13Mar Wasabi LP-E6 battery and charger combo
I’ve tried out a number of different generic decoded batteries on the market and the majority of those batteries worked fine in the Canon 7d and 5d mark II. Unfortunately this hasn’t been the case with the Canon 6d and 5d mark III. Canon has crippled their new cameras with all kinds of battery detection, so much so that they sometimes have trouble recognizing the batteries that came with the camera. This doesn’t make the batteries useless but it does give you an annoying warning every time you use the batteries and it sometimes cause problems if you have an HDMI monitor attached.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the latest version of Wasabi’s LP-E6 decoded batteries work without issue on the 5d mark III. While the Wasabi LP-E6 batteries are a little more expensive then some of the other generic batteries on the market (about $14 a peace), they are far less expensive than the $60 Canon charges for official batteries.
16 Wasabi LP-E6 batteries which would also include 8 battery chargers. While most people don’t need 16 LP-E6 Batteries laying around, it’s not uncommon to have at least 8 batteries if you are shooting with multiple cameras or have a field monitor that uses LP-E6 batteries.
When I started looking into generic batteries, Wasabi was just another brand. However, after using them for a number of years and having good luck with their performance, I generally lean towards Wasabi for my generica battery needs. They might be $4 or $5 more expensive then other generic battery providers but it seems like they’re worth the price.
March 13th, 2014 at 5:44 pm
I have a bunch of Wasabi batteries of every type for Canon and Sony powered devices. But I’m finding that no aftermarket battery has the same run time and reliability over time as OEM extended run batteries. I use an older extended capacity Canon battery without the meter that’s used for other cameras (they don’t even list it as a possible option on their website) and I get at least 5 hours of continuous use on my C100. Whereas I’m lucky if I get a few hours with the bigger and heavier Wasabi batteries. Aftermarket batteries also seem to lose their capacity over time much faster whereas I can get years of steady use out of Canon batteries.
March 13th, 2014 at 6:13 pm
My C100 batteries have been holding up pretty well, i’ve been getting a half day out of a single Wasabi battery constantly for the last 4 or 5 months. I haven’t really trended failure on the LP-E6 batteries because I haven’t had any go bad. Few of the non Wasabi generic batteries don’t don’t last as long but my Wasabi batteries seem consistent. Maybe a shutter test of some sort is in order.
March 13th, 2014 at 6:20 pm
I guess it also depends on how much lens stabilization you use. When I cover events, I use more. This is the battery I use. Pretty costly but I can go the entire day without changing batteries. Cheaper than the high cap battery that Canon “designates” for the C100. I have a couple of Wasabi batteries as backup. I do mostly use Wasabi batteries for my DSLRs. With the battery grip, I can go all day with those.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IKMBCW/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1
March 13th, 2014 at 6:31 pm
I don’t do a lot of event work, more interviews, process videos, and theatrical stuff lately. If you have to carry everything with you all day, 1 battery to rule them all is probably worth it. I usually have a nice charging area and a runner getting me batteries and other pieces of kit. On the occasions where i’m tasked with shooting on a convention floor, i just keep extra batteries in a small backpack and charge them up the night before. Even then I usually get to make it back to the motel room at least 4 or so times a day to swap things out and run stuff through the charger.
March 13th, 2014 at 6:37 pm
Deejay how do you store your batteries to keep them from shorting each other out? When I do events, I use a photo belt with pouches that separate each. In my bag, I just stack them top to bottom and have been lucky. But I’ve always thought that I needed to find a better way to cover the terminals. Most batteries don’t come with the plastic cap and those tend to fall off easily anyways.
March 13th, 2014 at 6:56 pm
I use a set of canvas bags with the label of each battery type on it as well as a different color bag for each type of battery. Batteries shouldn’t short together unless you break of the plastic bits, so you can put them all in the same bag for each type and the canvas bag keeps them apart from anything that might be floating around in your backpack or camera bag. It also makes it easier if you are working with someone who doesn’t know your kit. You can just say, “grab me a battery out of the orange bag with LP-E6 written on it” and they don’t have to know anything about the camera, battery type or anything else to get you what you need.
Maybe i’ll put up a quick video on it.
March 14th, 2014 at 10:17 am
I have some Wasabi batteries and at first, it had longer running times than the Canons, but over time, they stopped lasting as long. I did have a lot of detection issues with the 5dm3 so now I just strictly use the wasabis for my field monitor and I use genuine Canons for my camera.
March 15th, 2014 at 12:40 pm
I’ve got two of the wasabi LP-E6 and I’ve been using them for about a year or so. They still work great and last really long on my 5dmk2
March 15th, 2014 at 1:56 pm
I’ve had great luck with mine as well.
April 7th, 2017 at 1:29 am
do these batteries charge in Canon chargers and do they work with 5dmkiv?