We recently discussed the quality of several third party batteries in this post. There are some very good alternatives to the expensive original Fuji batteries, like Patona, Wasabi and the Watson (and more suggestions in the comments). These batteries are small & cheap. I own 4 of them, so I never have to worry about battery life on my X-E2 / X-T1. Problem solved!
But I’ve heard some in the FujiRumors community asking for a new, longer lasting battery for the X-Pro2.
I thought it would be nice to let you vote on this topic. Should the Fuji X-Pro2 feature a new, improved battery, or keep the same Fujifilm NP-W126 battery, so you’ll be able to use the same batteries you already own for the X-T1, X-T10, X-E2 & CO?
Feel free to drop your vote:
[poll id=”138″]
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57 Responses
I would think this is a rhetorical question (who wouldn’t want a better battery?), but looking at the results (50% yes and no), that apparently is not the case.
It’s only beneficial if it provides significant improvements. I own 10 batteries for my two X-T1s, it’ll take quite a while for the generic market to catch up and offer a cheaper alternative so that I can replace all 10.
If the battery has a vastly improved capacity then I’d be happy to go for all new batteries and pay for them. If it’s only a 20% bump then keep the old ones.
If there’s room for this battery in the X-T10, there’s room for a bigger battery in the X-Pro and X-T2 (or whatever). It is nice that they’re all the same and interchangeable now, but that’s a minor convenience compared to higher capacity. (And, for the complaints of needing to buy new batteries — unless stored carefully in the refrigerator at 40% capacity, lithium batteries have a useful life of 2-3 years, so you’re not keeping them forever anyway.)
As for generic batteries… eh, I guess if you don’t mind swapping a lot. But they almost always lie about capacity, and almost always are significantly underpowered compared to the name brands. They trade on low cost, not quality.
I would like a more intelligent battery, one that actually reports its true remaining capacity! Now it’s like: “Two bars, ok, I will have to cha….oh sh*t!”
Yes, New, Improved battery! But keep the same format and compatibility with all new and existing Fuji X series gear and chargers! This is quite possible!
The simple question is, no matter what size the battery is, you should always carry a spare or two,therefore why replace it for the next model with the need to purchase more spares and then what another new battery in the next model, I have enough spares at present and don’t need to have to get more. How many of you will have the same answer.
Voted for new battery, but only if it let to make at least 1000 shots.
Keep the battery. Newer battery is likely to increase in size and, thus, make the body bigger.
Actually, the existing battery is hilariously oversized for the charge it holds. You can easily get more power in a smaller unit these days. In fact you could when the first battery was made, too, but Fuji would rather go for a larger and cheaper form so they can squeeze the most profit out when they gouge you. The markup on the current battery is almost farcical.
The price of all OEM mirrorless camera batteries is farcical. No need to single out Fuji.
True, but Fuji are worse for it than anybody else. Same goes for their other accessories. Most other companies—mirrorless manufacturers or otherwise—make their money entirely on lenses. Sony make their money on bodies. Fuji do get most of their money from lenses* but they’ve chosen to take a bit of a hit on lenses and make up for it with accessory markup.
*Well, Instax and military is more like it for the company overall, but I’m talking about civilian photography and video here.
Keep!
I’d suggest a new battery that is slightly larger and without exposed contacts. And – most importantly – make it in a way that can’t be inserted the wrong way (either asymmetrical or – even better – symmetrical contacts). Then roll out that new battery in all the new bodies (also the X100 line!)
If they keep the same battery the X-Pro2 should be able to carry two of them due to the larger body size. That would let us choose between light weight or longer life without needing to switch.
And I almost forgot: give us a more precise battery meter! If that means we need a new battery so be it.
Both!! create a new built in battery and a standard batery as extension.
Create a built in battery with a size of an iphone behind the screen. it should have a capacity of 4k-6k mAh. Im sure there is is some empty space wich could be used for that.
That should be enough for a hard day.
AND
Keep the standard akku with 1200 mAh, so we could still exchange an empty battery if there is no power plug in range
Good thinking and when the internal battery dies, you either send the body to Fuji for replacement at $$$ or you buy a new body ?
Thanks, but no thanks, I personnally refuse to buy any equipement where the battery replacement cannot be done by myself.
u need 2 year waranty …
todays electronic equipment is done after 2 or 3 years anyways., if u like it or not
then u can stil replace the tiny flimsy batery packs wich u arekeen on. fir the other times ur fine with 10 times of the current capacity
The battery ??? What I want is the specifications and the tests of the X Pro 2.
Geez. Why don’t you go sit under a rock for the next 3 months .. we’ll let you know when it’s time to come out.
There’s no reason that they can’t create a higher capacity battery in the same format. Just change the battery color like Nikon and Canon did when they made advances to batteries for their pro and prosumer bodies so that new bodies take full advantage of the tech but they at least power older bodies. Also, in the 3+ years since the X-Pro1 was released there has to be advances in power usage in components and programming to give us more battery life.
