is there an update on batteries for the M9?

raid

raid

Dad Photographer
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This is an old topic that was discussed many times before, but I wonder if in 2021 we are getting closer to a time at which it will be difficult to buy a new battery for the M8 or M9. Should M9 owners now be looking to buy new Leica batteries for the M9?

I have been using two Leica batteries in my M9 but my M8 is working well with other brand batteries. I know that different users of both cameras have reported differently about this issue in past online discussions. [I have two Leica batteries for my M10]
 
M8/M9 batteries still seem to be consistently available to buy new from most major Leica retailers, and can even be found on sale somestimes! I suppose what we don't know is if these batteries are still being produced, or if it's just old stock being sold off. Like any digital camera, batteries are going to be one of the big limiting factors in the long term. (sorry to any DMR owners out there)

If Leica discontinues them, I'm sure 3rd party ones will still be available for some time, but the quality is very inconsistent. Some work perfectly, and others I've tried can only power my M8 for a few shots at at time, even after a full charge.
 
Can't speak to the M9 batteries directly, since I traded that camera off for the M-P 240 when the sensor went south. But I've used other Leica cameras with 3pty batteries quite a lot (the CL, for instance, uses the same batt as a couple of different Panasonic models .. Wasabi brand replacements are super inexpensive and have worked identically to the Leica branded batts).

The M9 and related models were/are popular so I suspect replacement batts will be available for a long time to come, both Leica and 3pty.

G
 
Not much point in stockpiling more batteries than you can reasonably use within the next few years, but perhaps it may be possible to re-cell existing batteries if other options dry up.
 
Thanks for your feedback, guys.
My M9 locks up when by mistake I take "too many shots" back to back, and then I must change the battery or it will not unlock. The M10 does not have such an issue.
 
JeffS7444 said:
Not much point in stockpiling more batteries than you can reasonably use within the next few years, but perhaps it may be possible to re-cell existing batteries if other options dry up.
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I will try to get another third party battery.
 
Godfrey said:
I've used other Leica cameras with 3pty batteries quite a lot (the CL, for instance, uses the same batt as a couple of different Panasonic models .. Wasabi brand replacements are super inexpensive and have worked identically to the Leica branded batts).
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It's great when you can do that, and I smile when I see lithium batteries with 3-wire connections (sometimes hidden behind 4 or more visible battery contacts) because those tend to be pretty generic.
 
raid said:
Thanks for your feedback, guys.
My M9 locks up when by mistake I take "too many shots" back to back, and then I must change the battery or it will not unlock. The M10 does not have such an issue.
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My M9 would occasionally crash and the housing would become warm. I guess the power switch is just toggling something in software, because I also had to remove the battery in order to "reboot" the camera.
 
I use my M9 less frequently now, so I hesitate buying a costly Leica battery for it when I already own two.
 
I have been using two batteries for the M9 since 2012. Recently, I had enough energy for 50, max 100 photos. In May, I went to Leica stores in Warsaw (this is such a city in Europe) and bought two new ones. So far I have taken 350 photos on one of them. Should be enough for the next 10 years. (Who normally takes pictures with a 20-year-old digital camera?).
 
Bobby Kee said:
I have been using two batteries for the M9 since 2012. Recently, I had enough energy for 50, max 100 photos. In May, I went to Leica stores in Warsaw (this is such a city in Europe) and bought two new ones. So far I have taken 350 photos on one of them. Should be enough for the next 10 years. (Who normally takes pictures with a 20-year-old digital camera?).
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Well, I still occasionally use my Olympus E-1 (first sold in October 2003). It still makes outstanding 5Mpixel image files.

Happily, when Olympus came out with the upgraded battery for the E-5 DSLR, they made sure that the battery was compatible with the E-1 and E-3 as well. So fitting a fully charged one of those batteries, the E-1 gets three times as many exposures per charge as it did with the original battery. :D

G
 
Raid, I just picked up an extra M9 battery at a decent price from B&H. I don't think they have very many, but maybe they still have some in stock. Now I have three batteries, which I'm sure is enough.
 
Batteries can be rebuilt- I don't worry about it. Just same the old packs with the electronics in them, companies can replace the cells in them.
 
Sonnar Brian said:
Batteries can be rebuilt- I don't worry about it. Just same the old packs with the electronics in them, companies can replace the cells in them.
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Where do you send a camera battery to be rebuilt? Drop it off at the dealer? Or is there a private business for this?
 
Thinking about this thread and so took the battery out of my M9 and had a look at it.

FWIW it says on it in Russian and in very small letters "Lithium-Ion Battery Made in the People's Republic of China".

I've had it several years and it holds a charge very well, despite the fact that I've only taken about 460 photos with it since Leica returned the M9 in 2016.

Regards, David
 
Sonnar Brian said:
Batteries can be rebuilt- I don't worry about it. Just same the old packs with the electronics in them, companies can replace the cells in them.
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I too would like to know more about this... I've looked into it briefly with a different hobby. Was stumped.
 
If I can still buy new batteries for my Epson, surely M9 batteries will be around for quite some time. I'd say it's fair to say there are more M9s out there than there are Epson.
 
Darthfeeble said:
If I can still buy new batteries for my Epson, surely M9 batteries will be around for quite some time. I'd say it's fair to say there are more M9s out there than there are Epson.
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Those Epson batteries were shared among different devices.
 
I guess one of those plastic printers could do a case for two CR2's and recycled innards?

(Edit) No sooner posted than a lot came flooding back; years and years ago when laptops were 3 inches thick I wondered about a new battery and was told that they were still available but the people I spoke to said that they could easily open my old one and fit new cells in it. I guess there's a bit of electronics as well to monitor the temperature and so on. I can remember on another forum a long time ago someone was appealing for old dead digital camera batteries because he dismantled them to assess the quality and so on; that's where my memory of a tempo couple etc came from.

So I guess there's hope in the long term.


Regards, David
 
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