Nitecore solves problem nobody had with their “World’s First Smart Battery” for Sony mirrorless cameras
Aug 16, 2019
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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Nitecore has announced its “World’s First Smart Battery” for Sony, the Nitecore NFZ100. It’s a drop-in replacement for the Sony NP-FZ100 used in the Sony A7 III, A7R III, A7R IV and A9 mirrorless cameras. At least, it is if Sony doesn’t make 3rd party batteries impossibly impractical to use again.
As a “Smart” device, the new Nitecore Smart Battery talks to an app on your phone; Nitecore NNERGY. The app will be available for both iOS and Android and lets you monitor the battery health and other details wirelessly. Obviously, it needs power to do this, and I’m not sure a battery that drains itself is necessarily a great idea.
Ok, maybe I’m being a tad harsh. The idea that you could have half a dozen batteries in your bag (not uncommon with Sony, especially if you’re shooting video), and be able to quickly see at a glance exactly which ones need charging on your phone is pretty convenient. And if you’re not planning to use the batteries for a while, the app allows you to place the batteries into “Storage Mode”, dropping their charge to 70% and increasing the longevity of the battery.
You can also see from the app whether your batteries are still good and whether you need to consider buying replacements – also a very handy feature, especially if you rely on them for daily use. The app is also used to upload new firmware to the batteries, too. Yes, that’s right, it has firmware.
- Model: Nitecore NFZ100
- Battery type: Rechargeable Lithium-ion
- Voltage: 7.2v
- Capacity: 2,280mAh
- Energy: 16.4Wh
- Operating temps: 0°C – 45°C (Charge) / -20°C – 60°C (Discharge)
- Compatible models: Sony A7 III, A7R III, A9
They don’t specifically list the A7R IV as being compatible, but given that they’re not actually available for testing yet, that’s not surprising. Despite also using Sony NP-FZ100 batteries, Sony might have implemented firmware in the A7R IV to disallow use of 3rd party batteries.
But has not having these features of the Nitecore NFZ100 really hindered us as photographers or filmmakers? Don’t most people charge up all their batteries the night before a shoot anyway and then just keep an eye on the battery indicator on the camera’s LCD during the shoot and swap out as needed?
When you consider the Nitecore NFZ100 is 2,280mAh, same as the Sony NP-FZ100, and that it’ll drain itself whenever you load up the app to check on its status (and perhaps even when you’re not?), it seems like a silly idea.
Most Sony shooters I know would rather just have regular plain old batteries with a higher capacity that can last longer than the existing Sony ones.
But hey, Sony shooters, you tell us. Would you use these? Do you care about these features? Or will you stick with the cheap generic 3rd party batteries because they’re a quarter the price of the official Sony ones?
The Nitecore NFZ100 doesn’t appear to be available to purchase yet, and no prices have been listed anywhere. But if you want more information, head on over to the Nightcore website.
[via DPReview]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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19 responses to “Nitecore solves problem nobody had with their “World’s First Smart Battery” for Sony mirrorless cameras”
With Sony’s record of killing 3rd party batteries on their A7/9 line with firmware updates, I don’t know if it is wise to get one of these.
I’m not a Sony shooter but for half the cost of an OEM battery it seems like it would be interesting to at least give the technology a try. https://www.nitecorestore.com/NITECORE-NFZ100-p/bat-nite-nfz100.htm
You know theres already an indicator on screen right? Useless tech is useless.
The idea is good but the implementation isn’t.
I work in a production company where staff shares equipment, and that includes batteries. So there would be days that someone will not charge the batteries they have used.
Then here comes you have to mount-and-unmount every single battery just to check which are charged.
That’s a pretty pointless invention. Why not just put a couple of LEDs and a button on the battery as DJI do with Mavic batteries. much easier.
Or that weird thermometer looking strip on Duracells you gotta smash your thumbs into, a lot of low tech options lol.
Regardless of how stupid this product is, I’ve used nitecore products in the past and they’re very good, so build quality shouldn’t be an issue. Currently have 2 battery chargers from them.
Checking battery power on phone on batteries in bag…. first world problems… ???
I’m a bit of a Nitecore fan. Two torches and a camera battery charger.
This one, though, even if they ever make it for my battery… No thanks.
And I thought a wifi enabled water bottle was stupid. Do we really need to put computers in every single thing we own?!
