p.1 #1 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
Buy a Sony A7V and it does not include a battery charger.
Now you can buy the Sony BC-ZD1 Dual-Battery Charger for NP-FZ100 Batteries for $138US and you don't even get a power supply or cable. Talk about lame.
Requires a separately available USB PD compatible power supply that can provide 30W or higher output, with a USB-C cable that can support 3A or higher current.
p.1 #2 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
I’m tired of getting new chargers every time I buy a new device. I have a drawer full of chargers I never need. I personally like the approach manufactures are going where chargers are not included.
p.1 #5 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
Imagemaster wrote:
Buy a Sony A7V and it does not include a battery charger.
Now you can buy the Sony BC-ZD1 Dual-Battery Charger for NP-FZ100 Batteries for $138US and you don't even get a power supply or cable. Talk about lame.
When I bought my A7IV a few years ago it came with a cable so the battery could be charged in camera but there was not separate charger. I believe that approach has been common for many cameras for quite a while now(?)
I have a Nitecore USN4 Pro USB-C dual charger these days. I have wondered if I should have got the Sony OEM one, but teh Nitecore has seemed fine at least so far. Like the Sony USB-C charger it doesn't come with a power supply but I guess the assumption is that you will already have USB-C chargers. And at the price of the Nitecore charger, I can forgive the lack of power supply.
p.1 #6 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
Annoying? Yes. But…
Including only a USB-C cable for charging has been standard practice for some time, unless you purchase one of the “top shelf” models (eg A1 II, etc.). And it’s not just Sony doing it.
p.1 #8 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
liggy wrote:
Unsure if this little factoid makes things better or worse but the A1 II comes with a nice dual battery charger.
Well not exactly. It comes with the 2 slot block with circuitry and LED's, but it doesn't come with the AC to DC wall plug and you need one with more wattage than a phone charger. I didn't have one with enough juice to power it, so I had to buy one.
p.1 #9 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
I've got a watson compact charger, plugs into the wall and charges one battery. It was included in the B&H bundle with the camera. That is what I use for charging. I think my camera came with a charger, but I mostly use the watson because it is small or plug the camera into USB-C.
I don't disagree the camera should come with a charger. It should be standalone working system without you needing to bring something of your own to charge.
p.1 #10 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
billsnature wrote:
Well not exactly. It comes with the 2 slot block with circuitry and LED's, but it doesn't come with the AC to DC wall plug and you need one with more wattage than a phone charger. I didn't have one with enough juice to power it, so I had to buy one.
Totally forgot that it didn’t have a wall wart. I have a few of these and love them.
Plenty of juice - fast and saves space.
p.1 #12 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
Yup, it's a PITA but if they included it you would have paid for it via a higher price. There are less expensive alternatives. Amazon is your friend....
p.1 #13 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
If you buy the cheap camera you get cheap accessories or no accessories at all.
If you are a baller and buy an A1II or A9III you will get your sweet dual charger.
But in all seriousness, do we really care? I haven't used an external charger for my cameras in ages. I just plug straight in and don't have to fiddle taking batteries in and out of the grip every evening. I think everyone must have a sweet, multiport USB-C PD charger block these days for all our USB-C electronic devices.
p.1 #14 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
There happen to be many who do not already have chargers or have ones that are not compatible. There are other brands of cameras that sell cheaper cameras and they include a charger. There are also those that prefer or need to have their camera ready to shoot most of the time instead of it being tied to a computer.
Every other brand of camera I have bought came with a charger, and even a cable with it.
Sony is also the only brand that I have bought a battery from that does not include a protective plastic case. $88US for the battery and they can't even include a case that probably cost them 10 cents to make.
And guess what? Not everyone buying a new camera is someone that has all the photo gear or experience that most FM members have. Then there are those odd people that don't need, want, or can afford to buy the most expensive cameras, so let's not include a battery charger or a 10 cent case for their battery.
p.1 #15 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
Your logic has valid points Tony and it's hard to not agree with them, especially when thinking about newcomers. At the end of the day, one will pay a higher price if they are included or pay separately for them. Either way money out of pocket will be similar. Having to do the separate purchase is a PITA and frustrating but it does allow some options that might be a tad less expensive. Personally I dislike companies who leave you short of what is required to effectively use their product. It's their bean counters interjecting themselves whom I'd like to get a hold of, just won't elaborate what I might do with them...
p.1 #17 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
Honestly it's not the bean counters this time. There are EU directives that require the unbundling of chargers from products, so you will be seeing more of this across product categories in the future.Since global product manufacturers like global product packaging, we are all affected by an EU regulation.
p.1 #18 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
chez wrote:
I’m tired of getting new chargers every time I buy a new device. I have a drawer full of chargers I never need. I personally like the approach manufactures are going where chargers are not included.
YMMV.
Couldn't agree more. I moved recently, and in the process I gathered two large moving boxes (!) full of chargers and power, ethernet, or USB cables that came with various appliances. Most were still in factory packaging.
Bundling this electronic junk with new gadgets is inefficient and wasteful, especially in the era of USB-C standardization. Besides, the quality of included chargers and cables historically has been shit with rare exceptions. Despite having this mound of cheap cables I still had to buy high-quality high-amp USB cables and multi-port Anker chargers on my own, because they're far better.
It is a rare, maybe even the only, example of where I'm 100% in agreement with the EU regulators.
p.1 #19 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
gdanmitchell wrote:
I simply plug USB-C into my camera to recharge the battery.
Good for you. I happen to overlook a pond where songbirds and waterfowl pass by every day, as well as mink, river otters, muskrats, beavers, and raccoons that can appear. Having my camera ready to shoot in seconds can mean not missing capturing any of that wildlife that only remains for seconds or a few minutes.
Third-party chargers are cheap, too.
And Sony can make them at the same price or cheaper and include them at that same price.
BTW, no chargers or other included accessories are “free.” The cost is simply rolled into the camera price… whether you need/want another one or not.
No kidding? I guess they should stop including camera straps as well, eh?
p.1 #20 · Sony battery charger for A7V, what a joke.
Sign of the times. I no longer buy extra batteries at $88+tax a piece, I just bring Powerbank and charge my camera from it in the bag when I'm not using it through the day. Kind of like how an iPhone no longer comes with a charger either (probably soon enough without a cable as well...)
I can live with this. I'm more concerned about the price of memory cards and SSD storage...
