Best aftermarket EN-EL15c charger and batteries

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

Don't do it if you ever want to use these batteries with cameras that use an Expeed 7 or newer processor -- the battery is part of the system the camera monitors and only Nikon OEM batteries have been able to work.

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

I've had good experiences with the Viltrox USB-C batteries.

areallygrumpyoldsod said:

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

Don't do it if you ever want to use these batteries with cameras that use an Expeed 7 or newer processor -- the battery is part of the system the camera monitors and only Nikon OEM batteries have been able to work.

Click to expand...

Really? Boy, that's news to my Expeed 7 cameras which are working fine with aftermarket batteries from SmallRig.

michaeladawson said:

areallygrumpyoldsod said:

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

Don't do it if you ever want to use these batteries with cameras that use an Expeed 7 or newer processor -- the battery is part of the system the camera monitors and only Nikon OEM batteries have been able to work.

Click to expand...

Really? Boy, that's news to my Expeed 7 cameras which are working fine with aftermarket batteries from SmallRig.

Click to expand...

I have SmallRig EN-EL15c clones that work fine with my Z6iii and Z8, both are EXPEED 7 based, as well as Z6, Z6ii and some DSLRs all the way back to the 2010 D7000, which was the very first Nikon body that uses EN-EL15 batteries: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4794100

SmallRig is the only third-party brand I can recommend since I only use genuine Nikon batteries and SmallRig EN-EL15c clones.

And since SmallRig batteries have a USB-C port on the battery, you can just plug a USB-C cable onto the battery to charge. No battery charger is needed.

As far as stand alone chargers go, I'm pretty sure most of the aftermarket dual versions are made in the same factory. Then various resellers have a name printed and go from there.



i picked up a few on Aliexpress for around $14 each.







--
Police Officer (Retired)
No plan survives first contact with the enemy.

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

I'll reiterate what a few others have said, SmallRig. Have been buying them exclusively for my Z8 and more recently for a Z50 II (not EN-EL15C, obviously).

Of the dozen or so EN-EL15x non-OEM batteries I've purchased going back to my D800 days, I've had two fail, one a RAVPower and one a Nikon. Nothing catastrophic with either, just stopped holding/taking a charge. All those much older batteries were included when I eventually sold the D800, D500 and D850 over the years.

Might a new camera not work with older batteries, maybe, but in that case, as noted above, I just include the old batteries to sweeten the deal if I sell the older camera they work with and get new ones. SmallRig has been pretty good about supporting new cameras quickly when things do change, though not being able to retroactively upgrade older batteries.

Performance is on par or superior to the OEM Nikons and I'd buy them if they were the same price or even a few dollars more for the convenience of the USB charging port on them.

With the USB-C port on them you can charge them just about anywhere you can find a USB port as long as you have a cable. And they WILL charge from any USB-A port that supplies power as long as you have a USB-A to USB-C cable. They do NOT require a USB-C PD specific charger.

Cheers!

madecov said:

As far as stand alone chargers go, I'm pretty sure most of the aftermarket dual versions are made in the same factory. Then various resellers have a name printed and go from there.

i picked up a few on Aliexpress for around $14 each.

Click to expand...

Viltrox has an interesting type of dual charger as well.

Dual-charging with 30W USB-C PD and a built-in battery with 5500mAh for charging on the go. I don't have that though, but I do have the Ilano dual charger though without an internal battery, works very well!

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

I recently got this Tilta charger that does four batteries at a time. Seems good so far.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...5_gn_4_channel_portable_charging_station.html

Regarding batteries, I'll reiterate what others have said...the Smallrigs work fine.

I just got the K&F EL-15c dual slot charger and it has no problem charging the OEM EL-15c for my Zf. The charger also came with 2 K&F branded batteries that also work so far, but I haven't used them fully to see how long they last. My experience is that aftermarket batteries usually don't last as long as the OEM, but I'm happy to keep them in my bag as a backup.

Mike Evangelist said:

1. Mike Evangelist wrote:

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

I recently got this Tilta charger that does four batteries at a time. Seems good so far.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...5_gn_4_channel_portable_charging_station.html

Regarding batteries, I'll reiterate what others have said...the Smallrigs work fine.

