AA batteries for 5D MkII

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Archive 2009 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

Navyblue
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p.1 #1 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

Since there are no longer (or at least not yet) third party battery that would work as well as the original ones, I intend to get some AA batteries for use on 5D MkII.

I have lots of Eneloops and they work well for my flash. Before that I have lots of Energiser 1700mA, lots of people here might disagree I don't think they are much worse than Eneloops.

I have been thinking if I should get some 2700mA AAs instead the Eneloops considering the high consumption of DSLRs, and I don't mind to only start charging the battery until a week prior to use.

Thoughts?

Apr 10, 2009 at 01:59 PM

dcains
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p.1 #2 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

There are actually 3rd-party 5D2 batteries appearing on eBay. I once tried AA's in a gripped 40D, just because I had them and was curious. Trust me, you'll be shocked at how quickly the AA's will be drained. At the time I had 2400mAh Energizers, but have since switched to all Eneloops for use in my flashes. Forget the numbers, the Eneloops last longer, but that's not really what you're asking.

Apr 10, 2009 at 04:14 PM

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p.1 #3 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

Thanks.

Is it fair to expect the Eneloops to last as long as one single LP-E6, since they are 2000mA vs 1800mA at the same voltage? Or as you said, forget those numbers?

Apr 10, 2009 at 05:02 PM

dcains
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p.1 #4 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

They sure don't seem to. I was getting ~100-150 shots, and I don't think I've ever gotten less than 500 out of a BP-511. Don't ask me why, I'm no electrical engineer. Maybe we've got an EE here on the board that knows.

Apr 10, 2009 at 05:08 PM

Chrono1081
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p.1 #5 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

pictureline.com has batteries. I just ordered one

Apr 10, 2009 at 05:14 PM

Navyblue
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p.1 #6 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

I have reservation about third party LP-E6, as it isn't a drop in replacement like the third party BP-511As, but I guess I'll be going this route anyway.

Anyone else has experience with regards to AA batteries with 5D Mk II?

Apr 10, 2009 at 06:36 PM

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p.1 #7 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

i view AAs as an emergency replacement only.

slowly, there are reviews popping up on the internet that are vouching for the safety of certain 3rd party 5D2 batts. just as with the 3rd party ones for my 5D, 40D and XT before that, i waited until there was a (albeit small) critical mass of users signing off on the generics.

i'm sure the smart functions of the batteries won't be worth a company's time and money to attempt to crack, so i'm not expecting that sort of product for quite some time... but as long as the batteries will power my 5D2 safely, and give me better performance than a set of AAs (in a €260 grip), i'll be game for them.

cheers.

Apr 10, 2009 at 07:39 PM

RDKirk
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p.1 #8 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

i'm sure the smart functions of the batteries won't be worth a company's time and money to attempt to crack, so i'm not expecting that sort of product for quite some time... but as long as the batteries will power my 5D2 safely, and give me better performance than a set of AAs (in a €260 grip), i'll be game for them.

There are a couple of companies (or perhaps it's one company under different names) that have started marketing fully chipped LP-E6 clones.

I've read a couple of reports of 5D2 users getting good results from AAs in the grip as well--much, much better than we got with AAs in the 5D1 grip.

The camera appears to be amazingly energy-effcient with regular shooting (that is, shooting as with a 5D1--without Live View or video). Reports of upwards of 1,000 frames from a single LP-E6 are common.

Apr 10, 2009 at 08:00 PM

abam
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p.1 #9 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

"There are a couple of companies (or perhaps it's one company under different names) that have started marketing fully chipped LP-E6 clones."

i would be very interested to have a link to one of these companies, because the AAs i'm using in a 5D2 grip are getting drained faster than i would like, and i have yet to find a product that mimics the OEM batt function-for-function.

"I've read a couple of reports of 5D2 users getting good results from AAs in the grip as well--much, much better than we got with AAs in the 5D1 grip."

i hope that they are experiencing better power management than i am. (my own personal experience is using the 5D2 grip/AAs in 18 degree celsius weather. in those instances, the AAs were no match for the OEM battery. ymmv, or course.)

cheers.