I use two pockets in my backpack, one for full batteries one for the empty ones. No app needed. No value added for me here…
It sounds like a company trying to prevent returns when Sony locks their batteries out with a firmware update. “Oh did you update the firmware in your battery? Try that before returning”
I just got in 6 of these. Charged the first one.
A) my A7r4 won’t let me use it. Turns on and indicates it’s not a safe battery, and doesn’t give me the option to route around the message. They never indicated it would be compatible with this new camera, but I hope they are able to fix that in firmware.
B) The app does not recognize any of the batteries. The manual (eventually found, as the link on the website was broken, but there was another link elsewhere) indicates it needs to be fully charged to activate. I’m trying another charger to see if this works. Will report back on that. Also on my support request.
One of them charged adequately in the sony OEM charger, and how is communicating with the app. Will check compatibility with A9 tomorrow.
Update: 4 of the 6 are now working. They do throw an initial message in both the A9 and A7r4 that you have to bypass. The other two appear to have charge, but the camera indicates a message saying that they are incompatible, and this isn’t one you can bypass.
The app communication feature is quite nice, once you figure it out. I have not had opportunity to test recharge performance.
I expect I will have to return the other two.
Final update. Nitecore support contacted me and sent a prepaid shipping label to return the two that didn’t work. The 4 that do work appear to do so well. Too early to indicate recharging capacity over time.
This is such a stupid article and the comments are just as stupid. When I saw this product and its specs & features on the Nitecore website, I immediately sent it to my fellow Sony users and I wanted to look for real reviews. Instead, I got this rubbish article with snide remarks instead of real world review info.
Considering that Nitecore has served me and my friends so well over the years with their tactical flashlights (they started out making these many years ago), universal chargers, 18650s, camera battery chargers and smart universal battery chargers – and at HALF the price of Sony’s own batteries – this is a no brainer even WITHOUT the “smart” features.
Especially when compared to no-name generic 3rd party batteries that I see so many people buy from Amazon just to save a buck, only to run the risk of ruining their cameras or worse ruining their shoots with corrupted photo or video files due to brownouts or power cuts. All Nitecore batteries and chargers that I have ever used have always proven themselves to be true to their power ratings and charge times, which cannot be said for a lot of lesser/no brand names.
The comments regarding the smart features are also truly stupid. Whenever there is innovation, idiots always make their stupid comments even though they are the ones who are unable to use their imagination to understand the use cases and problems being solved by such innovations.
I have multiple batteries for my multiple cameras & devices. Not having to pop them into my camera or device one by one and instead being able to directly check them on a peer-to-peer basis with my smartphone is clearly a very useful option! You mean there are fools who cannot understand the simple value propositions? Really? Sheesh!
The writer says something stupid about charging all the batteries the night before a shoot. Huh? Really? If I can tell from a glance at my smartphone the exact charge state of every battery – WITHOUT having to retrieve my camera from the drybox – , why would I need to waste time popping every battery into the charger just to try my luck?Why would I waste time charging a battery with 98% charge when I have another one with only 18% charge?
If nothing else, it will save me the risk of dropping/banging my camera or battery just to test batteries AND save on the wear and tear on the camera on-off power buttons or that of the battery doors & latches having to pop every battery into the camera!
Also, why would the app constantly drain the battery? Once you connect to the battery the first time and checked its status, of course you would exit the app and the communication (& hence battery drain) stops! I think the fools here don’t understand how bluetooth communication protocols on smartphone apps work!
Furthermore, do people even know how to read specifications/features? The ability to have a smart discharge function to lower the charge of a battery for long term storage is something Sony did not even think of. As a lithium ion battery specialist, I actually commend Nitecore for bringing this feature to market.
As an Android power user, I root my phones in order to use root apps with powerful battery management features. Eg. Setting my phone to charge to a maximum of 60% most of the time. Eg. Allow one-time charging to 100% only when I expect to go out for a whole day. Eg. Always enabling “battery idle priority” mode, whereby the battery completely stops charging or discharging once 60% charge is reached and the phone switches over to running purely on the input USB-C power.
Most people do not even know these battery management features and techniques and what Nitecore is doing with smart apps is something I have been looking forward to seeing from a lot more manufacturers.
Try educating yourselves on battery tech!
Heh. Somebody’s triggered, digging up a more-than-a-year-old announcement post to rant like this. :)
it’s one thing to advertise a new product … but then again
a real world test a year or two later is probably too much to ask for ????