Doc Barry Loc: Huntsville, Alabama USA

A number of firms offer a replacement battery for the Sony NP-BX1 battery which is used in the Sony RX100 series cameras. I have the Sony RX100 VII and am very happy with it. Owners of this camera know that the camera “drains” the battery rather quickly. The capacity of the Sony brand battery is 1240 mAh. The capacity of replacement batteries varies from 1100 mAh to 1800 mAh. To the first order, one might expect 1800 mAh batteries to operate almost 50% longer than the Sony battery. In casual operations, this didn’t seem to be the case, i.e., they all seem to give me about the same run time.

So I decided to perform a test of the various batteries I have to learn the “truth”. The test process was to set the RX100 VII to have its display ON for 30-minute intervals and count the number of intervals required to discharge each battery. I note that each tested battery was first discharged in the camera and then fully charged using the same charger for all the batteries. The time between intervals was no more than 10 seconds. A photograph of the batteries tested is shown below.

Battery Capacity Time to discharge
1100 mAh 194 minutes
1240 mAh 216 minutes
1600 mAh 210 minutes
1700 mAh 215 minutes

The test results tend to confirm my earlier observation, but this test was at a modestly low current draw. When shooting, running the EVF, and operating the zoom lens, much more current is drawn albeit for short times. A further observation I made when performing the tests was that the battery capacity indicator on the camera (4 bars) behaved differently. For example, the Sony battery held four bars the longest, then three bars, and rapidly went through two and one bars before exhaustion was indicated. I suggest that this indicates the internal resistance of the Sony battery is the lesser of the batteries tested.

The Sony battery is about $35 or so and some replacement batteries are much less expensive. For example, the Green Extreme is about $15. Although not tested, a pack of three DOT-01 Brand 1800 mAh is only $15 ($5 each). The 1600 mAh battery tested was the FirstPower and a pack of 3 batteries and a triple cell charger was a total of $20 on Amazon.

Bottom Line: Don’t waste your money buying the Sony or other expensive replacements. The much less expensive batteries appear to work adequately. For the price of a pair of Sony batteries, you can have a pocket full of low-cost replacement batteries that will let you operate for a long time!

(Download)

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

You have a $1300 dollar camera and you are working hard to save around $20 on a battery from unknown sources? What will you do if one swells up while it is inside your camera? Maybe the B&H house brand Watson. But GreenExtreme, First Power and OAproda?

Don't forget that your RX100VII will operate with any usb power pack and cord if the battery gets low.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I got "Kastar" and Wasabi batteries for my RX10iv. Both work just fine.
My wife flew to Virginia for our daughter's graduation from Medical school tomorrow. Her little bridge camera has flash problems - sometimes it flashes and sometimes it doesn't. My RX10iv, 6 batteries (2 Sony, 2 Wasabi, 2 Kastar), a double battery charger with 2 cables & 2 wall to usb plugs (might lose or damage one), and 9 128GB memory cards plus a small card reader with usb A and usb C for laptops went with her. She also took a light Amazon basics 50" travel tripod whose weight is only 1.2 lbs but holds 4.4 lbs and is very stiff, the weight of the Rx10iv is 2.4 lbs. It collapses to 16.5".

For your camera, Kastar sells a package of 4 1240 mAh with a two-battery charger and usb cable for only $21.99.

And now I have to wonder if the Rx10iv will change owners since our anniversary is the 23rd and her birthday is the 30th. I hope she and it get along and produce great images. But if she likes it too much????
My doctor wouldn't let me go. I have a healing infection on my right foot so no sitting in planes or walking around a huge campus to graduation events. I am restricted to a lounge chair with feet elevated at least 8 hours a day plus sleep time in the same chair. He says I can watch it on Zoom since the University of Virginia does put its graduation events on zoom.

User ID

The price of a camera has nothing whatsoever to do with the price of batteries. Theres no connection.

You can keep parroting your "what if" propaganda, but the three badly swollen batteries Ive experienced were all camera brand batteries. Most of my batteries are Wasabi and none of those has swollen, altho a couple have finally worn out.

jcboy3

Did you do a life time test on these? Because a battery that only lasts half as long is only worth half as much.

