off brand batteries « Videomaker Community Forums

2ten
Member

Anybody have any experience with the off-brand batteries that compete with the Sony Infolithium? I know they seem to be 40% or less the price of the Sony batteries but I am not interested in frying my Z7U.

Travis

Posted 2 years ago #
Rob Grauert
Post Production Host

i've gotten batteries from ebatts.com for my Sony PD170. I got two batteries and they last SO long - about 12 hours each.

Rob Grauert, Jr
http://www.robgrauert.com
http://command-r.tumblr.com

Posted 2 years ago #
2ten
Member

Thanks I just ordered 2 more to go with the 2 I have. I will be in Nicaragua shooting a documentary in early June and wanted to get the power situation taken care of.

Posted 2 years ago #
Eventvideoguy
Member

This is all I have. I've had them for going on 3 years now and have never had a problem. I always carry 3 with me, but one will last me for the entire shoot, which are usually about 7 hours.

Posted 2 years ago #
SteveMann
Member

TEST them before you leave. I will never use off-brand batteries again. My Z1 wasn't fried, but the camera knew that I was not using a Sony battery and shut down after a minute. Can you imagine the panic when the freshly charged new battery was removed from the camera and replaced with an equally freshly charged off-brand battery, which ran for one minute. Fortunately, I had a fully charged Sony battery in my bag and was able to finish the project.

It's an arms race. Sony puts some smarts into the battery so that it knows when a genuine Sony battery is installed, and the knock-offs reverse-engineer the new Sony batteries and mimic them. That's why some people get away with using new knock-off batteries.

I still have the knock-offs, but I only use them in my on-camera lights.

Posted 2 years ago #
Eventvideoguy
Member

Be aware that there is a chance they may go bad, but there is that chance with any battery.

I ordered 12 of these offbrand batteries. I had 2 go bad. One because I dropped it and messed it up. And the other was messed up when I got it. I sent it back and got a replacement that hasn't given any trouble. Again, going on 3 years. I always make sure that I carry 3 batteries for each of my 3 cameras.

Good luck in choosing.

Posted 2 years ago #
Don
Member

I have an off brand battery that worked fine for a year then suddenly, the camera (Sony) decided the battery could no longer be used with that camera...weird...makes me suspicious of sony...

Posted 2 years ago #
gdthai
Member

DOn re: your post and everyone else as well, I've got an off brand batt for my PD150, it's been fine for ages but just recently the camera has thrown it out say it's not infolithium, no reason or warning just bye bye. The camera has suffered no problems because of this though.

Posted 2 years ago #
Jaimie
Member

I'll just add my 2 cents - Don't buy off brand batteries! What is the logic of spending thousands of dollars on a Z1, Z5 or Z7 U and suffering shell out falter on the batteries? No matter how good the camera is, it is as dead as its battery. We are heavy users of video equipment and I have found that for Sony equipment nothing is even close to a Sony battery for reliability.

In fact, in my opinion, reliability is the most important feature of any
piece of gear. If it doesn't work when you need it, nothing else
matters. For this reason, if you're sinking big bucks in a camera, buy at couple of extra batteries - Sony NP-F970 for the cameras mentioned above - a good, padded carrying case and a good tripod with a pan head. Finally, don't buy cheap tape either, HDM-63VG or better for the above cameras.

I know this sounds like an ad for Sony, but I have no relationship with them at all other than a user of their professional gear.

Regards,

Jaimie

Posted 2 years ago #
doublehamm
Member

I was about to post about this tonight honestly. I bought 6 NP-F970s equivelants for $18 and thought I was getting a hell of a deal. (I use 2 Sony cameras). One of them was DOA, and the seller sent another one right out, so it was a ALMOST non issue, I never had to return the DOA battery.

The batteries I do have, state at well over 600 minutes when I insert them into the camera. For reasons unknown I go through 3 of those batteries in my main camera on a wedding day. After 2 weddings, 1 of the other betteries decided it would not charge in my charger anymore. I could survive with 5 as my 2nd camera gets little use, but that gets a little scary considering the performance. Now after my 3rd wedding last weekend, a 2nd battery (not including the original DOA) decided it would stop taking charges. Now I am down to 4 heavy duty batteries and some smaller ones that I use for my LED video lights that I COULD use in an emergency for video.

Well I learned my lesson. While I cannot afford $600 right NOW for 6 brand new batteries, I think for everyone that goes dead (and I am assuming about 1 per wedding at this rate) I will be replacing with genuine Sony batteries.

Yup I am one who spent $4500 on a pro HD video camera and went the cheapo battery route. Never again. Lesson learned.

Posted 2 years ago #
doublehamm
Member

I also forgot to mention:

I also ordered some knock off NP-F770s for my LED lights. I don't remember the exact source, but the batteries showd up as silver in color. They also to not fit my LitePanels LED light as they are about 1mm longer than the genuine batteries. They fit my other offbrand LED light, and my cameras, but not the lights I intended them for. I could see this as a potential problem possibly in some cameras if the battery has to be the perfect size. SIZE DOES MATTER!

Posted 2 years ago #