EN-EL3e Batteries from China

Joseph, thanks a lot for the information. If one can indeed get genuine EN-EL3e batteries for $24.95, I see absolutely no point to buy 3rd-party ones.

BTW, this is the parallel thread on this topic: http://photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00TjvS

And Stan Chang is the member whose generic battery (not EN-EL3 generic) exploded during charging in his bedroom and created a fair amount of damage: http://photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00TjvS

And why are are you convincced these are Nikon genuine batteries ?

I have one Calumet that works and acts like a Nikon.

How about the Nikon corp label. How about Nikon Hologram. How about the Nikon original package. Have you looked at the photos?

Upon further checking, I am afriad that Joseph's new battery may potentially be a counterfeit. See the following Nikon link on how to distinguish counterfeit EN-EL3e batteries: http://support.nikontech.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8119#1

As shown in the Nikon link, the counterfeit batteries look very similar. But the background for the Japanese wording that tells people to recycle the batteries should be white with the wording in dark characters. The counterfeit batteries have the wording in white characters with a dark background.

Attached is my image of a genuine EN-EL3e.

A bit away from Nikon battery topic, but something to share. My sister got an XD card for her Olympus P&S camera on an auction site in Japan from a reputable seller as "new in box". It was working fine until she turned on "video" mode of the camera, when suddently the camera froze and started saying "broken card" or something like that. I tried to retrieve and salvage any photos she had taken (more than 200) with various software but no avail.
She brought back the card to Japan and asked her husband who happend to be an engineer at Olympus to check it out. The quick response from the Olympus lab - the XD card was the well-made fake from Taiwan which works as long as the camera is in the "still photo" mode. Olympus knew the existence of the fake, who made, and how to tell the slight difference in its appearance.
Just a story that happened recently to me.

Welcome to the world of counterfeit products. I work in the pharmaceutical industry where counterfiet products are rampant on the Internet. Original packaging (including holograms) are often counterfeited in no time flat. If the price appears too good to be true; it's because it is a fake. I certainly wouldn't trust any photos on E-Bay or anywhere else. You can only go by the serial number that is confirmed by Nikon as being original. these batteries can explode as noted in one of the posts; I don't think this is anything to take lightly.

For what it's worth, the top battery shipped with my D200, factory sealed from Nikon. The bottom battery shipped with my D300, factory sealed, from Nikon. These are different generation batteries. Serial/lot numbers are marked in different places, the actual molds are different, as are the adhesive labels. They are different in design/marking, and they are separated by about 3 years, in terms of manufacturing. There also appears to be a made-in-China vs. Made-in-Japan difference between the two. They both work as good as new, and hold their charges well. Their lifetime charge meters still register as zero.

With respect, the seller's add nowhere states that this is an actual Nikon battery.

I believe it to be a counterfeit, based on

http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin/nikonusa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=8119

Your battery reads 'Nikon Corp.' whereas all the genuine batteries illustrated read 'Nikon Corporation'.

EDIT: Missed a post--I could well be wrong.

Be careful of what you call counterfeit and real. Just because the battery passed through a Nikon USA warehouse on its way from the factory in China to your camera and received a very large markup doesn't make it any higher quality or safer to use. Just ask the Sony laptop users who a genuine Sony batteries catch on fire.

Ken