Reddit mentions: The best camcorder battery chargers

I love this v-mount battery plate:

HEDBOX | Unix-BM | V Mount/Lock Battery Adapter Plate, with 1x USB 5V/2.1A and 3X D-Tap 14.8V/148W Power Out, Regulated 12V/50W Power via 20in/50cm Breakaway Cable with 2-Pin Connector for BMPCC 4K https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K1M23QN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_C5tADbDQHV0EM

It has 3 D-Taps and one USB port (powering a small monitor) and it comes with the 2-Pin connector cable that plugs right into the BMPCC4K!

You will need to mount it onto a plate on your rig. I got this camvate and it mounts perfectly but there are others.

CAMVATE Multi-Purpose Mounting Cheese Plate https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071YTFZ88/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_99tADbVK192QQ

Finally if you want to save a little money on vmount batteries you can use this alternative until you save up for a good v-mount:

This $20 v-mount adapter attaches the Hedbox to give you the option to use NPF batteries.

Neewer NP-F Battery to V-Mount Battery Converter Adapter for LED Light, Field Monitor, 5D2 Rigs, Alternative Battery Option for Sony V-Mount Gear, Fits for 2-Pack Sony NP-F970, NP-F770,NP-F570 Battery https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075R8DMKF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_m6tADbQCDAHW2

And you can buy 2 NPF 970s for $35

NP F975, NP F970, NP F960, NP F950 2X Replacement Li-ion for Sony DCM-M1 MVC-CD1000 HDR-FX1 DCR-VX2100E DSR-PD190P NEX-FS700RH HXR-NX3 (Dual Battery) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J7S0VNQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_F.tADbW4H2N5V

Cheap $16 NPF dual charger:

Powerextra Dual Battery Charger with USB LCD Display for Sony NP-F970 NP-F930 NP-F950 NP-F960 Battery https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G7MJKRP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_yguADbDG636AC

$27 dual charger with LED:

SR SUN ROOM NEW Dual Channel LCD Display Charger For Sony NP-F550 NP-F570 NP-F750 NP-F770 NP-F930 NP-F950 NP-F960 NP-F970 NP-FM55H NP-FM500H NP-QM71 NP-QM91 NP-QM71D NP-QM91D Camcorder Batteries https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CG7P4YQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_EfuADbN81BWDN

I run this setup and it works GREAT!

Hey... not too much to ask at all -

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Here are the links to the battery mount and cable I am using. Here is the one similar on Amazon that has the correct cable attached but this is not the setup I have.

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Here is the smallrig mount that is on the Crane 2 that my battery mount is attached to.

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I have also mounted this SSD case directly on the crane 2 under the camera and it works perfectly since the ssd and crane move together so you can use a short USB-C cable.

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Hopefully that helps. Good luck setting your up. I'm loving it!

Amp Hours (Ah) is not a cross platform measurement of capacity. 5Ah for your phone is likely at a different voltage than the 2.6Ah LPe6 battery.

Amps*Volts=Watts

Watt hours is a true measurement of capacity because you can extrapolate the amps and volts.

What I use is an NPf 970 battery on a Blindspot plate with a 12v dc out to weipu 2 pin cable.

Companies get cute with what they quote as the "MAh capacity" of a given battery, but the Sony standard for a 970 battery is 6600MAh at 7.4v I believe, which is 48.84 Wh. I haven't really seen truly higher capacities than that despite what manufacturers say.

The Pocket 4k draws *roughly* ~25Wh of power (from my tests), depending on screen brightness, codec, frame rate, and attached accessories. So one of those batteries gets you perhaps up to 2 hours if you're lucky. If you need endurance longer than that, I HIGHLY recommend getting a VMount or Gold Mount battery instead of a battery bank, because it will allow you to expand to other cameras and lights in the future and they will provide much more power. You can get VMount batteries that go up to roughly 100Wh. These are professional cinema batteries the industry standard.


NPF batteries allow you to power other things like lights and monitors as well, plus they are small enough to gimbal mount or go handheld if you need to. Banks and VMount will be larger and heavier. That is why I chose NPF.