Or alternatively, just make the camera more efficient.
or both 🙂
Same format, same charger (or a charger accepting the “older” batteries) That’s what Makita as done for their 18v line of portable tooling over 130 different tools share the same battery, and they have introduced a new 4ah and 5ah battery : same size and same weight as the old 3ah battery !!! all, the new charger accepts all batteries – same connectors. Considering the unit price of a battery (over 150€ for the new ones) it is good to have compatibility & interchangeability. May be Fuji (and others) could take inspiration from other industries
At first i thought that keeping the old format is quite handy. Cos it is.
But i also thought of another post where someone said airlines limit the number of spares you can carry.
And i always liked my canon which battery lasted for decades (sort of). But that was slr.
So… i dont know what is best…
Bigger battery – but the SAME battery across all next-gen cameras. X-Pro2, X-T2, X-T20, and X200. 1500-1600mah would probably be enough to give meaningful difference, yet small enough that it wouldn’t compromise the camera.
Honestly people are tired of lots of different batteries which means a different charger. I have 8 batteries for the XT1 and X Pro1 so I’m covered and have never run out of juice so far even on 8 day trips.
hope they dont change it since i have alot of backup for my xt1 hehe but really though i Hope they add the iso knob like xt1 with flip screen. add some highlight and color adjustment. into the internal software. and better ios/android app!!!! =)
The current battery is borderline unacceptably weak and overpriced; a more powerful, smaller and cheaper battery is absolutely possible and, I believe, absolutely necessary. Imagine the PR if they could be the first mirrorless manufacturer to hit the 500 shot mark consistently.
the current battery system is just absolute unbearable. i dont really care about the the somewhat short lifetime, but i want to know exactly when its going to die. any manufactures gives you precise lifetime in percent. as we all know, fuji does not do that, its either full, or its empty, with a buffer of 30 or less shots between the two conditions. please change that for the next generation if cameras. thank you.
oh, and why is there no manufactures that uses the empty space in the battery grips? you can fit at least 3 times the capacity in there it is today. use a big battery (like the old canon eos 1D series cameras had).
This is just plain hard to do with Lithium batteries, as they maintain voltage until the end, and then, bam. That’s generally good, but bad for predicting how much is left. A more sophisticated system would likely increase the expense.
Not really, you get the feature on dirt cheap compact cameras, 45€ tablets and so on. The chip maybe costs 10cents to buy, probably even less. It’s just unbelievable Fuji does not have this feature in 2015….
Different situation. As I understand it, that works because the phone is also the charger. To keep the charger separate, you need a) a smarter charger, and b) at least a somewhat smarter battery.
Yes of you need that. But why shouldn’t Fuji be able to do it, when any other camera manufacturer is able to do it?
The charger is smart enough, otherwise the battery would catch fire from overcharging or would just underperform from undercharging. The battery is also smart enough, what we need is a smarter camera that can precisely measure the voltage of the battery (with 3 significant digits, for example: 7.98V(+/-)0.02V) and convert that voltage to a remaining power percentage.
They don’t. The voltage drops steadily from ~8.4 Volts when full, down to ~7 Volts when they are nearly depleated. A simple voltage measurement would suffice to give a pretty accurate report on the status of the battery,
You should use same battery in all pro/semipro cameras (X Pro, X T and X100 something). As Dominic said below, if one battery is too small, it should not be a problem to have bigger capacity battery grip (with Arca Swiss plate).
I see both sides of the argument and I’m torn about this question.
Improved battery life and charge level would be so great, but I’ve invested so much in the current batteries, I’d hate to start all over with a new batch for one camera only. My vote would be for a better battery that is backwards compatible with the existing battery in the XPro1 and XT1.
New Battery, the x-t1 just chews through them. I need roughly 2-3 fuji batteries for every nikon battery I have. It’s annoying. I realize there is a lot going on with the fuji compared to the nikon, but would love double the capacity if possible.
Easy answer, go back to the Nikon
Yea, I use both. Nikon is still my workhorse, fuji is my backup. I like shooting with the x-t1 more, but the nikon never fails me. The fuji x-t1 has had its issues for me. But I still love it.
The impression I get is every regular working professional is in the same boat. The dream is to ditch DSLR and go entirely mirrorless, but the reality is the battery life (and a few other niggles for specific types of work) just isn’t up to the demands of a full work schedule.
One day we’ll get there, but I think it’ll be at least another three, maybe four hardware generations before I can fully retire DSLR and make mirrorless my main rig, and talking to other professionals and media, this seems pretty common. We’re basically going through the same process as when digital first came about and everybody wanted to be excited but the first few generations still couldn’t hold up to film.
Yupp it’s exactly like that. I still carry around my 5d3 and a ton of heavy glass. I am not sure I want to entirely go aps-c but the main reason I don’t want to go all Fuji is: My canon gear never fails me, I get the job done with it, Client is happy, I get the money. As sympathic as Fuji is, it has quirks, and I don’t trust it enough to shoot an entire wedding with my xt-1. I would love to, but I am not comfortable enough.
