Dot.Foto Sony NP-FW50 Fast Dual USB Battery Charger review
Dot.Foto Sony NP-FW50 Fast Dual USB Battery Charger review
Introduction
Any Sony mirrorless camera owner will know the pain of continuously having to charge batteries for your A7 or A6000 series cameras. Small sized bodies use smaller batteries than a larger DSLR, but these batteries have a lower capacity than their bigger counterparts. So we’ve all gotten used to carrying around a few spare NP-FW50’s so we can make it through a full day of shooting. No biggie. For me, the biggest headache is having to recharge several batteries overnight when you’re abroad over have a new job the next day.
I’ve been looking for a cheap yet portable solution for this, and since Sony mirrorless has become more popular over the last few years, third party suppliers have started filling these gaps in Sony ILCE camera peripherals.
We’ll have a look at one of these, the Dot Foto Sony NP-FW50 Fast Dual USB Battery Charger, typically sold for around ten bucks.
Dot Foto Sony NP-FW50 Fast Dual USB Battery Charger
The Dot Foto Sony NP-FW50 Fast Dual USB Battery Charger comes with just a USB cable. It can charge two batteries at the same time and uses two red or green LEDs to indicate either charging or fully charged. Input is specified at DC5V/2A max and this small device can either charge one battery at 800mA or two at 600mA. It measures 20x55x75mm and weighs only 66 grams.
As mentioned earlier, this charger does not come with an AC adapter so you’ll need to plug it into your Laptop, a car charger or use a power bank. Charging time will depend much on the power output of your USB device, but I’ve been using the AC adapter of my XPERIA Z phone and can get two batteries charged from empty in under two hours.
The power cells behave normally in the camera and do indeed indicate a full charge.
Conclusion
The Dot Foto Sony NP-FW50 Fast Dual USB Battery Charger is a must-have for anyone who uses Sony ILCE cameras with more than one battery. It’s a very compact charger, and with the USB cable that is included, it’s easy just to plug it into your device (with a USB port) of choice overnight. At around 10 dollars, it won’t break the bank, and it can be a lifesaver at times.
