After shooting with the A7r for the last 6 months I’ve decided to do a write up on batteries and what batteries you should buy for your Sony mirrorless camera.
Batteries You Should and Should Not Buy For The Sony A7, A7r & A7s
When I first bought my camera I was shooting a lot of videos so I purchased the two Sony Batteries and two Wasabi Batteries.
Sony NPFW50 Rechargeable Battery
Wasabi Power Battery (2-Pack) for Sony
Update: Rav Power Sony batteries (These work great) – Amazon
For the first couple of weeks, everything was great. I noticed it takes a while for those Sony batteries to get broken in. But once they do they last much longer, and the Wasabi batteries were working great.
A Few Months In Is When It Started
I was in Japan shooting some temple in Kyoto when my camera kept powering off. Or it would die during a 3 shot HDR burst. It kept doing it. I thought it was my card so I swapped my card. It wasn’t that. So I changed batteries.
Low and behold I was using a Wasabi battery. I switched to the Sony Battery and then everything was fine. Needless to say, I was panicking. I was a week into my 5 week Japan trip and thought I had a broken camera.
Moral of the story. Don’t buy those wasabi batteries. Unless. . . you use them as an emergency back up. They come with a great charging kit for the car and wall and use them for that. Emergencies. And the price is great. I recommend them for that reason, and mine does hold a charge.
The Story Continues
A few weeks in the same problem started happening to my Sony batteries.
This whole time I was using the Wasabi battery charger on my Sony batteries. And I noticed something, the Wasabi battery charger charges much faster than the standard plug that came with the Sony A7r.
A Faster Charge Is A Weaker Charge
One thing I’ve learned about lithium-ion batteries, it’s better to constantly charge them with a slower charge. They’ll last longer, and be more reliable.
That Sony A7r uses every bit of power that battery puts out to feed that 36-megapixel sensor and the massive shutter. If the batteries are not pristine you may get problems.
Since I started getting power issues on the Sony Batteries, I started only charging them with the kit that came with my camera and after a few weeks, things are returning to normal even with the Wasabi batteries.
So I recommend only charging with the adapter that camera with the camera or ordering the Sony wall adapter to save yourself any headache in the future.
Sony BC-TRW W Series Battery Charger
Conclusions
Buy those wasabi or other third party batteries for emergency back up, but always charge with official chargers.
You might only need one Sony Battery but I would buy two just in case. A single battery can last you through the day, only if your religious about powering off your camera every second you’re not using it.
And if you’re a filmmaker, you’ll probably need 3. Maybe 2 Sony’s and a backup.
Update:
The RAVPower FW50 Batteries are also great and working very well.
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