the OEM battery is chipped which provides several "features"

-- supposedly helps protect against Lithium fire hazards
Click to expand...
I have seen that argument used with other MFGs.

So are they saying that when they set your camera on fire they are accepting liability?
 
My favorite feature is that I have to pay 60 bucks for it.
Jay Bean said:
-- supposedly helps protect against Lithium fire hazards
-- enables a more detailed battery level display on the LCD

-- enables battery to be registered with camera, so that the camera can display a lot of information about the battery beyond just charged
garmon said:
I read somewhere that the battery for the 7D is chipped. If it's anything like my Canon HF100 a generic battery can be used but battery level will not be displayed. My thought was..... If I buy a grip and use AA batteries (if that exists) do you think I will get meter readings. If it does meter with AA I would also wonder if using generic LIon batteries in the grip will that give me meter readings as well.
--
Canon 40D/Rebel XTi
Canon 70-200L/2.8 - Canon 135L - Canon 100/2.0 - Canon 18-55IS
Canon 50/1.4 - Canon 85/1.8 - Sigma EX 18-50/2.8 II -
Sigma EX 50-500/4-6.6
Sigma EX 120-300/2.8 - Sigma 18-200 OS/3.5-6.3 - Tamron 28-105/2.8
Kenko 300 Pro 1.4X & 2X TC
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Good question and I have no answer, just a suggestion. Post this on the 5D forum as the battery is the same as the 7D. I have the 5D but not the grip.

Kind regards
Stephen
garmon said:
I read somewhere that the battery for the 7D is chipped. If it's anything like my Canon HF100 a generic battery can be used but battery level will not be displayed. My thought was..... If I buy a grip and use AA batteries (if that exists) do you think I will get meter readings. If it does meter with AA I would also wonder if using generic LIon batteries in the grip will that give me meter readings as well.
--
Canon 40D/Rebel XTi
Canon 70-200L/2.8 - Canon 135L - Canon 100/2.0 - Canon 18-55IS
Canon 50/1.4 - Canon 85/1.8 - Sigma EX 18-50/2.8 II -
Sigma EX 50-500/4-6.6
Sigma EX 120-300/2.8 - Sigma 18-200 OS/3.5-6.3 - Tamron 28-105/2.8
Kenko 300 Pro 1.4X & 2X TC
Click to expand...
 
I looked at the non-OEM batteries. What out for their capacity. The Canon battery is 1800 mAh. The non-Canon's I found were only 1200 mAh and were almost as expensive as the Canon; indeed, their price per mAh was higher.
mickcivic said:
Jay Bean said:
-- supposedly helps protect against Lithium fire hazards
-- enables a more detailed battery level display on the LCD

-- enables battery to be registered with camera, so that the camera can display a lot of information about the battery beyond just charged
garmon said:
I read somewhere that the battery for the 7D is chipped. If it's anything like my Canon HF100 a generic battery can be used but battery level will not be displayed. My thought was..... If I buy a grip and use AA batteries (if that exists) do you think I will get meter readings. If it does meter with AA I would also wonder if using generic LIon batteries in the grip will that give me meter readings as well.
--
Canon 40D/Rebel XTi
Canon 70-200L/2.8 - Canon 135L - Canon 100/2.0 - Canon 18-55IS
Canon 50/1.4 - Canon 85/1.8 - Sigma EX 18-50/2.8 II -
Sigma EX 50-500/4-6.6
Sigma EX 120-300/2.8 - Sigma 18-200 OS/3.5-6.3 - Tamron 28-105/2.8
Kenko 300 Pro 1.4X & 2X TC
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Jay Bean said:
I looked at the non-OEM batteries. What out for their capacity. The Canon battery is 1800 mAh. The non-Canon's I found were only 1200 mAh and were almost as expensive as the Canon; indeed, their price per mAh was higher.
Click to expand...
True, and I'll add that some batteries CLAIM higher capacity but have the same or less capacity. Canon updates their batteries periodically with the newest technology. For a given size/weight there comes a point where the only way to increase capacity is to either lie or make the battery more fragile or have a lower useful lifespan. The Canon batteries cost more but you are getting a top notch battery of known quality so I don't skimp there. Modern cameras are good for so many shots per charge I find I don't need more than one back-up and I generally never need to use that even after shooting all day but it's nice to know I have something to fall back on. Maybe the camera settings/configuration I use are not very battery intensive.

