Battery question

Do the Sony A7R iv cameras play well with the Wasabi battery billed as equivalent to Sony stock battery?

Mine seems to. I've never done a serious test but think maybe the Sony battery lasts a bit longer?

Thanks for the info. As it will be backup, I'm just frugal enough to save the bucks then. I have used them on some other cameras without any problems for years.

Bob A L said:

Thanks for the info. As it will be backup, I'm just frugal enough to save the bucks then. I have used them on some other cameras without any problems for years.

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I know that 3rd party batteries are a room divider, but I have never understood the benefit over the longer term.

I have tried a few, researching the better ones - the best were Baxtaar red batteries for me, the worst were Duracell.

I found that many would start out looking pretty comparable, but the issue was much faster degradation over time, where 100% charge lasted less and less as time went on. Add into this the chance of firmware update-driven obsolescence, and I long ago decided that on a multi thousand pound camera system, the benefits of saving what amounts to very little on a 1st vs 3rd part battery just didn't make sense. Especially when the better 3rd party batteries offered less ticket price discount than the real cheapo ones.

You tend to keep these batteries years, whats a few bucks over that time - I appreciate YMMV!

Matt2134 said:

I found that many would start out looking pretty comparable, but the issue was much faster degradation over time, where 100% charge lasted less and less as time went on.

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This, and that they might swell. A collegue of me works at a photo education institution where they wanted to save money on 3. party batteries. Two Sony FF cameras were destroyed by swelling batteries, so at the end this was an expensive way of saving a few bucks.

If you are photo only - you might not notice half hour shorter times, turning camera on/off/powersave/out for a walk, etc.

If you are running higher video modes - you will notice as this will cause these kind of 3rd party batteries to crater sooner.

So it depends on what you are doing.

Thanks for the inputs, and a agree with most of the comments on possible downsides, but also know that there is a high likelihood that manufacturer's batteries and specific third party batteries are quite likely to have come out of the same factory. And do wonder about video use causing more swelling of batteries. In this instance for me, as it's for a part time use camera bought used for not much money, and I don't shoot video, I decided to take the chance. But changed midstream and bought a neewer battery that has usb out of camera charging like my smallrig batteries that have been working great. It could come in handy if I ever needed to charge one when away from my charger as I refuse to connect my camera with a cord to anything and don't want to not be able to use my camera while a battery is charging.

But thanks for all input and if anyone has experience with the neewer batteries with usb charging that I should know before trying them, feel free to inform me.

I Sony batteries that are still alive after six or seven years. I had one pair of third-party batteries which both did swell, in camera. These batteries were in a basically-never-used body, just to keep the internal battery charged. My mistake: don't do that.

Probably, all camera batteries should be checked regularly. Swapping them out is one way to do that, so I would not keep one only as backup.

In-camera charging is another room divider! Well, I do it. After USB-cable uploading, I leave the camera connected to charge. My current FF camera came with 2 batteries in the bundle (and a separate charger) and I do make sure that one gets run down and swapped with the other regularly.

RealWorldPhoto said:

Matt2134 said:

I found that many would start out looking pretty comparable, but the issue was much faster degradation over time, where 100% charge lasted less and less as time went on.

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This, and that they might swell. A collegue of me works at a photo education institution where they wanted to save money on 3. party batteries. Two Sony FF cameras were destroyed by swelling batteries, so at the end this was an expensive way of saving a few bucks.

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Experiencing a swollen battery firsthand quickly cures the urge to put cheap batteries in expensive cameras. It happened to me. Luckily, a few hours of cooling allowed me to extract the battery without damaging the camera. It could have been much worse.

If you must save a few bucks, just buy used FZ100 batteries from a legit dealer. A pre-enjoyed Sony battery will outlast the per charge runtime and total lifespan of any third-party mystery battery.

Surely there are some decent third party options, but finding them is a game of Russian roulette.

All fair points. In this particular instance for me, this is a camera that is not used often and I do have a good condition Sony battery that will always be used when using the camera. The second battery is only for use when the camera is needed and the Sony battery is discharged. As soon as the Sony battery is charged up, it goes back in the camera. I also agree that it is a bad thing to leave any camera with a battery in it unattended for long periods of time. And even worse to leave a camera unused and unattended for a long time without a charged battery in it. In both cases they need to be checked periodically. Afraid I sometimes let this slip from time to time. That's a problem with having too many toys. ;-)

Thad E Ginathom said:

I Sony batteries that are still alive after six or seven years. I had one pair of third-party batteries which both did swell, in camera. These batteries were in a basically-never-used body, just to keep the internal battery charged. My mistake: don't do that.

Probably, all camera batteries should be checked regularly. Swapping them out is one way to do that, so I would not keep one only as backup.

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Yeah once you have two you might as well rotate them and they'll both last much longer over the course of time... Simple trick to check for initial signs of swelling, find a very flat surface (glass, decent desk, etc) and just check it on both sides. When they start to swell it can be kinda obvious and you can even spin them etc...

Thad E Ginathom said:

In-camera charging is another room divider! Well, I do it. After USB-cable uploading, I leave the camera connected to charge.

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Current bodies will charge significantly faster on a PD charger than a computer port, for older ones like my A7R IV the difference isn't much... There's an alternative for anyone that's scared of damaging a port, plenty of 3rd party USB-C chargers around and Sony now even makes their own (pricey) USB-C dual charger (faster than most of the 3rd party ones that don't use USB PD).

Thad E Ginathom said:

My current FF camera came with 2 batteries in the bundle (and a separate charger) and I do make sure that one gets run down and swapped with the other regularly.

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I have Sony batteries and a few Neewer batteries and Sony wins by a mile in terms of holding a charge and battery life. No more third party batteries for me. Sure Sony is more expensive but it's worth it.