And yet for others it doesn’t seem to be a problem at all >> http://www.kevinmullinsphotography.co.uk/
of course, thats higly subjective and also depends on your shooting style. can i shoot a wedding with the x-t1? sure i can. can i shoot a wedding with my old canon 20D? sure i can. can i shoot it with a one-use-film-camera? sure i can. but for me, the 5D3 is the easiest, most consistent and best way to deliver. so i keep it.
for others, the benefits of the smaller and lighter form factor (and other things) might be killer argument to ditch the DSLR. but for me, and i guess for the majority of working pros, mirrorless is not quite there yet.
however, i often use it for parts fo the wedding (mainly the getting ready) or on smaller shoots 🙂
I’ll bet good money it takes the same battery.
Folks… always remember that it could be worse. Like changing film every 36 shots!
Unlike some on this forum, I don’t pretend to know what Fuji mechanics can or cannot do, how much empty space is within their cameras, what their business plan is, or which way their evil profiteering will turn next. But I do know that we are all very lucky that those clever engineers and businessmen in Japan have created such interesting and effective high-level toys for us to use while imagining ourselves as great innovators and artists. It is a no-brainer that improved batteries will be welcome to all. And that it would be most convenient to have a more powerful battery with compatibility and identical form factor. If they have different ideas, so be it. Go Fuji!
whats the purpose of the pool?
the page owner is deciding on new cameras features or just trying to keep the rumor pages alive?
the purpose of a pool is to swim in it 🙂
now seriously: there was a discussion a few weeks back in the comments, and I thought it could be nice to let you vote on it.
The purpose of this site is, overall, just to come here and have fun, discuss, and be informed about the X-system.
OK,
then lets make a more usefull pool on the new generation of X100
first question: what sensor size you would prefer
a) APSC
b) Full Frame
second question: what focal lenght should have the lens
a) 35mm (135mm equivalent)
b) 50mm (135mm equivalent)
Why not having a battery compartment in the bigger Fujis which is compatible with both the small batteries that we have already AND larger ones, just like black ink cartridges in ink jet printers (my printer takes three physically different sizes of black cartridges in the same slot). The larger batteries can also easily be made compatible with the current charger (who cares when it protrudes from the charger).
vote for Organic Sensor 🙂
It depends on how much the new battery is improved.
If it only offers 20% or less more capacity stay with the existing ones, so we can use the batteries we already own.
If it offers significantly more capacity I would vote for the improved battery.
Hey Patrick, quit the “…same … of….” already!
In English, you can write “The SAME battery AS the X-T1” or you can write “The battery OF the X-T1” but NOT “The same battery of…” That makes your blog look like it was google translated. I should add that I enjoy very much your relentless work and thank you for this blog that I visit daily 🙂
Eroors like that will happen over and over again. No time for English lessons 😉
Dear Mr. Pfirstinger,
what do have to do such pseudo questionings with suggestive character? Nevertheless, here one wants to investigate no real user’s wishes, but people after the motto “letting the people do not decide between horse and camel, but whether it a mould or black horse should receive” request bring up for discussion open questions, no remote-controlled.
To the battery question to himself.
I use 2 X cameras and need on days rich in application all four available accumulators. A climbing out from backwardcompitablyline looked I as an Afront towards the customers and would take this to the occasion to get out of the system as I acted already so in Nikon. There I am very basic if I have the impression that an enterprise / her loyal customers treats in this manner.
One can provide accumulators with the same physical magnitude with compressed energy and make available, besides, the charging current accordingly for all camera types. These are for the purposes of the customers and not the checkout their pain borders.
With pleasure we can discuss also by telephone. I would have at the age of 50 years of Fotoerfahrung a few more other contributions on camp.
On the other hand. Thank you for all these informations all the time.
P. Broich
Vs the current Panasonic-battery look at Nikon’s EN-EL15 – while only being slightly larger it delivers about 40% more power. Since the concept of the
X-Pro2 is thé release 2.0 of the X-series (making/breaking the X-series’ further progress) and
the actual battery-life is one of the most frightening aspects to implement a 100% CSC-workflow for professional purposes, Fujifilm has to adjust the overall camera up-time as a
no-brainer. Overall, I hope they finally move
away from the cheaper compact camera design & according materials – what
professional users want is a very near-DSLR design & reliability – not depending
on a pocket/bag full of spare batteries and ineffective weatherizing (the flimsy access to SD card -connections- battery compartment). I hope they also engineer, design & choose the materials of all
plastic camera parts in a significant better way than they do now – according
to the same quality manufacturing standard Nikon & Canon are able to
deliver. Including a decent form factor
keying of the battery so you can NEVER insert it in a wrong sense – one of the
Fuji-typical flaws that has been seriously irritating me from the first use ever.
I beg to disagree with the concept of “done after 2 or 3 years” I tend to keep my equipement longer than that : laptop , mobile phone, cameras.
I am not keen on ‘tiny flimsy whatever’ I am keen on 1- not wasting hardware unecessarily, 2- not wasting my cash; May be these concepts are alien to you, then fine, good for you