(UPDATED) Three third party battery for E-M5 in Stock for $34!?!?!!
UPDATE: Incredible! I hope it’s not a joke but you can right now buy three(!) third party batteries for $34 on eBay (Click here to see the auction!!!). It has almost 1/6 of the price of the original Olympus battery (here on BHphoto). Hope it works as good as the original. Good to know it comes with a 24 months warranty!And don’t forget to check out for the super new Gariz E-M5 half leather cases: You can find them in Black (Click here) and Brown (Click here). Sexy 
Via GiulioScorio
Anonymous
2 years ago |Thx Admin for the link ,.. I really need it,. And was looking for about two weeks
jim
2 years ago |Good news – Oly did not go the Panasonic route with batts!
Just wish they had an AC adaptor!
owczi
2 years ago |Jim – there is an AC adaptor for the E-M5 that plus into the HLD-6 grip: Olympus AC-3. Or did you mean a third party adaptor?
Side note: Oly website hints next OM-D cameras and that they may reuse the same grip – the AC-3 description states “camera fitting the HLD-6 grip”, not “EM-5″
jim
2 years ago |oH EXCELENT – i DID NOT KNOW THE gRIP ADDED ac INPUT! – Soz about caps lock…
John
2 years ago |Just ordered 2! I hope these are as good as my EPL-1 3rd party batteries are.
M
2 years ago |I’ve got a third party battery for my PL/1. But when I put the battery in the camera, the camera won’t power up the First time. I have to press the power button 4 to 8 times to start the PL/1. Once it started I can switch the camera on and off without any problems.
Very strange. And for my OM-D I will buy an original Olympus battery.
Mr.NoFlash
2 years ago |I am also very glad that the batteries can be built by third parties.
Because I would like to keep cameras 20 years, and who knows if Oly builds BLN-1 in 20 years or not.
Ranger 9
2 years ago |I’ll bet Olympus keeps building them much longer than any third party does.
Daemonius
2 years ago |It wont last 20 years. Its not fully manual Leica, its full of electronics, which tends to die sooner or later. In case of OM-D I would prefer later.
Nobody will give damn in 3-5 years about OM-D EM-5.
Mr.NoFlash
2 years ago |My Fujifilm FinePix 4700 Zoom, built in february of the year 2000, still lives.
JimD
2 years ago |Electronics will out live the mechanical parts like buttons and shutters.
Michael Meissner
2 years ago |It depends, just 4 days ago, I was shooting with my C-2100UZ that I bought over 10 years ago. Sure it is only 2MP, but like the Energizer bunny, it keeps on going. Because it uses AA batteries, it is no problem getting new batteries.
Anonymous
2 years ago |They have a 3 for $34.99 “deal” shipped. I figured, crap that is barely more than half the price of the OE battery, why not. Hopefully they show up and they work and frankly 3 spares are probably way more than I’ll ever need…but at the price, why not.
owczi
2 years ago |Mad! The original auction from the news is gone, now they’re selling 3 (THREE) BATTERIES FOR $34! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3PCS-DSTE-7-6V-1450mAh-BLN-1-BLN1-Battery-Pack-Olympus-OM-D-E-M5-EM5-Camera-/180874129327 !!
Funny enough, I got an e-mail from my supplier earlier today that my original spare battery has shipped… D’oh!
Montego
2 years ago |Third party batteries are one of the few things I WON’T buy for a camera anymore. Too inconsistent.
Daemonius
2 years ago |For new camera I agree with you. For Canon 1Ds, you dont have choice.
Tho theres bigger issue in companies not being able to feed hunger for additional batteries. Lately Nikon is great example how you create even bigger need for batteries.
Chris K
2 years ago |Wow, that went out of stock quickly. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for the next time.
People complain about third-party batteries being iffy, but at 50% or 33% the OEM price I’m willing to gamble. I’ve had a lot of third-party batteries… maybe a dozen? I’ve only had one Canon BP-511 clone be bad. I’ve saved a few hundred dollars buying third-party batteries, easy.
owczi
2 years ago |Chris – see my comment above, the auction is back with 3 pcs for $34.
Ranger 9
2 years ago |I don’t care so much about an occasional cheapo battery going bad, but I care a lot if it causes me to miss important pictures or damages my equipment. I’ve had both those things happen with third-party batteries.
What’s particularly tricky about them is that even if you’ve had good luck previously with the same brand or eBay vendor, their next batch may come from a completely different low-bidder EOM and have completely different performance characteristics.
