Star Rating Superb

NP-E3 Chinese Sourced Batteries For EOS1d Copies of the Canon NP-E3 Batteries made in China without licence

First Impressions: Fed up with the EOS1D OEM batteries lasting about 30seconds once charged and installed in your EOS1d? I know I bloody was, anyway a while back someone suggested that there was an alternative to the NP-E3 1650mAh batteries that Canon charge an arm and a leg for.

A quick trawl of  Ebay revealed a couple of suppliers that import in to the UK a 2200mAh battery for the EOS1D (and EOS 1Ds, 1D mk II) and the such like. Now the later cameras do not eat batteries in the same way as the original 1D, as they have CMOS sensors and improved internal electronics and motors that don't drain batteries in no time at all.

I ordered a couple of batteries from www.abcproducts.co.uk via Ebay, and they arrived within a couple of days. The quality of the batteries is similar to the Canon versions, with possibly one exception, mine do not connect as positively to the battery charger, so if you are charging whilst on the move, they can become disconnected from the charger, however I have spoken to a couple of other togs who have them, and theirs connect fine, so maybe the chinese quality control isn't quite the same as Canon's.( Although I know a few users that will claim Canon have no QCM)

Once installed in the camera, they fit every bit as well, although the weatherproofing seals don't seem to be quite as good, as the originals, they seem more than adequate. I went through the usually  three full charge and recondition cycles as recommended by the manufacturer and in the last few weeks I have been unable to run the batteries down, whilst in the camera. Historically I used to have the 1D switch the power off, if inactive for more than a couple of minutes, with the new batteries I leave the camera powered up for 30 minutes at a time. With seemingly no ill effect on the batteries. With the original (plus 3 spares for each body) if I charged the batteries fully on the Monday and put one in the camera, by the Thursday the batteries would be within a hour of going completely flat, as soon as the camera was turned on.

Whilst Canon has got upset about battery manufacturers production pattern parts (as they would be called in the motor trade) Canon describes these as counterfeit batteries, a little harsh as they don't purport to be Canon items. I personally rate them very highly, they work, and work and work, unlike the Canon items, they also cost a fraction of the Canon UK prices, I purchased 2 NPE3 2200mAh batteries from www.abcproducts.co.uk, for £20 each, whereas the cheapest I could find the genuine Canon 1650mAh NP-E3 batteries was around £85, plus postage.

I don't know if Canon supply higher rated batteries with the latest incarnations of the EOS1D and EOS1Ds, but if they don't, I'd expect these batteries to considerably improve the already impressive time that the  standard NP-E3 can power these cameras.

Please feel free to contact us on 075 88 66 95 80

All Images are © pressphotos-uk.com. If you use them without permission you are in breach of copyright laws.

©2010 pressphotos-uk.com