EOS 5D Mark IV Battery Issues

[Boogielove]

Okay the camera itself, 5D MarkIV, is GREAT. Incredible actually, my 5th Canon body. My issue is after spending more than $9,000 on Canon equipment they have the nerve to try to force me to buy only their replacement batteries which are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. I bought aftermarket ones for 20% of the cost which worked fine until recently when GREEDY CANON did firmware update that will LOCK MY CAMERA right in the middle of a shoot. Nice business model, Canon to treat high end customers like this

[rs-eos]

You'd be the one applying any firmware update, though.  So why blame Canon?

You are free to purchase non-Canon batteries, but it's always best to get Canon batteries.  Any time you mix-and-match hardware, it can be prone to issues.

[MarkY]

Since buying the Canon 5D Mark series camera bodies, I have bought the Canon batteries. I did buy Monster batteries for my Canon 10D. I recently bought two new Canon brand batteries at $79 each since the older batteries were showing 1-2 green bars left in the Battery Health menu. It's really not too expensive compared to the $200 I pay for Leica batteries that have less capacity. 

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

I'm confident Canon is not going out of their way to keep you from using 3rd party batteries with your camera.  I've used a mix of 3rd party and OEM batteries with the 2 bodys I own now without issue.  Both have been updated multiple times and are currently running the latest firmware available.  They both work fine.  I recommend OEM for best results.

[normadel]

What is the indication that aftermarket batteries are the cause of the camera "locking"?  What exactly is the camera doing/saying?

[Boogielove]

 something about detecting batteries blah blah blah then asks if they say canon on them? Meanwhile, the Bigfoot has already raced back into the nether land while I fumble for my old batteries. My point to Canon is you got $9,000 out of me- doesn't that make me a pretty fair customer? I read online it costs you $3 to make a battery which would explain why I can purchase aftermarket ones for $15. Yet, you want me to pay you 6 times that. And spare me the nonsense that it might 'damage' my camera. A bettery has no moving parts.  When you treat good customers like 'marks' no pun intended you make angry customers disinclined to make their next $9,000 purchases with your firm

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

We understand the sentiment.  We all want to use our gear and not be hindered when doing so.  In some respects, you do get what you pay for in many cases.  My 3rd party batteries were quite a bit more than $15 each, but less than $79.  While they don't have moving parts, the quality of the materials is often lower than what you get with OEM.  My non OEM brand of choice is Watson.  They have been good to me.  Maybe I've been lucky?  I buy memory cards and batteries from B&H.     

You can go on Amazon right now and find $6 batteries for your XBox controller.  Then you can see all of the pictures for people who left them plugged in too long and the battery is so bulged you have to pry it out of the battery bay with a screwdriver or knife.  I paid $17 ea for mine and 5 yrs later they still work great.  Microsoft had me using AA batteries.  Let me tell you how fast my nieces and nephews can chew through those    🤣

I've given up all of my 3rd party gear for > OEM.  (OK except for 2 batteries I bought last year and a few EF lens) that still live with us here.  Yes, I have embraced Canon's System.  Guess what, I don't have any problems and I can shoot until I'm out of juice.  If one of my Watson's gave me trouble, I'd recycle it and move forward.  Photography can be an expensive hobby, but $79 for something I truly love is worth it.       

[dpsaiz]

I use Sterlingtek batteries from Amazon for years and never had any issues.

I suppose Canon will force people to buy expensive and hard to find. Canon batteries.

We have an R and RP and use aftermarket batteries because Canon batteries are always sold out. Until they are plentiful again I'll continue to use Sterlingtek batteries.

[hm2]

All manufactures work to stop you from using 3rd party consumables. Printers are the most obvious examples, but even my latest laptop battery will not charge unless you are using a DELL charger. It sucks, and its just the way it is. Canon doesn't care that you spent a lot of money. Your $20,000 of business with them isn't as important as reducing competition from 3rd parties. People on support forums won't be sympathetic either. Canon sure as hell isn't going to change their policy or tactics. Just cough up, by the batteries, and move on.

Good luck to you.

[Tronhard]

Canon are rightly sensitive about counterfeit batteries being sold that do not function correctly and give their products a bad name, but no genuine 3rd party battery has stopped my cameras from working.

From about the 80D onwards, it seems that Canon would display a message about SOME 3rd party batteries asking if they had the Canon logo on them.  One had to select that they were not Canon branded, and the camera continued to function.

Over in my part of the world, Canon LP-E6n batteries retail for over $240, which I was prepared to accept to stay with OEM units - I really try to use nothing but OEM materials which I purchase from authorized dealer. However, the ones I got, and paid dearly for, were rubbish, their charge potential plummeted in a short time. 

For this reason, in the end I tried batteries from SmallRig, Ringma and Wasabi, for about 1/5 that price - they hold their charge better and are fully functional with my gear.  I prefer the first two over Wasabi, and SmallRig now have batteries that have a USB type C charge port directly in the battery and that saves having to take a charger.