Daemonius
2 years ago |Well, there are brands even among third-party batteries. Every Avacom I tried worked for example..
DP
2 years ago |Well, I got three–even if only one of them works, I still saved $30!
ron
2 years ago |I’ve had about 10% failure rate with 3rd party batteries, so well worth it compared to OEM prices.
43shot
2 years ago |Big deal. I found one for $25 with free shipping!
bbking
2 years ago |3 for $34 = 1 for $11.33.
Big deal…
My main concern about these particular batteries is that all three of them wll probably last as long as an official battery.
Bilbo Baggins
2 years ago |BOOM!
Aggghhhhhhhhhh!!!! Aggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
Help!!!!!!
My arms are on fire!!! My frickin’ arms!!!!!!!!
Aaaggggghhhhh!!!!!!
Chez Wimpy
2 years ago |No joking matter… I had half a dozen photographer friends die from exploding 3rd party batteries. Only buy OEM, do your family a favor!
jim
2 years ago |6 photographors die from 3rd party batts???
I’ll call you on that – bull…
The energy in a camera batt is enough to heart and burn but very very unlikly to kill… and 6 times – would have been big news!
Maybe a laptop batt – they have some power, but even then there are not many cases of them killing (not herd of 1 death, many burns tho).
Very sorry if this is the case and I don’t mean to troll – but 6 sounds suspect, and for you to know them all? More probable that this is internet speak than reality…
Joel
2 years ago |I have had crappy 3rd party batteries puff, but I have also had 1st party ones puff, they just cost a lot more..
They puffed though, they didn’t actually explode, the only ones I know that went BOOM were original Sony batteries..
So much for original batteries being safer…
Atle
2 years ago |I never had even the slightest trouble with third-party batteries. But I think I will wait until abit more options are one the market.
TheVoiceoverman
2 years ago |Ordered. Never had a third party battery fail. If someone can explain to me why a BLN-1 is £50(!) when I have a Proporta battery pack that I use for smart phone emergencies, which has nearly 3 times the capacity, and comes in a cool, black, rubberised finish I will be happy to listen.
And after listening I will dismiss your argument hastily and laugh out loud.
JimD
2 years ago |3Ms. Marketing Managers Merc.
HA HA HA
Doug
2 years ago |I ordered a set…. Amazing price… I’ll keep 2 in the camera all the time…
Giulio Sciorio
2 years ago |Thanks for the link back Andrea. I got three on the way should be here by end of May but hopefully sooner. I’ll post up how good they are at that time.
Jon
2 years ago |http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSTE-7-6V-1450mAh-BLN-1-BLN1-Battery-for-Olympus-E-M5-EM5-Camera-new-/270968503071?pt=Batteries_Chargers&hash=item3f16fb3b1f#ht_1901wt_961
1 battery for $13 shipped! Why waste $35 on what could possibly be a bad battery when you can just spend $13?
Ross
2 years ago |I hope you all read the negative comments from this ebay supplier. I try to stick to ratings above 99.5 if I can & I particulary take note of the type of complaints to see if there is a risk with the supplier. This one seems to attract a few genuine complaints.
JimD
2 years ago |Now for the next want.
Is anyone making HLD-6 type options that connect to the camera as the HLD-6 does? A computer interface or different shape grip or some extended features, or a remote pack, belt control box or a safety parachute?
The HLD-6 connections must be open to all sorts of customisation.
It there a pin out chart available? Maybe a mic can be fitted? Maybe a ………
jim
2 years ago |Good point – would love to see a pin out chart!
VF
2 years ago |They’re popping up everywhere! Just ordered one at $12.99, free shipping.
mclarenf3
2 years ago |I accidently purchased the 3pc set instead of the 1pc battery, and contacted the seller (dstebattery)) to change it. Within 5 minutes, he contacted me back allowing me to cancel my purchase, and do it again.
In my opinion, that is great service, so I’m happy to deal with them again.
As for buying a third-party battery, almost all of my electronics (phones, cameras, laptops) use a third-party battery and ALL of them have met or exceeded the performance of my OEM batteries. All of these batteries basically come from the same process and plants, the only difference is some have a lot of R&D costs, marketing, and other costs that you won’t pay for with the 3rd party batteries.
JimD
2 years ago |No R&D on a battery other than that put in by the camera company to prevent one using 3rd party ones. (make you pay to protect their revenue).
