batteries

[Ronnoco]

Hi all:

Just a warning! Minolta proprietary batteries may be hard to find in some stores because of the change and according to one magazine bad quality reproductions from Asia are dangerous to both the camera and the owner. A few have exploded.

Ronnoco

[zrfraser]

Thanks for letting us know!

[payn817]

I recently got one for the 5D/7D. they are on back order for three weeks, but I was assured they were coming. On the other side of town, another camera store had them in stock, just check around.Someone apparently is making or going to continue making them (not meaning third party).

[brettania]

These stories about exploding 3rd party batteries AFAIK have not concerned their use in KM dSLRs. I have read some 60,000 posts in various forums (not just about batteries) and never seen one report from a user about an exploding battery..
What I have seen, however, are some test results and pics which show that the quality from some makers is less than desirable. From memory, they were done by someone in the Oly DPR forum who tested the output, then cut them open to show the circuitry.

[Anbesol]

These stories about exploding 3rd party batteries AFAIK have not concerned their use in KM dSLRs. I have read some 60,000 posts in various forums (not just about batteries) and never seen one report from a user about an exploding battery..
What I have seen, however, are some test results and pics which show that the quality from some makers is less than desirable. From memory, they were done by someone in the Oly DPR forum who tested the output, then cut them open to show the circuitry.

well - i actually have one of the third party batteries, $10 on ebay! couldnt even find one anywhere else and the one place i did they wanted like $50 for it, probably should have just gotten that but i thought it was a waste for a backup - saved $40 put that towards a much nicer camera case instead (one of those hard cases). the real difference ive seen with the third party and the minolta ones is that the minolta was a higher capacity (1500 mah vs 1000), that really didnt matter to me though - they both charge VERY quickly, and minolta's VERY good with battery life. the thing that really concerned me was the connectors - the minolta had 2 gold ones, while the third party had 2 silver ones - naturally gold being a better conductor then silver - you would get a better stream of juice so to speak from that.

any thoughts?

[Ronnoco]

These stories about exploding 3rd party batteries AFAIK have not concerned their use in KM dSLRs. I have read some 60,000 posts in various forums (not just about batteries) and never seen one report from a user about an exploding battery..
What I have seen, however, are some test results and pics which show that the quality from some makers is less than desirable. From memory, they were done by someone in the Oly DPR forum who tested the output, then cut them open to show the circuitry.

Popular Photography had a detailed article about 3rd party batteries including an explosion in one of its 2005 issues.

Ronnoco

[brettania]

Popular Photography had a detailed article about 3rd party batteries including an explosion in one of its 2005 issues.

Ronnoco

And did it specifically involve a KM dSLR? Note that I am not denying that this may have happened, just saying that I have never read of it happening to a KM dSLR.

BTW agree about the connector "colours". My 3rd party with silver coloured connectors doesn't seem to work at all. I had always used it together with another one with the bronze coloured connectors in the VC-7D and wondered why that combo did not last as long as two with the bronze connectors. Reading this thread made me do a specific check and I found it is not getting power through to the camera, even though it is actually well charged according to a multi-meter test.