Whether it be one inside a vertical grip or simply one to replace the battery compartment mainstay, this is probably the most important add on to a camera purchase, especially in the mirrorless front for models without an optical viewfinder of which 90% of everything available is.
Very much unlike DSLR systems who can duke out an entire day set to ON and shooting like there’s no tomorrow, the DSLMs have to contend with constantly being on live view whether it be on the EVF or on the LCD and that takes plenty of toll on the battery.
This is one thing where the GF3 and the OMD differ on… standby consumption. Someone did a comprehensive test on this (with the OMD) and found out that during sleep – around 30% of power (compared to non sleep) is still being drained and that is just drastic! In my GF3 sleep is almost like the system is OFF and the impact on battery life is significantly less; with this in mind, I’ve gotten into the practice of turning off the power completely on the OMD when I’m not shooting anyway which really ups the longevity of a charge.
As you can see there are three batteries in the photo clearly showing the original and the replacements. It is very fortunate that these particular ones charge with the standard charger because there have been reports that some models are not able to charge with the OEM charger because of the inherent lack of a limiter component within the battery itself.
When I first traveled with the OMD I haven’t found an extra battery yet and I had to bring the GF3 with all its three batteries as well for back up and whenever the OMD lost its juice completely (had to switch bodies twice during the entire trip). It is a different story now with these two extra ones as I’m more than confident with bringing just the OMD body and lenses.
However, as these are third party products, they do tend to have a lower charge capacity and feels quicker to empty. I have just purchased the other one and I hope that it carries charge a little better than the first one but seeing as even their serial number is identical, I’m not really banking on it.
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