Pentax K7 Battery Query

Kintarō Hattori

Hi Folks,

I want to pick up another battery for the K7, just something to have if I take a long trip etc. The standard battery takes a lot of shots before it dies so it's just for backup really.

An offical Pentax battery is €70 which you can see here on Pixmania. It's pretty much in and around this price on other websites too. At the moment we're saving for a house so €70 on a battery is out of the question.

I've seen spurious batteries on websites such as DealExtreme for roughly $12 and eBay for about the same. That's a big difference in price. Are these batteries safe to use in the camera or am I best to avoid them? Are they anymore likely to leak, cause problems than official batteries? Have any of you folk used spurious batteries in your camera?


Any advice is greatly appreciated.

charybdis

I've used dirt cheap third party batteries from eBay for a while, initially just in a battery grip, but I've recently been using them in the camera when needed. I've never heard of them being dangerous or damaging a camera, about they worst I've heard is that there are occasional dud batteries than don't hold a charge.

I think having one as a backup for the sake of a few Euro is probably worthwhile.

Sleepy

I've had zero problems with 2 out of my 3 batteries being ebay knock-offs over almost 2 years use in a Canon 450D.

Kintarō Hattori

Thanks guys, looks positive so.

AnCatDubh

No problems on the K20D - a third party one came with a pentax battery grip which I use both in camera and as part of the grip. It's not as good as the pentax one but understandable as it hasn't the same rating. So, thus far i've no problem.

hbr

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

An offical Pentax battery is €70

Ouch!

eBay batteries are pretty good these days. Check the sellers ratings
and feedback carefully.

I have a cheap eBay battery for my Canon 500D. It is at least as
good as the original Canon battery.

If you would prefer to buy a branded battery, Duracell sell
batteries for most DSLRs:
http://www.duracelldirect.co.uk/digital-camera/pentax/k20d-battery-adapter-charger.html

oreillymj

Kintarō,

I'd avoid Pixmania.

I'm not affiliated with these guys in any way, but they're recommended on the UK Pentax forums and I've found them excellent. I bought the Hama replica battery the week before last for my DealExtreme K7 battery grip.

http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/3777/Hama-Pentax-D-LI90-Compatible-Li-ION-Battery--B1603-.html

They will usually wave postage on bigger items like lenses.

Kintarō Hattori

Thanks oreillymj,

I already picked up a spare battery from eBay and it's in the K7 as I type. It was less than ten euro, so can't argue with that. So far so good.

xadacka

I have a k-7 too, pick it up for $890 with second battery and remote! Think the battery was $40. Amazon.com = the ONLY place to shop