Apr 10, 2009 at 08:11 PM

pixelman
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p.1 #10 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

I'd take the manual number as reasonably believable at 300 in easy weather temps. I've had mine a grand total of one week but it actually worked with AA where as the 40d AA would barely power up for me at least. I'm on the second charge, 600 shots at about 60% of charge on the indicator. I'll use the AA as the backup until a few months from now when the web has declared a generic winner. They likely all come from one or two plants anyways. So short answer is 2700 AA should be fine if you have some handy.

Apr 10, 2009 at 09:05 PM

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p.1 #11 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

If you are willing to go the grip route, why not get a real Canon battery. I got mine for $70 or so from BadgerGraphics.

BTW, the 5DMK2 grips is not very comfortable and makes the camera very bulky. My grips sits in then closet most of the time. A 5DMK2 + grips is not close to the 1 series in handling.

Apr 10, 2009 at 09:08 PM

susi
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p.1 #12 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

Amazon has a generic battery for around $20.00 ( one of the reviewers said it did not reveal battery level however)

Apr 10, 2009 at 10:04 PM

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p.1 #13 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

RDKirk wrote:There are a couple of companies (or perhaps it's one company under different names) that have started marketing fully chipped LP-E6 clones.

I'd be interested in the link too.

RDKirk wroteI've read a couple of reports of 5D2 users getting good results from AAs in the grip as well--much, much better than we got with AAs in the 5D1 grip.

I'd be happy if 6xAA batteries would last as long as one single LP-E6.

Apr 10, 2009 at 11:33 PM

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p.1 #14 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

jerrykur wrote:
If you are willing to go the grip route, why not get a real Canon battery. I got mine for $70 or so from BadgerGraphics.

BTW, the 5DMK2 grips is not very comfortable and makes the camera very bulky. My grips sits in then closet most of the time. A 5DMK2 + grips is not close to the 1 series in handling.

Personally, I don't think lithium ion batteries should worth that much, my past experience with BP-511A seems to indicate that they last no where close to 100 charges, and the original ones don't seem to last longer than the generic ones (I didn't actually count though).

For me, I use vertical grip on all my camera. Firstly, for some reason, if I shoot without the grip the shots would end up slanted in the same direction.

And the grip the grip seems to made the camera "faster", it seems that I can get sharp result more consistently when I am pushing the shutter speed limit, but it could be psychological though.

Apr 10, 2009 at 11:43 PM

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p.1 #15 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

If you are only getting 100 charge cycles on your batteries than something is wrong. I charged mine before every shoot for 3 years and never had a 511A battery go bad.

I don't know why the grip would make the camera faster. It still pretty pokey at 3.8 fps. Way slower than the 1 series.

Also, you should expect at least 800 exposures per charge with a 5DMK2. So the need for a second battery is less.

Apr 11, 2009 at 12:35 AM

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p.1 #16 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

If you are only getting 100 charge cycles on your batteries than something is wrong. I charged mine before every shoot for 3 years and never had a 511A battery go bad.

Hmm, I've never had a 511 actually last more than 2 years. Most die or have highly reduced capacity sometime after a year or so. And they only get charged a couple times a month.

Apr 11, 2009 at 12:57 AM

ga1lyons
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p.1 #17 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

I've been looking for batteries, and i've a substantial job coming up. I will not be able to recharge once we leave so i'm going to need a bag full of batteries. I need either canon batteries or alternative solutions. I out of moral objection refuse to pay $125-145 for a (1)battery. I'd greatly appreciate either where batteries (canon for a reasonable price) can be had or 3rd party batteries (preferably the ones which were mentioned to be of greater quality.) Any help appreciated guys.

greg

Apr 11, 2009 at 01:00 AM

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p.1 #18 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

ga1lyons wrote:
I've been looking for batteries, and i've a substantial job coming up. I will not be able to recharge once we leave so i'm going to need a bag full of batteries. I need either canon batteries or alternative solutions. I out of moral objection refuse to pay $125-145 for a (1)battery. I'd greatly appreciate either where batteries (canon for a reasonable price) can be had or 3rd party batteries (preferably the ones which were mentioned to be of greater quality.) Any help appreciated guys.

greg
I think you can get Canon for around $70 + shipping, I just got one a couple of weeks ago from Canoga Camera, official Canon.

