I think I'm done with cheap batteries.

[arthurking83]

Even tho I'm currently planning on acquiring a new body in the immediate future, the (now 4 yo) D300 battery is starting to go south for the winter and I'm going to have to replace it, even tho it's not going to be compatible with my new camera!!

I'm going to go with another 3rd party cheapie for the D300 replacement.

[I @ M]

Even tho I'm currently planning on acquiring a new body in the immediate future, the (now 4 yo) D300 battery is starting to go south for the winter and I'm going to have to replace it, even tho it's not going to be compatible with my new camera!!

I'm going to go with another 3rd party cheapie for the D300 replacement.

Somewhere in the pile of EN-EL3e batteries here is the original one ( replaced from an EN-EL3 under recall ) from a D50 way back in 2005 or 6. None of em show any signs of giving up the ghost yet.

[arthurking83]

Yeah! I hate that.

My En-EL3(a) from the D70s still works fine too .. and that's with very little use over the past 4 years(which is more of a strain on batteries than using them regularly!!)

And I'm even more pleased to also report that the same goes for the two cheapie aftermarket batteries I also got for the D70s .. and so much so that I'd say they're probably better in retaining charge than the original.

Of course En-EL3a's don't fit into a D200/D300 or any other camera that takes EN-EL3e's due to the extra notch in the EL3e, plus the extra connection for battery condition reporting too.
EN-EL3a camera's will allow EN-EL3e batteries to fit tho, which was the way Nikon used to work.. always trying hard to maintain backward compatibility as much as they could.
(but they stuffed that now didn't they!!)

So I have 3 perfectly perfect batteries that hardly ever get used, and have to put up with one that barely lasts me about 300-500 shots!

[flashc]

I've dealt with Master Instruments on and off for about 20 years, and they have always been great.

One retailer who carries their stuff, or at least used to and probably still does, is Wagner Electronics (WES Components) in Ashfield, Sydney.

http://wagner.net.au/catalogue/index.htm

Cheers,
Jason.

Hi...

I used to deal with WES wholesale, am still in their system and didn't think they sold retail, only trade.

I have 2 Canon LP-e6 batteries for my Canon 7D. As I kept records to see how they would perform against my old BP-511 type batteries, the first one has been charged 71 times and the 2nd, 52. I always try to drop the charge to zero before recharging even though you don't really have to with Li-ion batteries. Both batteries show 2 bars in camera remaining performance/charging rating.

At $89.00 for genuine, I would want to pay no more than $50.00 for a non genuine including freight. Cameras don't work with bad batteries out in the bush.