Is it safe/wise to use a cheap 3rd party battery in my Nikon D40 camera?
The Nikon battery has died on my Nikon D40 and a genuine Nikon battery costs a fortune, I'm tempted to buy a cheap 3rd party battery from eBay. Will this damage my much loved Nikon D40 camera.
I don't like the new generation of DSLR camera's. If I wanted a movie camera I would have bought a movie camera, And they are crammed full of unnecessary pixels, Do I really need 18 MP?
I want to keep my little D40 until it does not work anymore. There's far to much "Throw away" in this World.
Sorry I'm waffling now.
Can I safely use a cheap 3rd party battery in my Nikon D40 Camera.
Don't buy from eBay. Go to any camera shop and buy a generic battery.
Do you really think they make their own batteries?
The only difference is the brand name but at the end it will still be a battery. But check warranty first.
Yes, but the problem with "e-bay" ones is that you might get a decent one, you might get a lousy one. Lousy meaning won't hold a charge, not "it will blow up and wreck my camera."
I recommend Sterling Tek -- "third-party" batteries that are reliable and inexpensive. I've been using theirs in my Canons for 5 years now, never a problem:
http://sterlingtek.com/
Confirm with Calumet, but they're listed on their website @ £2.99.
Calumet stuff is OK.
I always keep charged-up spare batteries for my Nikon D80 and Lumix TZ18, in both cases using 3rd party batteries. I buy mine from 7dayshop.com (I buy loads of other stuff there too) and the batteries have always been as good as the originals.
The D40 is a good camera. It may not have the most pixels on earth but it still produces nice sharp images that can be enlarged as much as you are likely to want to enlarge them.
It should be, obviously there are the usual disclaimers, but they're one-in-a-million type thngs. If you do buy a third party item buy from a reputable store, places like Warehouse Express, Jessops, Jacobs, Calumet all sell third party batteries, and you know that if the battery doesn't hold charge that you just take it back to them with the receipt and you'll get at the very least an exchange.
If they are a reputable long standing brand you should have no trouble at all.
The manufacturers always suggest you don't do so, but with obvious reasons.
I personally wouldn't suggest buying from ebay though. See the batteries below at Amazon. There are plenty of review so you can be sure of what you are getting.
If it doesn't say " Nikon " on it, don't buy it. A new battery is cheaper than having your camera repaired after that cheap battery leaks inside of your beloved D40.
The biggest problem with using a third party battery is that it may not have the IC charging chip, and therefore may not properly charge correctly with you current charger.
IF I was going to use a third party, it would be Pearson. BUT, that would mean buying a matching charger to go with the battery, which would put the cost right back at buying an OEM battery… So why bother?
A fellow photog used to buy the e-bay no-name batteries UNTIL one evidently overcharged and leaked in his camera. It was a $250 repair bill, and from then on, he only buys OEM.