DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

3rd Party camera batteries always feel like such a great deal. An official branded battery is around £60. Getting 3 batteries for £20 just feels like a massive saving and a much better investment.

But it rarely is!

In a pinch they can sometimes help us out but the reality is the build quailty is nearly always inferior. They drop charge really fast and, if you're unfortuneate like me, swell INSIDE your camera!

I could have been smart and just not leave my batteries in my cameras, but that's not me. I'm lazy and just leave them in. I got 2 packs of 3 batteries from eBay for my XT2 as these fit in my XT1 and XH1 too. Genuine batteries would have been over £200. I paid like £30. DON'T do this!

The battery in my XH1 was dead and I was trying to change it. No matter what I did I couldn't get it out! I was shaking the camera, trying to grip the battery, and nothing was working!

This is how I removed it:

I found an old glue stick, the kind you use in a glue gun. I used a lighter it gently melt the tip (I didn't want the glue to run down the battery and into the camera).

I pressed the end onto the battery and gently pressed for about a minute or two to allow it to cool.

Then, I pressed the battery release tab and gently teased the battery out of the camera. The glue stick was easy to remove from the battery.

Nice and simple to be honest. I was impressed with how easy it work.

However, this experience made me check the others and they were all swollen. I will not be buying third party batteries again unless I'm desperate and that's all the camera shop has and I NEED them there and then. Lesson learned!

Below is a link to a YouTube short where you can see me removing said battery

Remove swollen battery Youtube short

A still of the gluestick on the battery