--
Mike Mullen
 
Well, there are some aftermarket batteries that are excellent. I have gone through 3 Canon batteries and one PowerEx battery in the past 9 years in various DSLRs and while the 3 Canon batteries are long dead, the PowerEx still holds a charge perfectly. This is even despite the fact that at least two of those Canon batteries were bought after the PowerEx!
mmullen said:
True, and I'll add that some batteries CLAIM higher capacity but have the same or less capacity. Canon updates their batteries periodically with the newest technology. For a given size/weight there comes a point where the only way to increase capacity is to either lie or make the battery more fragile or have a lower useful lifespan. The Canon batteries cost more but you are getting a top notch battery of known quality so I don't skimp there. Modern cameras are good for so many shots per charge I find I don't need more than one back-up and I generally never need to use that even after shooting all day but it's nice to know I have something to fall back on. Maybe the camera settings/configuration I use are not very battery intensive.

--
Mike Mullen
Click to expand...
 
M Ansari said:
Well, there are some aftermarket batteries that are excellent. I have gone through 3 Canon batteries and one PowerEx battery in the past 9 years in various DSLRs and while the 3 Canon batteries are long dead, the PowerEx still holds a charge perfectly. This is even despite the fact that at least two of those Canon batteries were bought after the PowerEx!
Click to expand...
That's not exactly a large enough sample to be considered meaningful as I'm sure you're aware.

Having said that, I do believe large corporations like Canon are slower to respond to battery innovations because they like to wait until the technology is proven to be durable and safe. They are also a little slower to move. So it's possible that you were buying the technology that Canon eventually adopted. However, the rapidly improving capacity of batteries has slowed greatly in the last few years and now you are more likely to find batteries in which corners were cut to achieve higher ratings than you are to be on to some new technology that is both durable and safe. More often, the distributor simply lies about the true capacity.

--
Mike Mullen
 
The big guys have also gotten very gun shy due to the "flame on" phenomena :-)

BTW, I'm a counter example of the canon vs. aftermarket. I've had eight Canon batteries in the past 7 years (including Camcorder) and only 1 Canon battery has died during that time (12.5% failure rate). I've had 4 after market batteries for the same equipment during that time and 2 of those have died (50% failure rate).

Having said the above, the after market batteries were 1/4 the price and twice the capacity (confirmed in use) of the Canon batteries at the time, so I still came out ahead.
mmullen said:
M Ansari said:
Well, there are some aftermarket batteries that are excellent. I have gone through 3 Canon batteries and one PowerEx battery in the past 9 years in various DSLRs and while the 3 Canon batteries are long dead, the PowerEx still holds a charge perfectly. This is even despite the fact that at least two of those Canon batteries were bought after the PowerEx!
Click to expand...
That's not exactly a large enough sample to be considered meaningful as I'm sure you're aware.

Having said that, I do believe large corporations like Canon are slower to respond to battery innovations because they like to wait until the technology is proven to be durable and safe. They are also a little slower to move. So it's possible that you were buying the technology that Canon eventually adopted. However, the rapidly improving capacity of batteries has slowed greatly in the last few years and now you are more likely to find batteries in which corners were cut to achieve higher ratings than you are to be on to some new technology that is both durable and safe. More often, the distributor simply lies about the true capacity.

--
Mike Mullen
Click to expand...
 
What put me off buying generic batteries this time was that the ones I looked at on the Internet also needed their own charger.
 
Jovo said:
What put me off buying generic batteries this time was that the ones I looked at on the Internet also needed their own charger.
Click to expand...
Yes, as well as not displaying the level remaining. I've already ordered an extra Canon battery, but hoping a respectable 3rd party supplier can come up with a chipped version.

Mark
 
Yes, the Canon charger will not charge the unchipped batteries so they sell you the battery along with a charger.
--
Michael Kaplan
http://www.pbase.com/mkaplan
See my profile for equipment list
 
Do a search on eBay now and there are no decoded batteries available. I wrote to one seller that said out of stock with no idea when more might ever come in.
--
Michael Kaplan
http://www.pbase.com/mkaplan
See my profile for equipment list
 
I ordered a canon battery from Amazon. $60 & no tax or shipping seems little enough to pay for a battery thatI can be sure of doing the job right. The camera was $1700. An extra $60 doesn't seem like so much to me. Bab
 
Michael Kaplan said:
Do a search on eBay now and there are no decoded batteries available. I wrote to one seller that said out of stock with no idea when more might ever come in.
Click to expand...
hmmm... interesting. I wasn't ware that these batteries are following the 5D availability pattern ;-)

Though a bit surprised too, as once these chinese copies arrive, they usually flood the market

--
PicPocket
http://photography.ashish-pragya.com

 
Yes unless Canon was able to stop the company making the chip legally with an injunction for infringing on patents or something. No idea.
--
Michael Kaplan
http://www.pbase.com/mkaplan
See my profile for equipment list
 
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