Tdearing Loc: Rockport, TX

Thanks for the information, I too have an RX100 and will remember this.

Red6

Just a personal observation from an RX100 III user. These cameras do use a lot of battery power but this can be managed if you follow some simple rules.

I like to travel as light as possible, so on many trips of 2-3 hours, I rarely carry my spare battery. If I am going to be out for longer periods I carry my one and only spare battery but rarely have to use it until later in the day.

The simple rules: The LCD screen is the biggest power user so use it as little as possible or turn it off altogether. If you must use it, turn the brightness down as much as possible. Composing and shooting with the LCD screen uses a lot of power especially if shooting a lot. If shooting in bright sun, it will probably be turned up to full brightness, consuming even more power. Learn to use the viewfinder display, it uses much less power and most settings changes can be done while using it. I basically use the camera in only 2 modes - fully auto or manual with auto ISO. Neither of these modes requires the use of the LCD screen once set up thereby conserving battery capacity. Also, unless I am in a situation where a quick response may be required, I turn the entire camera off and carry it completely off. Following these simple rules will extend your battery life and free you from carrying 3-4 batteries. There are other menu items that can be changed that may extend your battery life but these may vary according to the model you have. Study your owner's manual.

I just returned from a 3-week cruise and used the RX100 III on shore excursions throughout the trip and rarely had to change the battery. On the longer excursions, I carried the extra battery but rarely had to use it. I also use this power management on my larger cameras also so. I try to not get too dependent on using LCD displays. Use it when you really need it and then turn it off. You will be surprised at how much more battery life you get.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

"keep parroting your "what if" propaganda"

Thanks for the good laugh! Do I have an unknown to me theme or habit that needs my attention?

Doc Barry Loc: Huntsville, Alabama USA

Thanks for your comments Bill, but I fear you missed the point. I am not very concerned about the price of the battery, but I am interested in the validity of the capacity representation of the battery suppliers. Testing the relative battery capacities using the display screen ON constantly provides a reasonably realistic evaluation of the batteries when in use. The point that was made is that all of the battery brands I tested ran for about 3-1/2 hours, except for the one claiming the more capacity (1700 mAh) ran for 3-1/4 hours, independent of price and stated capacity.

Restated more simply, it appears that it doesn't matter which battery brand one uses or the price paid.

Warning: All of the chargers offered are not the same. One would be wise to measure the voltage of a charged battery to see if it is 4.2 V. If it is over 4.3 V, get rid of the charger as the battery is being overcharged and that can result in unpleasant consequences.

Doc Barry Loc: Huntsville, Alabama USA

Thanks for your comments, Robert. First, I hope your recovery is rapid and complete, and that you can watch the graduation events. The battery for the RX10 is not the same as the one for the RX100, but I would argue the bottom line is the same ... price and capacity marking doesn't matter, the run time will be essentially the same.

Congratulations to your daughter on graduating from a fine medical school, and may she have a wonderful career ahead of her!

Doc Barry Loc: Huntsville, Alabama USA

Although you, User ID, were commenting to Bill, I will note that all users should check their battery before inserting it into the camera by placing it on a flat surface and determining that it doesn't wobble (flip it over and check too). If it does wobble, that battery should be disposed of properly )not tossed into the trash). Discussion for the reasons why Li-ion batteries can fail is for another time.

Doc Barry Loc: Huntsville, Alabama USA

No, have you?

Doc Barry Loc: Huntsville, Alabama USA

Thank you for your comments Red6. I also would recommend for folks using the RX100 buy the excellent book for the camera that was written by Friedman. I really don't care how frugal a user is with their battery utilization or how many batteries a user wants to carry. My point is that it appears that regardless of what is claimed by the battery supplier for the NP-BX1 replacements or the battery price, one will experience about the same operational time.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I did miss the point. It would be nice if there were batteries with significant longer life. I recently needed to use my RX100VII to shoot an hour long video. I taped a generic USB power brick to the tripod with a cord going to the camera. It worked well. The camera battery remained at near 100%.

Doc Barry Loc: Huntsville, Alabama USA

Hi Bill,
It would be nice to have a higher capacity at the needed current level. That was a good fix for your video shoot, plus it had the added advantage of further stabilizing our tripod.