The Nitecore UFZ100 camera battery is here to free photographers from Sony’s proprietary grip – a built-in USB-C charging port lets you turn it on using the same hardware as many of your other devices (via Gizmodo). It has not been officially released yet, but you can use the battery with Sony A7 III, A7R III, A7R IV, A7S III, A9 (ILCE-9), A9 II, A6600, A7C, A1, FX3 and A7 IV, so you does not have to lug around a separate charger if you want to carry (and charge) an extra battery on a recording.
As Gizmodo points out that the battery has a slightly smaller capacity than its proprietary equivalent, with the Sony NP-FZ100 coming with a capacity of 2,280 mAh and the Nitecore UFZ100 with 2,250 mAh. In terms of charging times, the Nitecore’s battery also looks a bit short. If you charge the Sony battery with the $ 99.99 BC-QZ1 charger, Sony says it should fully charge in about 2.5 hours, while the Nitecore UFZ100 takes four hours to reach a full charge. However, it is unclear whether the four-hour charging time beats the time it takes to charge Sony’s battery inside the camera using a micro-USB cable and AC adapter.
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In addition to the presence of a USB-C connector, the battery itself comes with a power indicator that flashes red when charging and stays green when fully charged. There is also a built-in button on the battery, and pressing it will cause the indicator light to show different colors depending on how much juice the battery currently has: green for over 50 percent, blue for less than 50 percent and red for less than 10 percent.
That said, we have no idea how reliable the battery really is, let alone how much it costs or its release date. The edge contacted Nitecore with a request for comment but did not respond immediately. However, it seems a bit like a trade-off – Nitecore’s battery may not last as long or charge as fast, but USB-C compatibility makes it even more convenient.