3rd Party battery?

[kalkal]

Just wondered if anyone has had any troubles with 3rd party batteries with the D90?

I could really use a spare but I can't justify paying full wack for the official Nikon battery at the moment, it seems extortionate.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[JustANikonGuy]

I have one that came with the camera. Haven't had any problems that I know of. However, I rarely use the secondary battery because I haven't drained one full battery in a day. When I used the aftermarket battery it felt like I couldn't get as many shots from it. Again, I have only used it twice.

There is one thing to be noted though. When I bought the grip for my D90, I put in the aftermarket battery and the nikon battery. When the aftermarket battery died the grip didn't switch over to my nikon battery. I just returned the grip and never bought a second battery to test; so I'm not sure I can't attribute this to the aftermarket battery, but it is a possibility.

 

[G4orce Studios]

The Nikon D90 battery is well worth the money. Why pay the cash for a D90 and then slap in a 3rd party inferior battery,to save what, $10-20?????

I get several thousand shots from one charge, my three batteries are used weekly and still have the charge and lasting power of the day I bought them, two years ago.

The EN-EL3e is a steal for only 40 bucks. Best camera battery I have ever used.

--
http://www.joekleon.com
http://www.g4orce-studios.com

 

[kalkal]

Errr... because I don't live in the US!

They're generally around £40 here, I mean if anyone can find the official one from a cheaper, trust worthy shop, I'm all for it but I can't.

It's more like a £25+ saving, some costing only £11

Even if they only have around have the capacity of the official battery, as long as they don't do any damage to the camera, I think that's a great price.

 

[JohnnieD]

I've been using this battery with D80 for over a year now:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2497

I'm very happy with it. It provides less power than the original, but certainly more than half. I charge it with the original charger. No damage to camera / charger for over 1 year of usage. It is possible and even likely that the battery will die sooner than the original Nikon.

 

[kalkal]

Excellent. It's not like I wouldn't buy the official battery if I could afford it, I'm not being cheap, I just can't afford it!

On top of that, the existing official battery I have almost meets the demands I make of it. I do however on occasion need a little bit extra and it seems ludicrous to spend full whack on something I don't actually need.

 

[jkjond]

I got a nikon one off ebay for my 300, possibly the same battery. From memory I'd say I paid £10, it looks exactly the same, but could well be some third world rip off - though I've no idea which is which nor had any probs other than a leaky battery cover one rainy day, water got in and shortened the battery life to almost zero - can't blame the battery there, but I now duck tape the door.

How about this one on ebay, 2 batteries for well under £20 with free post - I'm tempted myself. Even if they only last half as long as the genuine article I'd say its a bargain.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2x-New-Battery-nikon-EN-EL3e-el3a-D50-D90-D300-D700-/120619905918?pt=UK_Photography_DigitalCamBatt_RL&hash=item1c1581b37e#ht_3601wt_974

I use my batteries in rotation so they get run down to either empty or very near empty, I don't think keeping a spare salted away is a good thing as its bound to slowly lose charge and let you down when you actually need it.
--
http://www.johnleechstudio.co.uk

 

[acsmith1975]

I have a 3rd party spare for my D40. No issues with it at all and I don't notice any difference with my Nikon battery.

--

-Aaron