Leica Camera Battery Compatibility Charts

Battery finder: Which battery does your Leica camera take?

Leica is an unusually awkward brand to buy a battery for, because the range covers about seventy years of very different cameras. An M3 needs nothing at all. An M11 takes a lithium-ion pack that didn’t exist a few years ago. And in between sit meters designed around a mercury cell that has been banned in the United States since 1996.¹

So the charts below are split by camera type. Find your body, and the battery column is the answer.

Nearly every entry comes from that camera’s own manual or from Leica’s published technical data. In a handful of cases the only document Leica has ever put out covers the generation rather than the individual variant — the M8.2 and the M9-P, for instance, are covered by the M8 and M9 manuals.² Where that’s true, the notes column says so rather than pretending to a source that doesn’t exist, and the few rows that rest on something weaker are listed near the end.

Digital Leicas

M-series rangefinders

SL, CL and TL

Compacts: Q, D-Lux, V-Lux, C-Lux and X

S medium format

Sofort

The Sofort 2 is the one Leica where there’s nothing to buy. Its cell is internal and not exchangeable — Leica rates it at about 100 instant prints per charge, and it refills over USB in two to three hours.³

The original 2016 Sofort is different: it takes a removable lithium-ion pack, the Leica BP-DC17, which charges in the Leica BC-DC17 charger.⁴

Film Leicas

M-series rangefinders

R-series and Leicaflex SLRs

Compacts: minilux, CM, C-series, Z2X and mini

These are the easy ones. Nearly the whole line runs on a single 3V CR123A lithium cell, which is still made by everyone and still cheap. Two exceptions are in the table.

Which battery your Leica camera uses

The charts above have the full detail. If you just want the one-line answer for your camera — or want to know which of your other bodies can share spares — here’s the same information grouped by battery.

Things worth knowing

The digital M has been through four batteries

If you own more than one digital M, this is the part that matters. There are four generations, and Leica lists a different pack for each.

The M8 and M9 era — M8, M8.2, M9, M9-P, M-E and the first M Monochrom — runs on a cell that Leica’s manuals of the day named only by order number, 14 464.⁵ The same pack was later sold at retail as the BP-SCL1, but you won’t find that designation printed in any of those manuals, which is why the charts above give both.⁶

Then the M (Typ 240) generation moved to the BP-SCL2, the M10 line to the BP-SCL5, and the M11 line to the BP-SCL7.⁷ Four M bodies bought across those four eras means four different spares.

BP-SCL4 and BP-SCL6: same voltage, different capacity

The BP-SCL4 covers the SL (Typ 601), SL2, SL2-S, Q2 and Q2 Monochrom. The BP-SCL6 covers the SL3, SL3-S, SL3-P, Q3, Q3 43 and Q3 Monochrom.

A correction worth having, because it circulates widely: both packs are rated at 7.2 volts.⁸ Leica’s own Q2 technical data sheet gives the BP-SCL4 as “rated voltage 7.2 V DC, capacity: 1860 mAh”, and the SL3 and Q3 spec pages give the BP-SCL6 as 7.2 V and 2200 mAh. The commonly repeated figure of 8.4 volts for the BP-SCL4 is the charger’s output, which sits on the very next line of that data sheet.

So the difference between the two is capacity, not voltage. Leica has published nothing about running one in a body listed for the other, and I haven’t tested it, so I’m not going to tell you it works. The dealer Capture Integration reports that a BP-SCL4 does run in an SL3, but with the 4, 5 and 7fps drive modes gone and video limited to Full HD. They were told that by Leica on a call, and they say themselves that no Leica document covers it. So treat it as useful to know rather than a specification, and don’t build a trip around it.

The S line changed packs halfway through

The S2 and the S (Typ 006) run on a 7.4V pack that Leica sold as the Leica Battery S, order number 14 429. The S (Typ 007) and S3 moved to the BP-PRO1, rated 7.3V and 2300 mAh.⁹

That change only works one way. Leica’s Typ 007 manual says batteries from the earlier S models “cannot be used” in that camera or in its hand grip.¹⁰ So if you’re moving up from an S2 or Typ 006, your old spares stay with the old body.

Which film M bodies need a battery

Most of them don’t. The M2, M3, M4, M4-2, M4-P and the modern M-A are fully mechanical — no meter, no battery, nothing to go flat.