Click to expand...

I have this one in my saved items.

--
Police Officer (Retired)
No plan survives first contact with the enemy.

I purchased a dual battery charger by ProMaster a while back. I liked the small form factor, but quit using it because it didn't fully charge the batteries for my Z8, and it seemed like the batteries depleted quickly. Just my two cents....

areallygrumpyoldsod said:

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

Don't do it if you ever want to use these batteries with cameras that use an Expeed 7 or newer processor -- the battery is part of the system the camera monitors and only Nikon OEM batteries have been able to work.

Click to expand...

I use smallrig batteries in my Zf and Z6iii with no problems at all.

Nokiron said:

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

I've had good experiences with the Viltrox USB-C batteries.

Click to expand...

I just bought Viltrox 15c batteries and they were swollen out of the box. Not confidence inspiring.

Smallrig has been okay so far, though close enough to OEM price not sure I want to keep doing that.

--
Ann Arbor, MI USA
https://cyadmark.smugmug.com/browse/

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

For batteries I believe most are recommending Smallrig (specifically, the orange ones but the blue ones should work fine with the Z7 II. The oranges ones are just updated to work with the newer bodies but are roughly the same price so maybe get those instead for future-proofing.

As for a chager, you can buy a used one online from KEH or MPB. I use a 2-battery ProMaster USB charger but I've also seen a 3-battery AC charger from Jupio as well (but this one is about $130+; the promaster I have was about $25).

Please Note that some aftermarket batteries may not charge in AC wall chargers (particularly OEM ones) but if you buy the Smallrig batteries, they have a built-in USB-C charging port so you don't really need an aftermarket charger if you buy those batteries.

I refuse to use them in my Nikons, but I do have a few for my Fuji and they work quite well, and last about as long as the OEM battery (slightly less in my experience but still worth the money).

EDIT: Right now I believe the 15C batteries (OEM Nikon) are on sale for $59 so the savings between the Nikons and some aftermarket may be less and it may be worth while to just spend the little extra and get some 15C's while they're on sale. I don't know how long the sale will last but it is about $15 off regular MSRP last I checked.

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sharadn said:

Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

Only to say that it's hard to beat the OEM parts.

+1 for the smallrigs. Mine is the blue one with USB C port, I've used it over a year and I got and still get fast loading and lasts about as long as a brand battery. Just another anecdotal but i think they're great, especially if you can get them for 30 bucks around Black Friday and such,1

I had a few EN-EL25 Smallrig USB-C batteries for my Z50/Z50II. One was DOA, and they both did not last as long as an OEM battery. On a Z50/Z50II it is more of an issue.

I often used a few OEM's first and then the non-OEM backups. This seems like a sensible approach. I've used many non-OEM batteries over the years, EN-EL15's, Greenworks (Adorama,) BM Premium, Smallrig, and many worked fine. Occasionally I'd notice a few extra battery warnings, or inaccurate batter life indicators, especially on Sony's.

I'm done with non-OEM batteries, and I'd almost rather have used OEM batteries. I also think Nikon should make USB-C versions and offer longer warranties. I've had a few Nikon batteries fail around 366 days of use. Although, I did benefit from the D70/D200/D300 battery exchange/recall many years ago.

areallygrumpyoldsod said:

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

Don't do it if you ever want to use these batteries with cameras that use an Expeed 7 or newer processor -- the battery is part of the system the camera monitors and only Nikon OEM batteries have been able to work.

Click to expand...

NOT TRUE.

You will get several replies from people who use 3p batteries successfully with all of the Expeed7 cameras

Came here to recommend the Tilta. I run it off an Anker GaN 45w (47?) charger. Fantastic.

Mike Evangelist said:

sharadn said:

I need a few more batteries and a charger for my Z7II. Any experiences or input on going with aftermarket and which brand?

Click to expand...

I recently got this Tilta charger that does four batteries at a time. Seems good so far.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...5_gn_4_channel_portable_charging_station.html

Regarding batteries, I'll reiterate what others have said...the Smallrigs work fine.

Click to expand...

--
Evocative beats academic.