How accurate are cheap hotshoe bubble levels?

Question

It's been suggested to get a hot-shoe bubble level for use with a ballhead tripod, when the camera doesn't offer a digital level (and the tripod head doesn't have its own).

Name brand levels, like this one from Manfrotto, cost over $30. In fact, even brands I haven't heard of cost that much. But generic models cost under $10 — Adorama's "house brand" is $6! Although that's just a single bubble, I've seen double-bubble levels for low prices in local stores.

Do I get better quality for the money? Am I just paying for the brand? If I save the $20, am I getting a deal, or am I actually wasting $10 on a level that isn't likely to actually be level?

Asked by mattdm

Answer

Expensive bubble levels are quite accurate and display an independent level for each axis. While the cost is certainly low to manufacture, there is a higher cost to getting consistent quality control.

The accuracy of cheap bubble levels is not very accurate. They sometimes do not even have the bubbles parallel to the base of the hot-shoe! It seems like such a simple thing to make.

My daughter loves the bubbles so she used to take mine which I have 4 expensive ones for historical reasons (Dotline, Kaiser and 2 Jobu - which is a famous brand BTW), so I bought a lot of 10 for a ridiculous price for my daughter. She loves playing with them but none of them are correctly aligned on more than one axis.

The point is that those things - just like the levels inside cameras - have to be incredibly accurate otherwise they are useless. It is not good enough for them to be close because close can be done by eye. Without a level I get shots within 0.5° of accuracy. Any level less accurate than that is dead weight. The one on my Pentax K-7 and the Canon 7D were accurate to about 0.25° (although the specs on the 7D say otherwise) while I turned off the one on my K-5 because it was less accurate (about 0.75°).

Answered by Itai

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Should I buy an original manufacturer battery, or is a generic brand OK?

Question

I need another LP-E5 type battery for my Canon 450D. Should I buy an original Canon battery or one of the many generic brands available? There are loads of cheapos on eBay, for example.

I should add that the new battery will be added to my existing Canon battery in a battery grip.

Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) of using generic batteries?

Edit: Thanks for all your advice. On balance I think the general feeling was to buy original brand, so one Canon branded battery ordered from Amazon.

Answer

One of the easiest choices is to buy brand name batteries. From batch to batch the manufacturer takes quality and performance very seriously. You know and I know that in general there will be no lemons. Generic batteries can be made by any number of manufacturers and they all take on the challenge with different perspectives. And as a result if you were to buy from a e-retailer www.dealextreme.com (which has been selling generic batteries from many manufacturers for years) you'll note that customers leave reviews indicating that one generic marque is better than another. One marque will hold almost as much charge as a Canon/Nikon marque for example.

But because generic battery manufacturers often just copy-cat the design and don't really take special care in being faithful to copying everything, they'll miss something that is non obvious. For example there are several cold weather expeditions to Antartica, mountaineering, and ocean faring where photogs discover generic brands to give out all too quickly, rendering the whole trouble of carrying them moot. They all chimed in wishing they had packed genuine brands. So you can imagine a generic battery maker using thin plastic shields without weather sealing because they could shave off a couple of cents and improve profits--not knowing what they are about to do to some of your most important photographic adventures.

Batteries are also intimately connected to the electronics in your camera, you don't want to be in an uneviable situation where Canon or Nikon disclaim their responsibility to repair your camera because they've discovered that the electronics may be busted due to a generic vertical grip, charger, or battery. That could be quite costly.

But do what you must, and do it smartly. For example, you might have some bust up out of warranty camera you bought at a garage sale and you just need to find some el cheapo battery to go with it. So that you can take out the IR screen of the old busted camera's sensor and do some art projects. No harms done and your wallet won't feel all too much lighter.

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What aftermarket batteries for Fujifilm FinePix X100?

Question

I want to get a spare battery for my Fujifilm FinePix X100. It takes the Fuji NP-95 rechargeable battery. These are very hard to find; aftermarket brands are much more common. I'm hesitant to put an off-brand battery in a $1000 camera, though.

Does anyone (a) have a recommendation for a brand that they have personally tested with an X100, (b) know of a brand/store that guarantees no damage to the camera, or (c) know of a source of genuine Fuji batteries?

Answer

I've written an article about this very thing, http://www.x100enthusiasts.com/discussion/80/batteries-chargers-power-management-finepix-x100-user-guide

I've been using a MaxPower brand generic for 5 weeks now without issue. Other users have reported similar experiences in the comments.

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