Home › Forums › Photography Q&A › Purchasing additional batteries
- This topic has 10 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 8 months ago by
Lydia B.
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March 2, 2021 at 2:30 pm #60740
Lydia B
ParticipantHey all, I’ve been meaning to purchase some extra camera batteries for my Nikon D3100, and was looking into what I should get. Was searching around on Amazon a bit, and thought I’d drop a line here to see if anyone has suggestions.
I had gotten two off-brand batteries a couple years ago, but they don’t seem to hold a charge very well (especially when I’m taking videos, like this one) and lately they sometimes kinda get stuck in the camera (not good, especially when you’re in the middle of a photo shoot :D). I also still have the original Nikon battery which works fine.
I’ve attached a snapshot of current batteries: one of the off-brands and the original Nikon.
Any purchasing advice?
March 2, 2021 at 2:36 pm #60742David Frazer
ParticipantI had gotten two off-brand batteries a couple years ago, but they don’t seem to hold a charge very well…
and lately they sometimes kinda get stuck in the cameraThat is exactly my experience with off-brand batteries. I finally ended up getting another Nikon-brand battery. They are about 4 times the price (ouch), but they last 4 times as long, so in the end it comes out the same price long-term.
March 2, 2021 at 3:54 pm #60743Ezra Morley
ModeratorMy advice is to buy from B&H or Adorama, not Amazon. If you do have trouble, you’ll be much better off talking to a helpful person at B&H than pinging one of Amazon’s chat robots… Not to mention the fact that B&H doesn’t usually sell junk. Amazon will sell any cheap Chinese battery, but B&H is much more careful about what they stock.
Looks like you can get a genuine replacement for ~$42 from B&H.
March 3, 2021 at 8:23 am #60754Ernest Lloyd
ParticipantI’ve had a pair of Ravpower batteries for almost two years now, and I haven’t had any problems with them so far… They drain fairly quickly in the cold, but even that was only a few less minutes than the original battery. I suggest you check them out. Not sure if two years of experience with them is going to be enough to determine that though.
And I’m not sure if B&H Photo sells them…
I am looking for an off-brand battery for my Nikon Z50, but at this point there isn’t any that I could see.
Because the original ones are like $70 at this point. 🙁March 3, 2021 at 5:43 pm #60817Ernest Lloyd
ParticipantAs a side note; the Nikon Z50 battery is only guaranteed at 300 shots per charge (because it’s mirrorless), but I get on average 800-1,000.
Just a little advertisement for the Z50. 😉March 4, 2021 at 11:06 am #60827James Staddon
KeymasterYes, I recommend B&H over Amazon as well.
March 8, 2021 at 10:46 am #60990Lydia B
ParticipantThank you for the advice, guys! Very helpful to know.
March 9, 2021 at 11:40 am #61029James Staddon
KeymasterIt’s always a good idea to wait and look around for deals. Do tech companies ever do like an Easter sale or something?
March 11, 2021 at 1:31 pm #61102Lydia B
ParticipantGood point, James.
Well, if anyone sees a deal, let me know! Would appreciate it.
Curious how other folks around here keep their eye out for good deals on things like this. Do you just search around? Do you sign up on email lists to get notifications?
March 11, 2021 at 4:48 pm #61104James Staddon
Keymaster@bennett-family, I wish I had a good system for that. 🙂 Right now, I sign up for email notifications from a website, and then have a filter set up in my email inbox that automatically archives and moves their emails into a “Deals > [company name]” folder. They may send 100 emails, but I won’t see any of them until I decide I want to buy something from them, then I can go to that folder and find out what the most current deal is. If I ever wanted to, I just just delete all their old emails from the folder.
March 12, 2021 at 10:27 am #61107Lydia B
ParticipantThat doesn’t sound like such a bad system. 🙂 I’ll have to look into that idea and see if I could set up something similar.
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