BUYING: CAMERA BATTERIES RAVPOWER

My Z 7 eats batteries. Are cheap ones safe to use?

If you’ve swapped from any SLR to a mirrorless camera, you’re likely to be shocked at how much faster they drain batteries. You might want to carry maybe four spares on a long day’s shoot, but that’ll cost you around £300/$220 for genuine Nikon EN-EL 15b batteries.

There’s something to be said for sticking with camera manufacturers’ own-brand batteries. Compatibility is guaranteed, whereas there can be issues with third-party batteries, like the camera’s charge indicator not working. There’s also horror stories of some li-ion batteries catching fire.

I’d avoid super-cheap batteries from obscure brands, but I’ve never had any problems from betterknown manufacturers. For example, RAVPower EN-EL 15 batteries have worked flawlessly for me in Z 6 and Z 7 cameras, and they only cost around £27/$33 per pair, including a dual USB charger. Bargain!

ADVANTAGES

Similar capacity to genuine batteries Good performance and quality Two-battery option complete with charger

DISADVANTAGES

Full compatibility can’t be guaranteed