The M5 and the 1973 CL meter off a 1.35V mercury cell.¹¹ The M6, M6 TTL and MP take two silver-oxide SR44s or one 3V DL1/3N lithium. The shutter on all three is mechanical, so a dead battery costs you metering and nothing else — plus TTL flash on the M6 TTL, where the same cells trigger the flash.¹²

The M7 is the outlier. Its shutter is electronically controlled, so it genuinely depends on its two DL1/3N cells. If they die you still get 1/60 and 1/125 mechanically, and that’s your lot.¹³

Most R bodies still fire with flat batteries

Only the R6 and R6.2 have mechanical shutters, so on those two, flat cells cost you the meter and nothing else.¹⁴

The R3, R4, R4s, R5, R-E and R7 have electronically controlled shutters, so the cells run the shutter as well as the meter. Leica built in a way out, though. Set the shutter speed dial to 100 or B and the R4, R4s, R5, R-E and R7 will still fire at 1/100 sec with the cells flat or removed entirely. On the R3 the fallback speeds are X (1/90 sec) and B.¹⁵ You get no metering either way, so it’s a get-you-home setting, not a way to shoot.

The R7 also wants twice as many cells as its predecessors: four SR44s, or two CR1/3N lithiums, where the R4, R4s, R5, R6 and R6.2 take two. And the R8 and R9 changed again, to a pair of 3V CR2 lithium cells.¹⁶

The film compacts are nearly all one cell

The minilux, minilux zoom, CM, C1, C3, Z2X, mini, mini II and mini zoom all take a single 3V CR123A. Leica’s manuals list Duracell DL123A, Kodak K123LA, Panasonic CR123A and Varta CR123A as the same thing under different labels, so buy whichever is freshest.¹⁷

Two break the pattern, and both want the 6V 2CR5 instead: the C2 zoom and the AF-C1. If you have a C1 and a C2 zoom, their batteries are not interchangeable despite the names.¹⁸

One more thing about the mini. If yours is the Data Back version, there’s a second cell in there — a 3V CR2025 that runs the quartz clock, the display and the imprinting. It isn’t the camera’s power source, so a flat one costs you the date function and nothing else.¹⁹

Mercury cells on the M5, CL and Leicaflex

A lot of these older meters were designed around 1.35V mercury cells²⁰, which were banned in the United States in 1996 and are no longer made. The M5, the 1973 CL and all three Leicaflex bodies are in this group — the Leicaflex manual names the Mallory PX 625 outright, and the SL adds that the PX 13 will do.²¹

There are four usual ways around it.

An MR-9 adapter holds a silver-oxide SR43 and steps the voltage down properly, which is the most accurate fix. A zinc-air WeinCell runs at about 1.35 to 1.4V, close to the original, but it starts depleting the moment you peel the seal — expect weeks to months, not a year. A silver-oxide SR43 or SR44 with a spacer runs at 1.55V, so the meter reads high — but by a consistent amount, because silver oxide holds its voltage steady, so you can dial it out on the film-speed setting. Or you can drop in a same-size alkaline, which fits and works but sits at 1.5V and sags as it drains, so your meter reads off by a varying amount.

Don’t assume the V-Lux packs run in sequence

The V-Lux line looks like it should march neatly through the BP-DC numbers. It doesn’t, and this one catches people out.

The V-Lux 1 takes the BP-DC5. The V-Lux 2 and V-Lux 3 both take the BP-DC9. Then the V-Lux 4 jumps to the BP-DC12 — not the BP-DC9 you’d expect from the two models directly before it. Meanwhile the V-Lux 20, 30 and 40, which are a different and smaller family despite the shared name, all take the BP-DC7. The later V-Lux (Typ 114) and V-Lux 5 return to the BP-DC12.²²

So Leica lists four different packs across nine cameras that all say V-Lux on the front. Check the chart rather than reasoning from the model number.

There is a logic to it, and it isn’t Leica’s. These are rebadged Panasonic Lumix bodies, and the pack follows the Panasonic camera rather than the Leica name. The V-Lux 2 and 3 are the FZ100 and FZ150, which take Panasonic’s DMW-BMB9. The V-Lux 4 is the FZ200, whose manual states that “the battery that can be used with this unit is DMW-BLC12PP”.²³ Leica’s BP-DC9 and BP-DC12 are those same two packs, renumbered to match.