LI is well past R&D at this level and the tooling cost will be low, as observed by the price of 3rd party batteries.
Reason for such a high cost of original is M x 3. Marketing Managers Merc.
43shot
2 years ago |No surprise when you can buy a iPad dock shipped to the us for $1.98. I have it sitting on my counter.
Lars Beduhn
2 years ago |Bought a set… now I only gotta get my E-M5…
Camaman
2 years ago |I had issues with battery levels reporting correctly when using 3rd party batteries on my EP3
They report full and all of a sudden flashing empty.
3 for half price is great price, one for half price, not so much…
Toemel
2 years ago |At least on ebay, most dealers indicate in the small print of their offers if their batteries will not show the charge state in the camera. Sadly there are still exeptions.
jim
2 years ago |yeh I find that – on my EP1 the cheep batts say nr full all the time and then show empty/low and die in the last 10-15 shots! not much warning…
I also find the cheep batts last about 2/3 the length of a genuine batt. Still 3 for £30… no reason not to get them!
Toemel
2 years ago |It’s incredible how cheap you can get batteries these days. Bought some original full functioning Panny batteries for my GX1 and LX5 from ebay lately for just $23 each – shipping to Switzerland included
))
Today I received 2 (two) batteries (not original) for Oly E-PL3 for just € 16.- from Germany via Ebay, shipping included…
Giulio Sciorio
2 years ago |Just got this message that the batteries WILL NOT work in the Olympus charger provided with the OMD -
“Dear valued customer,
Very sorry sir,before we sent the battery to you,our colleagues in the inspection department find that this battery can’t charged by your original charger,but can put the battery into your camera charged by AC adapter,or use our Band charger.
In order to solve the problem, we can give you a $8.99 charger for free
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180874591807?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649#ht_4132wt_1185
I apology for the inconvenience bring for you.
Yours Sincerely,
assa”
jrworthy
2 years ago |Me too! So they are sending a free charger or do I have to pay for it. My message was not as clear as yours.
This seems like a scam. Am I out of line thinking that?
Rhal
2 years ago |Mine only gives me $4 discount but i have to pay 4.99 which means i only get a$3 dollar discount, sounds fishy to me :/
Dear valued customer,
Very sorry sir,before we sent the battery to you,our colleagues in the
inspection department find that this battery can’t charged by your original
charger,but can put the battery into your camera charged by AC adapter,or use
our Band charger.
In order to solve the problem,
1?we can sell you a $8.99 charger just $4.99.you can buy it now,then I will
refund you $4.00 for the charger
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180874591807?
ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649#ht_4132wt_1185
2: we can full refund you,next time you buy the item from us,we can give you 10%
off discount
I apology for the inconvenience bring for you.
Yours Sincerely,
assa
Doug
2 years ago |I got the same message offering me a charger, I told them to go ahead and send it, since the batteries have already shipped… Did they update their eBay page?
ES
2 years ago |I received a slightly different message (this time the charger is not free, only discounted), and opted for the refund:
Dear valued customer,
Very sorry sir,before we sent the battery to you,our colleagues in the inspection department find that this battery can’t charged by your original charger,but can put the battery into your camera charged by AC adapter,or use
our Band charger.
In order to solve the problem, 1：we can sell you a $8.99 charger just $4.99.you can buy it now,then I will refund you $4.00 for the charger
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180874591807?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649#ht_4132wt_1185
2: we can full refund you,next time you buy the item from us,we can give you 10% off discount
I apology for the inconvenience bring for you.
Yours Sincerely,
assa
- dstebattery
ES
2 years ago |By the way, the battery charger they are trying to sell seems to have only two contacts leading to the battery. This might mean (1) that this charger does not communicate with the chip built into the original Olympus battery, and as a result probably charges the battery more slowly than the Olympus charger, and (2) that the battery they are selling might not have a chip and/or overcharge/overcurrent protection. I don’t have an original Olympus charger yet (OM-D still in the mail), but some of my other camera battery chargers have three or more contacts.
I probably did the right thing by asking for a refund. Better no-name batteries for the OM-D will no doubt become available soon.
Cheaperthanyou
2 years ago |I just posted below. The factory charger has 5 contacts and i have the same concerns since it only has the 2 contacts. I like the fact that i don’t have to drag a cord around with their charger but i also don’t want to drag around 2 chargers.
