generic batteries revisited

[back alley]

i have a small boatload of generic batteries for my rd1, it's hard not to when they can be had for as low as 4 bucks and as high as maybe 15 each.
they have been working fine for me but lately i have noticed that when they reach just under about 50% of their power that the camera does not always fire right off.
very disappointing to say the least.

i am too cheap to pay 95 bucks for an epson battery and that's if you can find them...

no question, just venting...

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I've had that problem with the low capacity batteries.
The R-D1 draws the most juice from the batteries in a burst when writing to the memory card. So after the first shot, it would save the image and shut down (Needles go to the power-off position). So when you're ready to take the next shot the camera has to come out of standby or something.


I've started to notice my 1800mAh batteries are running down more quickly then a year ago

 

[Roger Hicks]

All batteries decline. My oldest M8-batteries (2006) no longer take as much charge as the newest M9 battery (2009). I hadn't realized that Epson batteries are similar in price to Leica, though. That's a bit of a poke in the eye for the fantasists who believe that everyone else would automatically make everything cheaper than Leica.

Cheers,

R.

 

[umcelinho]

I bought a generic battery for the R-D1 and to be honest I don't find any charge differences to the original Epson battery that came along with the camera (bought 2nd hand though). I usually get 3gb out of shots before draining both batteries. Only once I had to get the reserve one, when shooting some friends' band concert (I shot 4gb). What I usually do is to use one and leave the other charging in case I am leaving in a rush and the camera battery is low.

 

[Eyal_bin]

After several batteries tries with some good, bad and ugly I have found my winners - lenmar batteries!

In my opinion they are better then the original, and much cheaper...

 

[nakedcellist]

I had some third batteries from a UK ebay shop, they where dirt cheap and performed as well (or as badly) as the original epson ones.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Not using the display helps to save power too.

 

[anglophone1]

Can you point me to source for thse please?
After years of hard use all four of my original rd 1 batteries seem to be dying on me and the six generics too! [i have three bodies]
Clive
www.clive-evans.com

Eyal_bin;1371187]After several batteries tries with some good, bad and ugly I have found my winners - lenmar batteries!

In my opinion they are better then the original, and much cheaper...[/QUOTE]

 

[Jim-st]

There's an interesting recent discussion on Li-Ion batteries on the LUF M8 forum here. I found the point made by marknorton here particularly illuminating as regards some of the erratic behaviour I've seen using 3rd party 1800mAh batteries on my R-D1.


BTW checking out the Lenmar batteries commended by one contributor to the current thread I found one complaint on a retailer's site that their R-D1 battery died on starting camera 1st time. It's a minefield, really, and maybe the most important considerations are your retailer's returns policy and your ability to access it at any point in time

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Don't have an RD-1, but do use 3rd party batteries a lot in other cameras. I write the date I bought the battery on every battery with a sharpie. Then I toss them after a year. When you are paying $4 or $5 for a battery, why not? I've found that, OEM or 3rd party, in my usage, they start losing the ability to hold a charge noticeably in about a year.