Is Canon's new LP-E6P battery an expensive bait and switch?

Canon’s LP-E6P battery was first shown off with the launch of the EOS R5 Mark II back in July, 2024. The new Lithium-Ion cell that sports the same amount of juice (2130mAh, 16 Wh and 7.2v) as the prior LP-E6NH pack, but now has a continuous discharge rate of 6A – needed for some of the more power-hungry processes found in the EOS R5 Mark II such as 8K as well as some 4K video options, a the pre-continuous shooting mode will become inaccessible and the top shooting speed reduced.

Of course, the Canon EOS R1, which shares many of the same latest features as the EOS R5 Mark II, but uses the larger and more powerful LP-E19, the same as found in the EOS R3 - both sport a built-in grip for more battery space.

The LP-E6P has popped its head up again though with the arrival of Canon’s latest prosumer hybrid full-frame mirrorless with the EOS R6 Mark III, and I think it’s safe to say that the LP-E6P will be the cell of choice for nearly all of the Canon’s full-frame mirrorless models going forward – unless we see an update to the entry-level full-frame EOS R8 or EOS RP which used the smaller LP-E17 cells.

Contrary to the eye-catching headline of this article, it’s not a bait and switch as such. Canon’s first-party cells have always been expensive and the LP-E6P ($89/£112) isn't too different in price to the LP-E6NH that came before it. The LP-E6P is also backwards compatible with older Canon EOS cameras, some just need a firmware update to use it without any issues, so that’s good news if you sell and upgrade your old cells to these new ones – perhaps you’re using an old body as a backup camera and need the batteries to be interchangeable between them.

My concern however comes back to the point I made earlier: Canon’s first-party batteries have always been on the expensive side and where I am in Blighty they're a significant purchase at £112 a pop. In previous generations there’s been a plentiful supply of third-party cells from manufacturers such as Hahnel, Duracell and Matthorn, but in my testing these don’t tend to play nicely with the latest Canon cameras like the EOS R5 Mark II. My older Canon LP-E6N and LP-E6NH batteries do work in the EOS R5 Mark II with some limitations, however my older third-party batteries refused to work at all.