soxfan941 Loc: Lakewood Ranch, FL

I realize that the discussion of OEM vs 3rd party camera batteries have pretty much run it's course. I have always been in the OEM camp. But, does this discussion
also include 3rd party camera battery chargers? I'm interested in purchasing a Nikon EN-EL18 battery and was wondering if I need to invest into a Nikon charger?
The savings on a 3rd party charger (i.e. Kaster) would give me an additional battery (well almost.) Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

I have 6 batteries (1 from Sony the other 5 are aftermarket) for my two Sony bodies (A77 & A77ii). I have three battery chargers. 1 came with the camera, 2 are after market. It seems make no difference which charger was used to charge the batteries but the aftermarket batteries have only about 80 % of the storage capacity as the Sony battery. In 2.5 years, no failures of either chargers or batteries.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

I have 2 Wasabi USB3 dual battery chargers for Nikon and Fuji. They are compact and only need a standard USB mini cable to connect to a multiport USB charger. Have never had issues charging with these. And that Nikon single charger (for the EL-EN15 battery) is the size of a refrigerator.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Although I usually stick with vendor equipment for cameras and lenses, I have had no problems with third party batteries (Power 2000, Ravpower) or their chargers. No noticeable difference from the camera brand.

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

As mentioned by another, I too always buy another charger or two when I have updated cameras (still & video) with a different battery style. In over 25-30 years have never had a failure or seen a difference, other than lower price.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I have Re-Fuel chargers for my Canon and Nikon batteries and they work great and I've never had a problem with them. I bought them at Best Buy.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

In addition to my Sony charger, I've been using a Vivitar charger for years now and never had a problem with Sony batteries

leftj Loc: Texas

Didn't your Nikon camera come with a Nikon battery charger?

gerdog

When I hook up my camera via usb to download photos to my computer, I leave the camera attached long enough for it to recharge from the usb port with no problem. The circuitry inside the camera controls the recharge process to ensure that it won't be overcharged.

NCMtnMan Loc: N. Fork New River, Ashe Co., NC

I have 3rd party batteries and charger for my Nikon. No problems with either. I selected a charger that also has a car charger (cigarette lighter) connection. You never know when you will need to charge and no AC power around.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I'm in the camp that I only use OEM for these purposes. I wanted a second charger (for the same battery) and didn't want to pay full price, so I bought a used one, when KEH had a sale on accessories, and I could not distinguish it from my newer one. I also saved about enough to buy another battery. I consider those OEM batteries, chargers and cameras part of a system that I do not wish to break. I use the EN-EL 18 battery in all three of my bodies, so their well being is very important to me. IMHO. Best of luck.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

They are all simple fairly basic chargers, every one (whether OEM or otherwise) and work fine....now, if I'm really concerned I use my multi-chemistry (advanced R/C battery chargers, computer controlled, various charge methods, cell balancing, storage charging, and on and on), if you really are a battery charging geek, you'd want one of these chargers, they charge every type of battery now in use, have infinite control, computer screen readouts, graphing, power loss curves, etc... They cost a bit more depending on where you buy, but are miles ahead of any simple camera battery charger....even if it comes with a $4K camera, its still a cheap $15 charger, it just says Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc. on the case. And that's the truth of camera battery chargers! If in doubt, just open up a cheapie, and a big name camera charger - and show me any real difference.

Batteries - that's a different story altogether, would require at least a few full pages to explain all the differences and requirements to keep them all working properly - Between all my toys, I have close to 150 different batteries (rechargeable - all types, chemistries and styles)

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I've actually done that, opened up a Canon charger and a 3rd party charger and the Canon had a whole lot more circuitry in it than the other one. I've never had any problems with 3rd party chargers or batteries.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Maybe that battery recognition circuitry, possibly better overheat protection, some circuit redundancy. Li-on battery chargers a so common now, the LI-on charging process is relatively simple (compared to Li-po, for instance) and the chemistry is fairly stable, everything uses them. The only chargers where I've actually seen really complicated circuit boards are the multi-chemistry computer controlled jobs...but that's another level of sophistication well above any of the camera chargers.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

I have quite a few Canon batteries and I use third party chargers, so I can charge multiple batteries at the same time (strangely, Canon does not make them). So far I'm happy with their performance!