I think I’m going to cancel and see what else comes available
BillM
2 years ago |Same thing for me, just got a message from the supplier but instead of the charger for free, they are offering me a refund or a discount to purchase one of their battery chargers ($4.99). This is a little frustrating and indicates that Olympus might has some circuitry in their charger that will only charge their battery’s. Anyway, here is the ebay message I got -
Dear valued customer, Very sorry sir,before we sent the battery to you,our colleagues in the inspection department find that this battery can’t charged by your original charger,but can put the battery into your camera charged by AC adapter,or use our Band charger.In order to solve the problem, 1：we can sell you a $8.99 charger just $4.99.you can buy it now,then I will refund you $4.00 for the chargerhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/180874591807?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649#ht_4132wt_11852: we can full refund you,next time you buy the item from us,we can give you 10% off discountI apology for the inconvenience bring for you. Yours Sincerely,assa- dstebattery
pae7773
2 years ago |They just email me this
Dear valued customer,
Very sorry sir,before we sent the battery to you,our colleagues in the
inspection department find that this battery can’t charged by your original
charger,but can put the battery into your camera charged by AC adapter,or use
our Band charger.
In order to solve the problem,
1?we can sell you a $8.99 charger just $4.99.you can buy it now,then I will
refund you $4.00 for the charger
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180874591807?
ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649#ht_4132wt_1185
2: we can full refund you,next time you buy the item from us,we can give you 10%
off discount
I apology for the inconvenience bring for you.
Yours Sincerely,
assa
- dstebattery
Now they want to charge for the battery charger as well. Already cancel my order.
BillM
2 years ago |It sounds to me like they knew all along it would not charge in the Oly charger, but they knew they would get less sales of the battery’s if they indicated that in the ebay ad. My gut feeling is bait and switch; however, at the price of the battery’s and the price of the charger still being far less than Oly, I am still considering, but may wait until another mfg has an aftermarket battery that does work with the Oly charger. Hmmm, what to do, what to do…
Giulio Sciorio
2 years ago |Bill, did you purchase a 3pack of batteries or one? I’m asking for a refund and am trying to get Ebay on the phone but they are no help as of yet.
Francesco (ITALY)
2 years ago |Dear valued customer,
Very sorry sir,before we sent the battery to you,our colleagues in the
inspection department find that this battery can’t charged by your original
charger,but can put the battery into your camera charged by AC adapter,or use
our Band charger.
In order to solve the problem,
1?we can sell you a $8.99 charger just $4.99.you can buy it now,then I will
refund you $4.00 for the charger
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180874591807?
2: we can full refund you,next time you buy the item from us,we can give you 10%
off discount
I apology for the inconvenience bring for you.
Yours Sincerely,
assa
- dstebattery
Giulio Sciorio
2 years ago |Yeah I’m updating my blog post about the battery to reflect any communications with the seller. I tried to call Ebay but trying to talk to a human is impossible.
todd
2 years ago |I bought the three pack, and the email says they’re giving me a $8.99 charger. Maybe those that bought a single battery are being asked to buy a charger?
I’ve wasted far more money on other “experiments” in the past. Batteries are somewhat like generic drugs…
BillM
2 years ago |Giulio, I purchased 2 of them when they were selling them individually. What you’ll need to do is contact the seller and ask them to cancel the transaction (I believe only the seller can initiate this). If none of that works, then I would contact Paypal and they can refund you the money.
Cheaperthanyou
2 years ago |I purchased a 3 pack last night and just got the same email stating that they will send the free charger. I actually like the looks of the charger as it should be more compact for travel as it doesn’t need an addition cord. However i see that it only has 2 contacts for charging vs the 5 on the factory charger. hmmmmmm?
Wayne Howarth
12 months ago |Giulio,
Just tested my 32gb class 10 card from Centon (Buy.com) in my OM-D. You didn’t mention in your test what the setup was of the camera; but mine was as follows:
Full Manual
f3.5, 125 sec, ISO 400 OEM 12-50 lens saving raw images.
With that setup, starting with a freshly formated card it took 14.5 secs to clear the buffer after shooting it full @ 9 fps.
I measured the time from the time I started the capture(s) until the writing light goes out.
I also tested a Eye-Fi 4gb Explore video card, not their fastest:
It took about 49 secs to clear the buffer.
Just my two cents. BTW the 32gb card was less than $30.00 as I remember, very good deal.
Wayne Howarth
12 months ago |Sorry about the post thought I was on the SD card test thread….. If you want can you cut and paste it there for me?