T2i Short Battery Life - Buy 10?

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drcheese

Well-known member
Wow, so those T2i batteries don't seem to last too long. I bought one spare (for about $60) figuring two would hold me for a day of shooting, but it looks like they only last about 2 hours, maybe less.

So when I went to buy 2 more I discovered this dealer on eBay called imode technology who sells knock off batteries from Hong Kong. It'll take 7-14 work days to ship, but I could buy 10 batteries for $82 (after bing/ebates).

What do you think? Has anyone here had any experience with imode? They have 100% ebay rating with 5710 reviews. Money saved or money wasted?
 
If you're okay with guestimating when the battery runs out, go get them. My fear with the knock off batteries is that they don't talk to the camera about how much time is left on them. I hear this could be a serious issue if you're writing to SD card and the camera goes down. It could corrupt the card.

Do those batteries have some kind of indicator saying how long you have til you have to switch?
 
no dude
it takes 1 hour for one to die (constant use)
45 minutes for one to charge
all you need are two batteries as long as you have an outlet
otherwise, turn your camera off when you can. it got me up to 3 hours on one battery
 
@Chris: Is it a known issue with knock offs that the camera won't register how much time is left? That would definitely be a deal breaker. Although I've drained a canon battery before while recording and it just goes to the warning screen saying the battery is dead... which obviously means there is some power left on the battery (since it displays a screen) and that maybe the camera safeguards against corrupting the card.

The Canon batteries don't have an indicator on them either...

@yokotas13: I was going off experience for 2 hours or less use (that wasn't in constant record though) and going off the manual which says "It takes approx. 2 hours to fully recharge a completely exhausted battery at 23C/73F." I haven't paid close enough attention to see if that's right or not. But one hour of time would make my need for more batteries even greater. There's too many scenarios where I wouldn't be near an outlet.
 
Does anyone know if the non-Canon batteries will at least display a warning right before they die? Not a incremental symbol, but a flashing depleted battery symbol?
 
The standard T2i battery doesn't "talk" to the camera, even the Canon first party ones don't. The camera knows how much charge is left by measureing the voltage of the battery. The voltage drops as it is depleted. This is the method most cameras use to tell how much is left. There are some smart batteries with built in logic that talks to the camera various things like charge cycles and last full/empty voltage but I don't think the T2i uses these kind.

3rd party batteries are fine if you get them from a reputable source.
 
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I bought a generic on ebay about 6 days ago so it theory it should be here soon. I'll let you know about it when it gets here and I've had a chance to mess around with it.
 
Shao is right, 3rd party batteries work exactly the same as canon-branded maybe not as reliable in terms of holding charges over time but for the price they'll treat you well.
 
Moojangles said:
Shao is right, 3rd party batteries work exactly the same as canon-branded maybe not as reliable in terms of holding charges over time but for the price they'll treat you well.
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Sometimes a premium 3rd party battery will actually hold more charge. First party suppliers are usually slow to adopt newer battery technology/chemistry while 3rd party makers have much more freedom to switch source parts without large contracts to uphold. Its not a common case but its possible.
 
Ryan Farnes said:
Does anyone know if the non-Canon batteries will at least display a warning right before they die? Not a incremental symbol, but a flashing depleted battery symbol?
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it does, RIGHT before it dies.

If you have more than 1, and you have a general sense of how long they last (AKA doing tests before an important shoot), generics are awesome. You can get 5 or so for the price of 1 Canon battery.

And yes, they last just as long. They're just not "Smart" batteries.
 
NoxNoctus said:
And yes, they last just as long. They're just not "Smart" batteries.
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Which camera are you talking about? Not all cameras use "smart" batteries and not all "smart" batteries have the same level of "smartness". Some are pretty basic and just store a serial number and recharge count. Those kinds of things don't help performance or accurate battery level.
 
do any of the batteries just tell you when they are about to die or do they signal say, full, half, and low charge?
 
Ben_B said:
Two hours of normal use or two hours of continuous recording with the LCD on?
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You get maybe a little less than two hours of the LCD on, sometimes recording, sometimes just waiting between takes. At least that seems to be my experience. I'm adopting a new policy where if I'm not calibrating, shooting, or about to shoot I'm turning off the camera.


I'm not 100% from the thread, but I think the general consensus is that these cheap batteries will be treated the same by the camera. Which means that the camera will show the battery icon going from full to half to almost out. This seems to make sense to me as well.

I'll likely order the 10 batteries tomorrow (which is way more than I need, but for that price!). In 7-14 business days I'll let you know if my camera exploded.
 
link to cheap bateries

link to cheap bateries

hi drcheese
Can you give us a link to the ebay shop that sell these? couldnt find them...
Thanks
 
J Davis said:
I picked up a tether which works for most of my shoots LINK
then again I don't do much hand held
Click to expand...

J,

Does the power adapter connect (to the coupler inserted into the body) via the little rubber lift on the side on the body next to the battery compartment? I can't see how it would connect otherwise.

Also, for those "cheapies" among us, can you tell us the proper specs of the AC block? May be more economical to pick-up the coupler and add you own wallwart.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/676244-REG/Canon_4518B001_DR_E8_DC_Coupler.html


Thanks.

John
 
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