I use:

Battery (DSTE and Powerextra have been fine for me):https://www.amazon.com/DSTE-Replacement-MVC-CD1000-DCR-VX2100E-NEX-FS700RH/dp/B00M3P9YBQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=npf970&qid=1572497795&sr=8-3

Plate:
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Junkie-NP-F-Blind-Spot/dp/B07NF14XW4/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=blindspot+npf&qid=1572498095&sr=8-3

Cable:
https://www.amazon.com/KONDOR-BLUE-Adapter-Juicebox-Blackmagic/dp/B07Y5S6S86/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=pocket+cinema+4k+power+cable&qid=1572498113&sr=8-7

With a $200CAD/light budget, you might want to consider the [$149.99CAD Neewer CRI 90 432 LED PT-650B Dimmable Bi-Color Light Panel] (https://www.amazon.ca/Neewer-3200K-5600K-Temperature-Brightness-Adjustable/dp/B06X9SNCJZ//ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=hybrcamerevo-20) [Referral Link].

This panel is a daylight/tungsten panel with pretty solid (CRI 90) color.

It comes with an AC adapter - but can also be powered with an inexpensive Sony NP-F battery like [this one] (https://www.amazon.ca/Li-Ion-Battery-for-Sony-NP-F550/dp/B000E7XM68//ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=hybrcamerevo-20). You'll also need a [charger] (https://www.amazon.ca/SODIAL-Battery-Charger-Adapter-NP-F960/dp/B018HX7CC0//ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=hybrcamerevo-20) [Referral Links].

Hope this is helpful and good luck finding the right lighting solution for your needs!

If you can find a USB charging solution for your batteries, thats the easiest way to go. They will have a Buck/Boost controller that will increase 5v to the 7.6 for the packs.

e.g. (almost certainly not for your camera) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-NW-BLN1-Portable-Compatibal-Camcorder/dp/B019EWNZZ6/

The other way is to get a 12v system with an auto charger, again this will convert the 12v down to the pack voltage.

(again, this is unlikely to be the one you need) http://www.danelopower.co.uk/products/dp-109439-canon-dc301-battery-charger.html?gclid=CJeDk6KRptMCFROMGQodWI4M9Q

You're best bet in either scenario is to find a solar panel and battery combo that will harvest energy over a longer period and then charge your items from the battery pack, rather than directly from the panel.

/r/SolarDIY has a wealth of information about the options available, if you don't wish to/can't go off the shelf.

Fun Fact: The original Hero battery bacpac actually used a Hero battery in it, so you could double that up as a charging solution, but the new one doesn't.

This one's pictures show the original Hero batteries.... but says Hero3.

http://www.amazon.com/Portable-External-Battery-Charging-GoPro/dp/B00A2UX4HY

How many batteries/SD cards does everyone have?

I've just gotten into the GoPro scene and started with a 64GB and 32GB SD card and it feels like I have to pull the video off the cards each day. It's very easy for me to go hiking for 4+ hours and fill up the 64GB card and start to eat into the 32GB card. Then in the evening, I need to spend half an hour downloading the video to a computer or else I'll have no space to shoot the next day. Even something as simple as biking to work eats an hour of footage and fills up a good part of the 32GB card.

I'm looking at a pair of 64GB or a single 128GB card to allow 2-3 days of heavy shooting without having to spend time to download the footage off the cards.

On the battery front, I have 3 batteries and seem to be doing ok. Three Batteries gives me ~4-6 hours of 1080p footage which is the limit of my SD cards. My main issue here is charging them up at night because I can only charge in the GoPro and a 2 battery Wasabi charger which eats up a ton of USB ports.

A Smatree 3 battery charger and 3 batteries seem like a good investment to give me breathing room if I forget to charge up the batteries for one night.

Edit/Update: Picked up the Smatee 3 batteries and battery charger, a GoPro Bacpac, and a 128GB Lexar 633x Micro SD Card.

I love being able to just bring one charger with me when I travel. Phone on USB-C, and then Surface 3, power bank, smart watch, and camera battery on the standard USB. It was my main motivation for getting the Surface 3.

Ordered a lot of new gear for the studio, but I'll just add everything I ordered to get the camera ready to go.

For lenses I'm using ones I've already had (Canon 17-35mm 2.8/Canon 85mm 1.8/Canon 70-200mm 2.8) I'm still looking for a 50mm that I'd like to stick with.

Body -
Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K G2

Power -
I went with gold mount, because I've had issues in the past with V-Mount connections being unstable.

Juicebox Gold Mount Battery & Charger (95Wh)

Blackmagic Design Gold Mount Battery Plate for URSA/URSA Mini

D&O - Dual Channel Anton Bauer Gold Mount Battery Kit

Storage -

SanDisk 512GB Extreme PRO CFast 2.0 Memory Card

Samsung T5 Portable SSD - 2TB - USB 3.1 External SSD

SanDisk Extreme PRO CFast 2.0 Reader/Writer

Shoulder Mount -

CAMTREE Hunt Professional Shoulder Mount Cage Kit for Blackmagic URSA Mini

Not sure if I would recommend the shoulder mount. The cage doesn't seem to sit very snug against the body. I'm still configuring though.

