Poor performance from LP-E6N batteries. How do I buy a "good" one?

[hm2]

I purchased new batteries a few years back. Within 2 years the batteries were no longer holding charge well. Now they seem to lose charge if left alone for a few days.

However, I still have a LP-E6 from 10 years ago that is going strong. As I go to purchase new batteries, how do I ensure I get "good" ones, and not ones that crap out after a year or two? The last two were purchased as holidays gifts from the canon store on Amazon.

[normadel · Accepted solution]

The "Canon Store" on Amazon is not the Canon company. All kinds of sellers are in the "Canon Store". 

The batteries you bought may not even be genuine Canon items. Amazon is notorious for counterfeit products.

Buy your genuine Canon batteries from reputable photo dealers, like B&H PhotoVideo, Roberts Photo for example. You may also want to try aftermarket batteries from the top makers....Watson and Wasabi in particular. Much cheaper than genuine Canon, and good products.

[hm2]

Thanks. I thought that Canon branded products sold by Amazon ( not random 3rd party ) were official products.  Amazon is listed as an authorized reseller. Also, as a previous Amazon seller, I have been prevented from selling branded products there as I am not an Authorized Seller.

Thanks also for the tip on aftermarket batteries.

[wq9nsc]

I had problems with genuine Canon LP-E6N and NH batteries (from B&H) so it isn't just third party.  I have used Canon gear for years, mostly 1 series, and never had an issue before buying some 5 series bodies that use these batteries.  I had two batteries from B&H (NH suffix) that died within 6 weeks due to the charger refusing to charge them.  B&H took them back without question and my customer service rep said I was in good company in having issues with these batteries.  Canon issued a customer TSB advising customers to try inserting the battery in the charger several times to get it to start charging so they obviously have had problems with this design.

I think there is a basic design issue with these batteries and their charger where either the camera software is allowing the batteries to go far too low sometimes while still showing plenty of charge and/or a charging system that is too sensitive to low voltage cutoff.  As an experiment, I used one of my lab grade bench supplies to provide controlled current and voltage to a LP-E6NH that wouldn't charge and after a few minutes on the bench then it worked fine in the Canon charger and camera but I would never trust it in the field.

My 1 series Canon bodies get nothing but genuine Canon batteries but the 5 series get aftermarket which have been working wonderfully for me.  Any camera body or battery that is unreliable isn't going to have a home with me for long.  I see so many threads about camera lockup in the past few years and I would jump ship in a hurry if I had to deal with this. In 20 years of shooting sports with Canon 1 series bodies, I have had exactly 1 camera freeze and that is when I had to buy some aftermarket batteries because none of the Canon dealers had LP-E4 batteries available.  The aftermarket worked fine until I shot the first long high rate burst causing the camera to freeze because the aftermarket pack couldn't sustain the high sustain current required for this but with Canon batteries I never had a 1 series failure in several hundred thousand captures between multiple bodies.

The British have a great phrase, "Too clever by half" and I think that is very applicable to the Canon LP-E6 battery family.

Rodger

[Alucard13]

I agree with Normadel, The Canon batteries are good and getting them from a reputable dealer is important, Amazon does not closely vet the products they have listed on their site. I have bought 3rd party batteries from Amazon, but I make sure there are numerous reviews and I read the negative ones to see if there is a prevalent issue.  Some reviewers complain about nonsensical stuff. Loom for reviewers that give a longevity report, like I had this battery for 3 years and it us still working well etc. Also check the questions asked to see what users say about the batteries, 3rd party can save a lot of money, but you have to make sure the product is good, also look for good customer service in case the battery or charger is bad, that will happen at times and see if the company stands behind their product.