3rd party batteries for A7 series

My A7R2 came with two batteries. Sticking with the FW50 was probably a mistake for that camera.

I have four used Wasabi BTR-FW50-JWP. I haven't noticed them being worse than the Sony ones.

Edited by QuietOC - 07 January 2021 at 19:19

woodrim wrote: Has anyone encountered counterfeit Sony batteries?

Yup, I've got two. Capacity wise they're as good (or bad) as the genuine Sony FW50 batteries, only the case is a bit more flimsy.

I also have a few 3rd party ones which seem to deteriorate faster as they get older vs. the Sony branded ones (the real ones and the counterfeit)

Btw, I don't mind the low capacity of these small batteries, I just carry a few extra with me in my bag or pocket. I got a grip with my 2nd hand A7 which could hold two batteries but never used it since I didn't like the added bulk to the body. I never felt the desire to buy a grip for my A7ii/A7Rii, an extra battery in my bag/pocket is so much lighter than the bulk of the grip that for my use it's no competition, but granted I never shoot video where a larger battery capacity can be much more important than for stills.

Edited by pegelli - 07 January 2021 at 21:42

pegelli wrote: woodrim wrote: Has anyone encountered counterfeit Sony batteries? Yup, I've got two. Capacity wise they're as good (or bad) as the genuine Sony FW50 batteries, only the case is a bit more flimsy.

I've just purchased a Sony, in-box battery that supposedly hasn't been used but no mention of how long it has been sitting unused. I was wondering how to easily tell whether it's genuine or not. I'll compare to the two slightly different (ten years apart) Sony that I have. Hoping for the best at a total cost of $28.

There was a thread about real/fake FW50 batteries some time ago

If you follow the link you can check the serial number as a first check. But beware, my two counterfeit batteries came back OK after the serial number checkon the website and it was other attributes member Hawk noticed when I sent him photos of the batteries that gave it away.

dCap wrote: Pretty sure long term battery performance is based on cycles. How many times it has been charged and drained (not full cycles, just any cycles). Not the old school tech of preferring to drain and charge from empty (I believe that issue is now not a thing, in modern tech). So a new one that has been in a box unused (as long as it has been stored 'okay') should be fine. Chemically it hasn't done the charge up/down cycling which will eventually run the battery down. If you're low frame rate I cannot see them really reducing in normal (non-pro-frame-rate) usage. This is based on it being made properly, so by Sony. Or one of the better 3rd party versions.

Thanks. Interesting that many people report that the cheap ones lose capacity over time. My two Sony batteries, ten years apart in manufacture and use, perform the same.

woodrim wrote: I do not know enough about electronics to understand how to evaluate batteries. The internal resistance factor is one I didn't know about but may explain some of my failed attempts a couple of decades ago to extend flash life. I'm wondering if Miranda has any idea of how well this battery would work?

Probably very well, if you use a short lead designed for charging and not a generic one (those tend to have very thin wire ...)

Miranda F wrote: woodrim wrote: I do not know enough about electronics to understand how to evaluate batteries. The internal resistance factor is one I didn't know about but may explain some of my failed attempts a couple of decades ago to extend flash life. I'm wondering if Miranda has any idea of how well this battery would work? Probably very well, if you use a short lead designed for charging and not a generic one (those tend to have very thin wire ...)

Thank you. During the nesting season at the local swamp, I can spend lots of time and take hundreds of images. I usually have the camera/lens on a monopod, so attaching a large, external battery like that isn't much of an inconvenience. If I use the auxiliary input, the external battery will only recharge my A7II battery when turning the camera off. That helps, but I wish it could power the camera like with some of the other Sony models. However, there are also dummy battery inserts that can be fed by the external battery and power the camera.