From Louis’ youtube channel
Right now this needs verification and lacks any sort of nuance.
- All this is based on 1 message on Reddit and some follow-up replies,
- Nowhere does it mention that Nikon did this for all its digital cameras,
- There’s, as of yet, no word from Nikon about this,
- Is this true for all non Nikon batteries or only for those that Nikon did not license?
About licensed: As far as I can tell (not going to read all 850+ replies) the what brand question was not answered on reddit. Jupio, for example, is licensed by Nikon to create compatible and safe batteries and work fine.
Besides that, if you buy a $3500,= / $4500,= camera (the reddit article talks about the Z8 and the D850 is also mentioned) do you really want to buy and use cheap, unlicensed batteries?
The mentioned safety issues with unlicensed, cheap off-brand batteries is a possible concern, especially with the top range cameras (Z8, Z9, D850 et al).
Just my 2c on this, somewhat clickbaity, topic.
6 Likes
Yup. Unless they have verified that there is some cryptographic authentication, it’s just bad clone BMSes feeding bad data which makes the camera unhappy.
Has been happening with Sony for years - Sony updates firmware to throw warnings with batteries that clearly have deficiencies (such as hardcoding the reported temperature instead of actually bothering to put a temperature sensor in the pack), but there’s no cryptographic DRM to prevent third-party batteries from functioning as long as they report data properly.
So many people blame Sony for “blocking third party batteries” when it’s really “blocking crappy batteries that omit sensors that real batteries have”
This wouldn’t be such a problem if the quality of third-party batteries had not plummeted as a result of reputable vendors (like Anker… And yeah I know they’re not reputable any more…) pivoting from third-party clone packs to first-party USB powerbanks. Nowadays finding a pack that has a balancing circuit in the BMS is seeming to be the exception and not the norm.
1 Like
With regard to safety, I think there’s a legitimate basis for NIkon to discourage use of third-party lithium batteries. Lithium battery chemistries have some demonstrated instabilities that require control and/or containment. All of the design related to that has to be done in both the battery and the containing camera, so the coupling of the battery to the camera is not just the +/- voltage contacts. Third-party reverse-engineered batteries can’t be counted on (by Nikon) to comply with all the interface strictures. So, it’s easier (and, more competitive, btw) to disclaim their usage rather than publish interface specs and provide licensing.
1 Like
Didnt check the rest of Louis’ page
Yup. If there were more evidence that these third-party battery manufacturers had put even the most basic effort into a safe system, my opinion would be different.
But multiple teardowns of batteries from multiple third-part manufacturers have found things like:
“Did not even bother to implement balancing circuit” - this is critical to lithium safety, because an unbalanced pack will overcharge the “strong” cell, and overdischarge the “weak” cell, BOTH of which are bad for lithium. - found routinely for multiple brands offering third-party Sony packs - NP-FZ100 Teardown — Matt Telzerow Photography - Matt has posted a lot of other teardowns to DPReview, and balancing appears to be the exception and not the norm. Sadly, zombiereview’s search has always kind of sucked, so finding more of Matt’s posts within matttelz: Member profile: Digital Photography Review isn’t easy
“Replaced temperature sensor with a fixed resistor” - less critical than balancing, but still important. Seriously, too cheap to even put a thermistor into the pack? - I saw some references like this for Pentax clone packs, can’t find them now.
1 Like