Any recommendations for aftermarket LP-E4

I recently purchased a 1DIII. The battery is original Canon and show 3 green bars of recharge performance. It goes down to under 20% with 1100 frames and a lot of chimping. That is kind of borderline to getting through a heavy day of a 6 year old's games and such.

I checked Amazon.com and found DSTE and Wasabi. Both have enough bad reviews to scare me a bit. The LP-E4n is $180 and the LP-E4 is $110. I searched here on POTN, but everything is over 2 years old. Can anyone recommend Wasabi or DSTE? I use Wasabi LP-E6 in my 6D with no problems.

Bassat wrote in post #17992810
I recently purchased a 1DIII. The battery is original Canon and show 3 green bars of recharge performance. It goes down to under 20% with 1100 frames and a lot of chimping. That is kind of borderline to getting through a heavy day of a 6 year old's games and such.

I checked Amazon.com and found DSTE and Wasabi. Both have enough bad reviews to scare me a bit. The LP-E4n is $180 and the LP-E4 is $110. I searched here on POTN, but everything is over 2 years old. Can anyone recommend Wasabi or DSTE? I use Wasabi LP-E6 in my 6D with no problems.

I had a problem with the Wasabi LP-E4. It overheated and would shut down the charger after about a 60% charge. I ended up biting the bullet and getting the Canon LP-E4n. It hurt for a few minutes.... then I didn't even think about it again. Well, until just now.

Thanks, Kim. Does the new LP-e4N work fully with the old 1DIII?

The new LP-E4N is rated at 2450 mAh, vs. 2300 mAh for the LP-E4 pack. In spite of this difference, it remains compatible with the EOS-1D Mark III, Mark IV, and the EOS-1Ds Mark III (as explained below) - (from Canon directly)

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll go shopping. $164 for a battery seems pretty steep, though!

OK, Adorama & BH both have the LP-E4N for $164. It occurs to me to ask the question: Does the E4N battery charge OK in the original 1DIII charger? Or do I also have to buy an (N) charger?

The answers can be found here: https://learn.usa.cano​n.com …lp-e4n_battery_pack.htmlp

Interesting. The new battery is compatible with the old charger, almost. If the $164 battery isn't going to be fully charged on the old charger (after a while), why bothers. Seems a $29 battery that charges to 60% is about the same thing, for $135 less. Back to confused.

If you have future plans on going to the newer 1D series that can make better use of the LP-E4n, I would get that. Otherwise, I agree, just buy a couple of the aftermarkets and use them until they don't work any longer. That should get you through about 1-2 years, based on my history with aftermarket LP batteries, with my 1D4 and 1D3.

That compatibility was more to not upset the current 1D ownership base when Canon decided to introduce the new battery and 1DX, so that owners could still interchange the usage. I personally would rather have 1 or 2 aftermarket backup batteries at $60 or less, and worry about LP-E4N later if I upgrade bodies.

This seller has 1 negative feedback for the entire year, and seems to be selling OE batteries for pretty decent prices.

http://www.ebay.com …0ff86d:g:WVkAAO​SwT6pVrQRc

Maybe that is a good compromise? I would do more research to verify though.

I may be upgrading to a 1DIV. I want to get through a few shoots with the 1DIII first, and see how it goes. The upgrade in crop-ability is the appeal. However, I don't believe I am focal-length challenged. I have a lot of choices for sports/athletic glass: 85 1.8, 135L, 70-200 f/4L IS, 100-400L, 1.4x TC. I've worked a few ISO 3200 files from the 1DIII. It is adequate for a grandpa shooting little kids.

Anyway, the 1DIV is made for the LP-E4, not the N-version. No way I can afford a 1DX (or II).

Bassat wrote in post #17992946
I may be upgrading to a 1DIV. I want to get through a few shoots with the 1DIII first, and see how it goes. The upgrade in crop-ability is the appeal. However, I don't believe I am focal-length challenged. I have a lot of choices for sports/athletic glass: 85 1.8, 135L, 70-200 f/4L IS, 100-400L, 1.4x TC. I've worked a few ISO 3200 files from the 1DIII. It is adequate for a grandpa shooting little kids.

Anyway, the 1DIV is made for the LP-E4, not the N-version. No way I can afford a 1DX (or II).

The new LP-E4n charges fully in my 1DIV charger.. not sure about the 1DIII charger. I'm not anti third party batteries. I have used Sterlingtek for all my previous camera bodies and they worked better than the OEM Canon batteries. I'm all for less expensive when it makes sense. That being said, what makes sense to me might not make any sense to anyone else.

I ordered a DTSE LP-E4 from Amazon. Most folks like it. Some had real problems. For $26, I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work, I'll get the Canon flavor.

Bassat wrote in post #17995203
I ordered a DTSE LP-E4 from Amazon. Most folks like it. Some had real problems. For $26, I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work, I'll get the Canon flavor.

Well since it's from Amazon, you at least have their rather generous returns policy to fall back on.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #17995933
Well since it's from Amazon, you at least have their rather generous returns policy to fall back on.

Alan

Yes. Counting on it.

An update, of sorts. I got the DSTE battery yesterday. It fits tightly in the camera. If the battery overheats/swells, I'll have to pry it out. The locking mechanism is considerably more flimsy than OEM. It seems frail and will need to be babied along. I shot with it for about an hour with no overheating or such issues. It reads (status/condition) fine. I am suspicious of the 4400 mAh rating. That suggests ~4000 photos on a charge. We'll see. For $30, compared to $165, so far, good enough.

Other Amazon users/purchasers said as much. One said, "Good battery, while it lasts. Use it first, keep your Canon's as backups." Seems reasonable.