Apr 11, 2009 at 02:38 AM

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p.1 #19 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

jerrykur wrote:
I don't know why the grip would make the camera faster. It still pretty pokey at 3.8 fps. Way slower than the 1 series.

Sorry, I don't mean "faster" as in it is able to shoot in a higher frame rate. I meant "fast" as in a "fast" lens, that I am able to get shots with lesser light as I can hold the camera in a more stable banner which would allow me to shoot with lower shutter speed.

Apr 11, 2009 at 02:45 AM

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p.1 #20 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

Gochugogi wrote:
Hmm, I've never had a 511 actually last more than 2 years. Most die or have highly reduced capacity sometime after a year or so. And they only get charged a couple times a month.

Pretty much the same for me. I wonder if it has to do with climate. Lithium ion battery life is known to be affected by temperature. I also keep batteries fully charged most of the time, which is also known to reduce battery life.

Apr 11, 2009 at 02:53 AM

pixelman
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p.1 #21 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

Might be the case, hot Singapore tired battery, mine here in Canada go forever, oldest off brand I have is winter of 2003, it has less capacity but still half I'd guess.

Apr 11, 2009 at 03:39 AM

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p.1 #22 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

Someone in a local forum reported that he got 700 shots with Eneloops, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Apr 11, 2009 at 10:49 AM

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p.1 #23 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

i would be very interested to have a link to one of these companies, because the AAs i'm using in a 5D2 grip are getting drained faster than i would like, and i have yet to find a product that mimics the OEM batt function-for-function.

It was a UK company called "Digital Rev" that was marketing LP-E6 clones on eBay. They advertised:

Full compatibility LP-E6 Battery for Canon EOS 5D II. This battery has built-in SN chip, and is fully compatible with EOS 5D II battery information standard. This Battery does NOT require those 3rd party chargers to work. Simply use your own Canon original charger. Works just like original batteries.

They don't have an auction live right now for them, but this was the old auction address:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LP-E6-LPE6-Compatible-Battery-For-Canon-5D-Mark-II-1649_W0QQitemZ120395030726

Either they sold out (I wouldn't expect their supplier to be cranking them out any faster than Canon's) or they had problems.

Here is a link to the batteries on Digital Rev's actual storefront:

http://digitalrev.com/en/oem-lp-e6-digital-camera-battery-for-canon-5d-mark-ii-7062.html?category_id=0&search_string=lp-e6&search_category_id=0&match_type=1

Edited on Apr 11, 2009 at 07:20 PM · View previous versions

Apr 11, 2009 at 05:33 PM

RDKirk
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p.1 #24 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

Hmm, I've never had a 511 actually last more than 2 years. Most die or have highly reduced capacity sometime after a year or so. And they only get charged a couple times a month.

You can expect a Li-Ion to fall below acceptable rechargeability levels between 24 and 36 months after manufacture even with the best of care.

Early death is most often attributed to keeping them warm in use or during charging (which is the real reason why those laptop "coolers" are useful).

Charging them to full capacity is also a factor in a shortened life. If you know you're not going to need every last erg of energy from a battery for a session, it's better to remove it from the charger as soon as the light stops blinking. If weeks are going to pass before you use it, charge it again just before that use.

Some laptops can actually be set to stop charging at less than 100% and not to recharge until the battery drops below another percentage that can be set (like 30%).

Here is the best information about maintaining Li-Ion (and other rechargeable battery types) on the Internet:

www.batteryuniversity.com

Isador Buchmann is president of Cadex, Corp, a Canadian manufacturer of rechargeable battery analyzers and chargers. He knows his stuff, he's not prejudiced about battery types or brands, he has real-world experience with all of them and has his own data, and he writes lucidly for laymen.

Apr 11, 2009 at 05:41 PM

yauyi
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p.1 #25 · AA batteries for 5D MkII

I use the Duracell hybrids (kinda like Eneloops), these cells are made in Japan, bought them from Walmart $12 for a pack of 4, I tried them in my grip last week and got about 620 shots out of them....MUCH better than I had expected, 5D2 is very energy efficient so I wouldn't hesitate to use these Duracell hybrids AA.

Apr 12, 2009 at 03:38 AM


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