The X line all shares one pack

Every camera in the X line — X1, X2, X-E, X (Typ 113), X Vario and the waterproof X-U — runs on the BP-DC8. That’s five Leica data sheets saying the same thing²⁴, so if you have more than one of these, spares are interchangeable.

The X1 is the one exception to the sourcing rule above. Leica’s downloads area starts at the X2, and no X1 document naming the pack has survived anywhere I can find, so that row rests on the pattern rather than on a Leica page.

Battery life on the M6 TTL

Leica rates a fresh set at roughly eight hours with the meter switched on continuously — or about 2,900 exposures in normal use, which they put at around 80 rolls of 36.²⁵

Third-party batteries for Leica cameras

I’m focusing here on original Leica-branded batteries, because those are the ones Leica guarantees to work in their cameras. But there’s a whole aftermarket out there, and for the discontinued bodies it’s sometimes the only thing in stock.

I’ve used plenty of aftermarket packs over the years and found many of them fine. I’ve also come across some that weren’t. So I can’t give you a blanket yes or no, because the reality is that some are much better than others.

One thing worth knowing before you buy: advertised capacity on aftermarket packs is often optimistic, and there’s no way to tell from the label. Leica rates the BP-SCL4 at 1860 mAh²⁶, and third-party versions claiming considerably more are easy to find. Sometimes that extra capacity is real. Sometimes it isn’t.

The other thing is authentication, and Leica says this outright rather than leaving you to find out. The V-Lux 2 manual puts it plainly: the camera “has a function for distinguishing batteries which can be used safely”, and “batteries which do not support this function cannot be used”.²⁷ So on some bodies a third-party pack won’t just perform worse — it won’t run at all.

None of that is a reason not to buy them. It is a reason to buy from a seller you can return to, and to test a new pack on an ordinary day of shooting before you count on it for a trip.

The film cells are a different story. SR44, CR2 and CR1/3N are generic sizes made by Energizer, Duracell and everyone else, and there’s no Leica-branded version to compare them against. Just buy a reputable brand and check the date on the pack.

Rows that rest on weaker sources

Nearly every row above is quoted from a Leica document that names that exact camera. A few aren’t, and you should know which.

Some variants never had a document of their own, so they take the battery Leica names for the camera they’re built on. That covers the M8.2, M9-P, M-E (Typ 220) and first M Monochrom, from the M8 and M9 manuals²⁸; the SL2-S, from the SL2’s²⁹; the S2-P, from the S2’s³⁰; and the S-E, whose own data sheet gives the same 7.4V, 2100 mAh cell without naming it³¹. The X1, covered above, rests on the pattern of the rest of the X line.

The original D-Lux from 2003 is a rebadged Panasonic Lumix DMC-F1, and no Leica manual, data sheet or catalogue for it appears to have survived. So its row comes from Panasonic’s manual for that camera, which specifies the cell as lithium-ion, 3.6V, 680 mAh.³² Worth saying that there is no “D-Lux 1” to look for either — the first of the line was simply the D-Lux, and the numbering starts at the D-Lux 2.

What that source can’t tell you is what Leica called its own version of the pack, so the chart doesn’t guess. In 2003 Leica may not have had a BP-DC name for it at all — the first BP-DC number in the charts here is the D-Lux 2’s BP-DC4, two years later. The cell is documented. The Leica label for it isn’t.

If you have a 2003 D-Lux and its manual names the battery, send me the page and I’ll upgrade the row.

A few Leicas aren’t in the chart yet, because I haven’t found a Leica document that names their battery: the original Digilux from 1998, the Digilux Zoom, the mini 3, the CM Zoom and the C11. The same goes for them — if you have the manual, the battery page is all I need.

The two Digilux cameras Leica never gave a part number

The Digilux 1 and Digilux 2 are in the chart, but their battery column reads as a specification rather than a name. That’s deliberate, and it’s what Leica did.

Both manuals specify the pack as lithium-ion, 7.2V, 1400 mAh, and neither prints a part number.³³ The string “BP-DC” does not appear anywhere in the Digilux 1’s manual at all. So a spare bought for one should serve the other, and beyond that the honest answer is to match the specification.

