Should You Buy Off-Brand Camera Batteries?
Batteries are dangerous—they’re practically a bomb—so you need to be careful when you buy them. Sure, they’re not likely to take down an airliner but a bad battery could definitely damage your camera. It also might not work as expected. Here’s what you need to know about buying batteries for your DSLR or mirrorless cameras.
RELATED: Why Do Lithium-Ion Batteries Explode?
First-Party and Third-Party Batteries
The battery that came with your camera is called a “first-party” battery because it was made by the manufacturer of the camera (or at least by a licensee they supervise). It’s the battery with which your camera is designed to work. You can buy additional first-party batteries but they tend to be quite expensive.
Third-party batteries are made by a company other than your camera’s manufacturer. They range from high-quality batteries made by reputable camera manufacturers—like this third party battery made by Blackmagic—to cheap Chinese knock-offs, churned out by factories where safety standards and testing are foreign concepts. It’s a pretty wide range.
The (Potential) Problems With Third Party Batteries
With first-party batteries, you always know what you’re getting (as long as you’re really getting a first party battery and not a counterfeit; more on that later). It’s the exact same as the one that came with your camera when you bought it. With third-party batteries, however, things aren’t quite as certain.
Third-party batteries are almost always cheaper than original batteries. Canon’s LP-E6N battery costs $64 while Blackmagic’s—presumably high quality—replica costs $35. That’s a pretty steep difference. I’ve seen batteries from less reputable manufacturers cost as little as $10—and no, I won’t link to them.
