[Leica] Leica blocking 3rd party batteries in firmware?

[Nathan Wajsman]

I have a mix of Leica and non-Leica batteries for my M8, and I cannot tell them apart. Same with my Fuji outfit. That said, I have had to chuck some off-brand batteries in the past. However, in the case of Leica batteries, the price difference was so large (as Kyle noted) that even if half of the non-Leica ones are junk, you are still ahead, money-wise.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman

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> On 09 Feb 2015, at 21:32, John McMaster <john at mcmaster.co.nz> wrote:
> 
> I have had 2 or 3 non-genuine batteries, none of them ever worked reliably even before the firmware update. I have not bought an M9 battery (I have 6 across M9, Monochrom and M8) for over 2.5 years, the oldest is nearly twice that age, and they all still work fine. If I am carrying the M9, Monochrome and a few lenses then the battery price, rather than reliability, is not an issue...
> 
> john
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> 
> I think on this list at one point different people reported varying experience with different non-genuine batteries. They might chime in?
> 
> For sure the Leica ones cost a lot. I guess that the one for the M8/9 was easy to clone or whoever actually made the originals produced a lot of them to different standards? It's interesting that the battery for the M (typ
> 240) is actually two of the earlier assemblies in one case, but I've not heard of a single non-genuine version anywhere.
> 
> 
> Cheers
> Geoff
> http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman
> 
> On 10 February 2015 at 01:19, kyle cassidy on the lug < leicaslacker at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Howdy folks --
>> 
>> I've been using 3rd party batteries in all of my cameras since 
>> Australopithecus started banging rocks together -- in Panasonics, 
>> Nikons, and various Leica's with no problem. In fact, I've often 
>> wondered if workers from the OEM shop sneak back in at night and 
>> continue production without labeling them.
>> 
>> I recently got four off-brand M9 batteries (from two different 
>> retailers) and notice a curious behavior -- when they're fully charged 
>> often the camera will give a "battery low" warning and shut down -- 
>> however voltage meter shows the batteries are fully charged. I'm 
>> wondering if Leica has possibly chipped it's batteries and instructed 
>> the camera not to work with 3rd party batteries (in the same way that 
>> the Keuring coffee-machines recognize imposter K-Cups and refuse to 
>> work with them.) I can think of several possible reasons for this, but 
>> chipping the batteries I think is the most likely. Another option is 
>> that only 3rd party manufacturers who make batteries for Leica cameras are hucksters, but it seems less likely.
>> 
>> Any thoughts on this? $130 for a battery is $120 that I could use 
>> toward a plane ticket to photograph something with a battery that's worth $10.
>> 
>> Kyle
>> 
>> 
> 
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