You can get Sony’s original external battery charger even though it’s price is a little bit steep.

• Sony External Battery Charger
  
  Or you could get some third party chargers for the fraction of the Sony price.
  
• Wasabi Power Battery
  
• Ravpower

Here are some links for anyone who likes what you see here.

Potato Express


Phantom Saucer

Wipe New

Easy Eggwich

Fast Brite

Hover Ball

Micro Touch Max

Side Socket

Mighty Charger

Swivel Sweeper Max

Ball Pets - Kitty

Unanswered (again) question from a previous megathread

Author /u/sadface- - (Permalink)

Anyone have any experience with charging Fuji NP-W126 Batteries with a USB charger?

There are some available from Amazon, like this. I have an Anker power bank itd be nice to charge on the fly with this.

Only problem is that last time I bought a USB charger for my Nikon batts last year (back when I shot Nikon), one of the batteries stopped working after a while. I'm not quite sure if it's because of old age or because USb charging just doesnt work for certain batteries, or because the power output of my Anker is incompatible.

Anyone have any experience with charging Fuji NP-W126 Batteries with a USB charger?

There are some available from Amazon, like this. I have an Anker power bank itd be nice to charge on the fly with this.

Only problem is that last time I bought a USB charger for my Nikon batts last year (back when I shot Nikon), one of the batteries stopped working after a while. I'm not quite sure if it's because of old age or because USb charging just doesnt work for certain batteries, or because the power output of my Anker is incompatible.

Just get an NPF adapter and a couple NPF batteries. It would probably cost you around $60 and accomplish the same thing with a much smaller footprint.

https://www.amazon.com/SmallRig-Battery-Plate-Adapter-BMPCC/dp/B01EFSUK98

https://www.amazon.com/DSTE-Replacement-MVC-CD1000-DCR-VX2100E-NEX-FS700RH/dp/B00M3P9YBQ

https://www.amazon.com/Wasabi-Power-Battery-Charger-NP-F730/dp/B00FPZY0BK

One of those batteries will keep you going for several hours.

Try here, and question the seller to make sure it's what you're looking for:

https://www.amazon.com/Excelshots-Connection-HDR-CX240-Handycam-Camcorder/dp/B012BTZQKQ

There are aftermarket USB chargers for the EN-EL15 batteries. They contain a voltage boost circuit. I have one, but hardly ever use it since I generally get by with one or two batteries per day, and usually carry 3.

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Battery-Charger-EN-EL15-Rechargeable/dp/B00ZHJ8UQK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1495567742&sr=8-4&keywords=en-el15+usb+charger

I got this one on amazon. it's micro usb.

You could. Another option would be to use a 7.4v (or whatever your camera uses) camcorder battery. Something like this should work well. And since soldering to the leads on a Litium-ion battery is a really bad idea I would use something like this to attach the leads to.

Four won't be a problem. I frequently travel with six and I've only been queried a couple of times. I ended up buying some of these and I get fewer questions.

Get one of these: https://www.amazon.ca/Neewer-Battery-Charger-Rechargeable-D3300%C2%A3%C2%ACD5100/dp/B00ZHJ8VKK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1458692665&sr=8-2&keywords=nikon+D3200+usb+charger

And one of these (you can get bigger, i have a 50000mAh one that lasts for weeks): https://www.amazon.ca/Aukey-20000mAh-Portable-External-Motorola/dp/B00R97DNHE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458692688&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+power+pack

I got a go pro with a limefuel battery.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T3MZITY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The battery backpac can be charged on its own, without being plugged into the camera, but extra batteries can't. The only thing I can think of is pairing this with one of these. If you need it to be waterproof, put it in a ziploc bag.

When I traveled to a land of strange voltages and plugs (Korea, which uses the Euro style outlets), I simplified my life significantly by using a euro wall plug USB charging hub.

This meant that in addition to charging my phone, and USB battery, I was also charging the battery in my XT-2, and charging an additional W126s on a USB Fuji Battery Charger.

Why not buy an actual adapter that is made for a single f-mount battery to USB then? Besides the price? Sorry, I just refuse to condone cobbling together crap to make it work when there is an actual product for the purpose.

Or buy a D-tap converter that changes the V-mouny to D-tap, then you can get a D-tap to USB to plug in to that.