You will see these listed online as taking the BP-DC3. I don’t think that’s right. Leica’s own Digilux 3 manual gives that cell as “LEICA BP-DC3: 7,2 V, 1500 mAh” — 1500, not 1400 — on a camera charged at 8.4V, where the Digilux 1’s mains unit puts out 9.5V.³⁴ Same voltage, different capacity, different charging arrangement.

This is a growing document that I keep updating as I verify more models. The batteries listed here come from the cameras’ own manuals and Leica’s own data, not from memory or a forum post — and where a row rests on something weaker, the notes column says so. If you spot something that needs correcting, please let me know.

Battery charts by brand

Cameras: Agfa · Bronica · Canon · Contax · Fujifilm · Hasselblad · Konica · Leica · Mamiya · Minolta · Nikon · OM System and Olympus · Panasonic Lumix · Pentax · Ricoh · Sigma · Sony · Yashica

Action cameras: DJI Osmo · GoPro · Insta360

Notes & References:

1. Source: Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act (Public Law 104-142), Section 205, approved May 13, 1996. [↩︎]
2. Sources: Leica M8 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org); Leica M9 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org). [↩︎]
3. Source: Leica Sofort 2 technical specification. [↩︎]
4. Those two model names come from retailer listings, such as B&H’s pages for the BP-DC17 battery and the BC-DC17 charger. They haven’t been confirmed in Leica’s official documentation, which no longer covers the original Sofort. [↩︎]
5. Sources: Leica M8 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org); Leica M9 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org). [↩︎]
6. For the retail name, see for example B&H’s listing for Leica battery 14464. [↩︎]
7. Sources: Leica M (Typ 240) instructions; Leica M10-P technical data; Leica M11 technical specification. [↩︎]
8. Sources: Leica Q2 technical data; Leica SL3 technical specification; Leica Q3 technical specification. [↩︎]
9. Sources: Leica S2 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org); Leica S (Typ 006) technical data; Leica S3 technical data. [↩︎]
10. Source: Leica S (Typ 007) instructions (copy hosted by a Leica dealer). [↩︎]
11. Sources: Leica M5 instructions, p. 14 (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Leica CL instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
12. Sources: Leica M6 instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Leica M6 TTL instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Leica MP instructions. [↩︎]
13. Source: Leica M7 technical data. [↩︎]
14. Source: Leica R6 instructions. [↩︎]
15. Sources: Leica R3 instructions, p. 9; Leica R4 instructions, p. 21; Leica R4s instructions, p. 21; Leica R5 instructions; Leica R-E instructions; Leica R7 instructions. All scanned copies hosted by the Butkus archive. [↩︎]
16. Sources: Leica R7 instructions; Leica R8 instructions. [↩︎]
17. Sources: Leica minilux instructions; Leica C1 instructions. [↩︎]
18. Sources: Leica C2-Zoom instructions (German); Leica AF-C1 instructions. [↩︎]
19. Source: Leica mini instructions. [↩︎]
20. Source: Energizer EPX625 datasheet, which lists the cell as mercuric oxide at 1.35V. [↩︎]
21. Sources: Leicaflex instructions; Leicaflex SL instructions. [↩︎]
22. Leica’s instruction manuals for the V-Lux 1, V-Lux 2, V-Lux 3, V-Lux 4, V-Lux 20, V-Lux 30, V-Lux 40, V-Lux (Typ 114) and V-Lux 5 (the older ones as scanned copies on archive.org). [↩︎]
23. Source for the FZ200 quote: Panasonic DMC-FZ200 basic owner’s manual. [↩︎]
24. Sources include the Leica X2 technical data and Leica X (Typ 113) technical data. [↩︎]
25. Source: Leica M6 TTL instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
26. Source: Leica Q2 technical data. [↩︎]
27. Source: Leica V-Lux 2 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org). [↩︎]
28. Leica M8 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org); Leica M9 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org). [↩︎]
29. Leica SL2 instructions. [↩︎]
30. Leica S2 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org). [↩︎]
31. For the S-E: Leica S-E (Typ 006) technical data. [↩︎]
32. Source: Panasonic DMC-F1 operating instructions (scanned copy on archive.org). [↩︎]
33. Sources: Leica Digilux 1 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org); Leica Digilux 2 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org). [↩︎]
34. Sources: Leica Digilux 3 instruction manual (French edition, scanned copy on archive.org); Leica Digilux 1 instruction manual (scanned copy on archive.org). [↩︎]