Customer Reviews

Maximal Power DB OLY BLS-1 Replacement Battery for Olympus Digital Camera/Camcorder (Black)

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I bought this battery for my Olympus e410. I'm currently using it for the first time, but my impression is that it works longer than the far more expensive Olympus original (perhaps because the rated capacity is considerably higher).

9/25/09: Several months of use confirms my original impression about this battery outlasting the original Olympus one; since I'm now using two Olympus DSLR bodies [I added a 450] I just purchased two more of these batteries.

I purchased this battery as a back up for the original that came with my Olympus E-P1 camera. I just returned from a 2-week vacation and the battery performed well. While the battery lasts as much as the original, hence my satisfaction with the product, I am worried that it does not fit properly in the battery compartment. In particular, it seems to be a bit longer and the latch that should keep the battery in place and allow to close the battery compartment is not capable of holding the battery in place. Therefore when you place the battery in the compartment, the battery sticks out a bit and you have to force the battery down with the battery compartment lid.. hence my worries that it will eventually brake or damage my battery compartment lid by the force that I have to exert to close the lid.

I bought a 2-lens kit Olympus EPL-1 locally (Philippines) a month ago and it came with the original battery, of course. An original battery in the Philippines costs around P3,000 (a little over USD60)! And since I find it unreasonably expensive, I opted to look for the generic type as a back-up, which is practically non-existent yet in my country. Then I visited this site, saw this cheap version with pretty good reviews. I asked a friend from Pennsylvania to purchase it for me since she'll be visiting the country in less than a weeks time. And so, that's the story. Now for the review.

> Built: as if the original, if not for the label
> Fit: again, as if the original... PERFECT!
> Charging time: around 2 hours, just about 15-20 minutes longer than the original (maybe because it has a higher power rating at 1800 mAh)
> Duration per charge: AMAZING! I was already shooting more than 300 shots (with IS1 on, and occasional fill-in, and two 3-min vids) and the battery indicator was still in the half-way mark! I was still able to capture around 80 more shots before the camera shutdown. I thought I was using the original battery, only to be amazed upon removal from the compartment! It was a hectic day so I didn't remember what brand was in the compartment, LOL! It was just its first time use after initial complete charging compared to the original battery which gave me only around 250 on it's initial charge. After a few more cycles, it seems that the generic was outlasting the original by about 80-100 shots per charge! GOOD THING I ASKED MY FRIEND TO GET ME TWO OF THIS MAXIMAL POWER BLS-1!!! :D

One more thing, I experienced some episodes when the EPL-1's LCD would go blank, and the camera becoming unresponsive until after reboot, and the ISO & WB would go back to the default (both auto). I thought I was using the generic battery. Again, I was WRONG! It happened again on several occasions (re-charged on separate dates as well), but the LCD black-out NEVER happened with the MP BLS-1. Luckily, after the camera firmware update v1.1, the problem didn't happen anymore with the original battery.

Very good replacement battery. And the price is amazing. The capacity of these batteries is higher than the original so they last longer. Won't hesitate to buy some more if in the long run it doesn't create any problems with my camera. So far, none yet.

I've recently been using this battery with my Olympus E-PL2, which is intended to use the 4 contact BLS-5 battery rather than the 3 contact BLS-1 that this replaces. Seeing that others were having success using this battery in the E-PL2, (the camera itself only uses 3 contacts - it's the charger that uses 4), I decided to give it a try. I had a couple worries:

1) I was concerned about charging it in the 4 terminal charger (BCS-5) that's included with the E-PL2, but it charges just fine.

2) I was also slightly concerned about the minor difference in voltage listed on the label of the Maximal Power battery (listed @ 7.4v rather than the 7.2v of the Olympus battery), but on a voltage-meter (no load) it measured identically to the Olympus BLS-5 when they were both freshly charged.

The replacement battery is identical in size to the Olympus battery & thus fits fine in both the charger & camera. (Weight of the Maximal Power battery is 45g versus 42g for the Olympus BLS-5.) So far it's worked very well and even seems to last noticeably longer than the Olympus battery. Excellent price and performance!

Fits my Olympus E-PL1 perfectly - no issues with fitting in the battery compartment. Not sure yet if it lasts longer than the original battery, but is at least comparable. Really cheap for an alternate battery!

My wife and I are avid photographers, and own 3 Olympus cameras: an E-450, an E-620 and a PEN EPL-1. All 3 use the same battery, and as much as we use the cameras, we needed spare batteries. One look at the Olympus website showed that the original was 59.99 which was a bit more than I was really ready to shell out, so I started looking for third party items. When I found these on Amazon my first reaction was "must be junk", but I decided to read the reviews anyway and was amazed at how consistently good they were. At the price I could afford to buy one for each camera and I had the Amazon return policy to back me up, I had nothing to lose. Some of the reviews said that they didn't fit properly, so I got out the micrometers and measured the originals and the 3 new ones, they were all very close. I put all 3 batteries in all 3 cameras and they fit like a glove. I do not suggest that others did not have problems, but the 3 I received were perfect. We then charged them and used them in all 3 cameras, the results were wonderful, we cannot tell the difference other than that they last as long or longer than the 59.99 originals. We will be looking at this companies replacements for other electronics we have in the future. At this price, they are a STEAL, we highly recommend them to anyone.

I leave my EP2 on all the time when street shooting and the EVF takes some power. I used the Oly battery for part of the day and when it gave up I noted the number of exposures. I'm past that now with the Maximal Power battery and it still reads "full". That's a good review for a battery.

Used several times already and works great. Seems to last a little longer than the standard E-P1 battery. My biggest gripe is that it doesn't work with the latch and will pop out unless you close the battery door to keep it in place. The solution is to carefully whittle down the part of the battery that catches the latch so it can remain secure. Very simple to do and worth it to save the money over the standard BLS-1 battery. If it fit perfect, it would be 5 stars.

I ordered this battery for my Olympus E-PL2 by mistake. Strictly speaking the battery for E-PL2 is BLS-5 that has 4 contacts (-, T, +, S) instead of 3 (-, T, +) on BLS-1. I do not know what the (S) terminal does. Good news is that it seems to work just fine.