Sony A7III – Cheap Power Bank Setup That Last Hours!

The next generation battery for Sony mirrorless cameras is known to be better and more reliable.  The NP-FZ100 battery is a major upgrade from the NP-FZ50 model.  Most photographers and videographers will no longer need to carry half a dozen batteries in their bag anymore.  The only unfortunate part is that the NP-FZ100 costs about $120 and there are not many third party brand options on the market yet.  I did some research when I was waiting for my A7III to be delivered and only found options north of $100…  There are now a few more options on the market and the prices are slowly going down, but I needed a more affordable option now.  I came across one photographer who uses power banks instead of batteries.  It looked like I could get more power for way less money, so I decided to invest in this setup and let me tell you- I don’t regret it!

First, let me run you through what you need and the cost for the whole setup.  I purchased a Anker PowerCore 13 000 battery for $41.99 (CDN),  a Andoer A7III dummy battery $51.99 (CDN),  a SmallRig Switching Plate 1598 $10.99 (CDN),  a cold shoe mount $4 (CDN),  and some velcro $7 (CDN).  The whole setup cost me $116 (CDN)- $4 cheaper than a new Sony NP-FZ100!  The kicker is the Anker PowerCore 13 000 provides me with 13 000 mAh of power compare to the NP-FZ100 – 2280 mAh.  So that’s about 5 times the power for more or less the same price!

The video shows how to setup it up and what it looks like once mounted on my SmallRig A7III cage.  I will say that I don’t even notice the battery pack and I can film for a few hours worry free.  I usually use this setup for video or gigs that don’t require me to be mobile a whole lot.  I work with the the normal battery when I shoot outside.  The best part is that I can recharge my NP-FZ100 battery a few times via USB to the camera with the Anker PowerCore 13 000 if I don’t use it to directly power with the dummy battery.  I did a few overnight gigs where I didn’t have access to power and the Anker power bank was  enough to keep my A7III and Feelworld F6 monitor going the entire trip.

I highly suggest you look into this affordable setup as it might save you from running out of power at an unfortunate time.