Is it better to use the original battery for my d7200 camera or choose an third party replacement is OK? [duplicate]

Question

I got the original nikon d7200 batteries before, but its first initial 1st charge drains very fast. I tried to used them for a couple of weeks so they have definitely run down. And up. They've gone from full to empty very fast. Does anyone have any experience of using third party batteries like LP Neweer Vemico or some other brands?

Answer 1

I have no experience with either of those brands, but I do have some experience with third party batteries (for Canon).

In general the ones I have tried are just as good as the original. In the beginning. Over time they tend to lose max capacity faster than original batteries.

Considering that they only cost half-ish of what an original battery costs, this is still okay, as they still have a lifetime that is more than half the lifeime of the original.

But.. I must also add that I once had a third party battery that started making a weird sine-sound that were getting louder and louder while charging. Fearing it might explode, I took it out of the charger, and the sound slowly died away. After that I threw the battery away.

This has happened once in approx. 8 third party batteries and never with an original.

The point is that while third party batteries ARE cheaper and provides an okay alternative, they might not have underwent the same quality control as the originals,

Answer 2

Camera maker batteries will usually be of more consistent quality. Third-party batteries tend to be more variable. Even the same brand could have different underlying OEM or design over time. People also have different standards for good-enough performance. For every success story, there are corresponding horror stories, using the same batteries.

If you have low tolerance for surprises, use the camera manufacturer batteries. If you like to experiment, feel free to try third-party batteries from different makers until you find some you like.

Answer 3

Google found this on ApoTelyt, which I thought summed it up quite nicely

What about generic battery packs?

Nikon sells the original EN-EL15 pack at quite a steep price. This premium pricing strategy has left room in the market for third party suppliers to offer fully compatible battery packs at much lower prices. Savings from buying generic replacement batteries can amount up to 70 percent of the price of the genuine battery pack.

Indeed, one can easily find a variety of competitively-priced EN-EL15 replacements from different vendors at major online platforms (see, for example, here on eBay). All these generic alternatives should work fine with your Nikon D7200. So why would anybody then buy the more expensive original battery?

Well, below are some arguments in favor of the genuine EN-EL15, which can perhaps be summarized as "peace of mind".

• Assurance that the warranty of the camera will not be rendered void if a battery-related failure occurs;
• Assurance that the battery pack will indeed have the stated capacity;
• Assurance that the battery will have low self-discharge rates and, thus, will hold its charge even when not in use;
• Assurance that the power unit will not trigger any warning messages on the camera and can be effectively charged with the standard charger;
• Assurance that the manufacturing process has respected the safety guidelines for Lithium-Ion batteries;

That said, I'd tend to also trust makes I've already heard of - names you find in every supermarket, such as Energizer or Duracell.

Answer 4

You can find numerous teardown and analysis videos/articles on third party batteries and chargers on the net.

Modern camera batteries have internal circuitry, responsible for working "with" the charger and camera to make sure battery lifetime is optimized by ensuring correct charging and discharging, and for compensating for environmental temperature, and for ensuring that any battery or charger failure will never be catastrophic. The circuitry found in many third party batteries appears to be substandard in many cases.

Quality on third party batteries is found to not necessarily correspond to price - some branded third party ones are cheaper unbranded grades relabelled.

The same applies to charger circuitry design. Mixing random third party chargers (probably especially those that did not come with the third party batteries) with random third party batteries is likely the worst combination - you might have a situation where the battery designer assumed they could cut corners since the charger will take care of things, and the charger designer assumed the battery circuit will...

Consider secondhand but good camera batteries - in my experience, they can still be better than some of the third party ones.

Answer 5

Rechargeable lithium batteries can be surprising complicated. In general there is “Protected” and “Unprotected”. The difference is whether the battery has a builtin circuit board to regulate/protect the charge/discharge rates. For cameras you should be dealing with protected batteries. Unprotected is generally relegated to high power high current devices.

The D7200 uses the EL15 battery which comes in 4 variants. The differences are manufacturing date and embedded printed circuit board (PCB). I believe the D7200 can use any of the variants.

All of the Nikon branded batteries are rated as 1900mAh. Nikon does not manufacture the batteries directly, they brand them from vetted battery producers. That said, there are other unbranded batteries produced from the same manufacturers and of the same quality and specifications for less cost.

While there are excellent non-Nikon branded batteries, the catch is which ones? If you want to avoid the quandary, bite the bullet and pay the Nikon premium for a known product.

If you want to go with an alternate supplier, here are a few suggestions:

1. Check the mAh rating.

If it’s substantially less than 1900mAh or if it doesn’t state it’s energy capacity, I’d suggest avoiding it.

Some of the newer batteries offer even higher energy capacities of 2100 or 2200 mAh. This provides a greater shooting time, but it’s not a huge difference, 10-15 percent at most. The larger capacity may throw off the battery level indicator a little bit as well but the difference should be trivial.

2. Verify the charger.

Make sure it will charge in your current charger or that you are getting a new compatible charger.

3. Check reviews.

As with any product, check the reviews.

Answer 6

The original battery is best in terms of being sure it is suitable for your Nikon D7200.

With that said, I find that Patona batteries are just as good.

Ravpower batteries also have a good reputation.