BF Hammer
Senior Member
EN-EL15 battery packs. We use them for 15 or so years now. There have been 3 versions, currently on C. Nikon created the MH-25 battery charger and generously provided one with new cameras that used the EN-EL15. That is until recent years. The European Union is mandating that E-waste be eliminated and they have standardized on 1 charging format for most. That is also forced on much of the world as manufacturers try to reduce costs and keep some consistency across the world market.
Summing this up, Nikon just provides a USB-C charging cable with newer cameras, and at minimum you connect the cable to a USB charger that you provide and recharge. You might recharge plugged into a computer instead. The documentation for my Zf states that the charging setup must be USB-C on both ends of the cable, so you cannot even plug into an old USB-A phone charger directly. They provide lower power anyhow. You can still use a MH-25 charger as always. They can be purchased online, but beware of counterfeits on Amazon and Ebay. At one time I had accumulated 3 MH-25 chargers. One of them did fail over time. When I sold 2 cameras recently, I only provided 1 charger with the the cameras. I kept 1 knowing that I would not get a replacement with the Zf. I still have a D600 body that also uses the EN-EL15. Charging 2 batteries is still something I wind up doing at times. I decided I should shop for a solution to this emerging problem.
The long story short is that this dual charger is available under a couple of different brand names, and is pretty cheap compared to a MH-25. I bought one branded ENEGON. Charge 2 batteries at once, with a charge level indicator (and that is handy for checking a battery before inserting to camera). It however is also USB powered and you must supply your own USB power supply.
As you see from the label underneath, it can provide more energy into charging 1 battery by itself, and charge 2 batteries more slowly at once. There are 2 USB ports to plug a cable in to, a Micro-USB that was the standard for years on phones and also the standard of today, a USB-C port. Included is a USB-A square end to Micro-USB cable that can be used with an old phone charger, but it suffers from the lower power delivery of that system and just trickle-charges. I tested a couple of batteries that way and found it took overnight to get a full charge. That leads into the next product...
A USB power supply by Anker with USB-C ports plus a USB-A port. This unit can provide 70W power to each of the USB-C ports, 35W to the USB-A port. A USB-C to C cable is provided and that is what I am using for the ENEGON charger. So it can provide all the power the battery charger will demand. I only have tested partly-discharged batteries with the Anker power supply, and my charging times seem to be quicker, but I cannot say with authority that it will charge faster than overnight. My run last night was still still charging with a bit to go after 2 hours. But it was well past bedtime so I had to just live without knowing right now. I will try to update. I do want to put the Nikon charger away now to have ready as a backup in case of failure down the road.
Summing this up, Nikon just provides a USB-C charging cable with newer cameras, and at minimum you connect the cable to a USB charger that you provide and recharge. You might recharge plugged into a computer instead. The documentation for my Zf states that the charging setup must be USB-C on both ends of the cable, so you cannot even plug into an old USB-A phone charger directly. They provide lower power anyhow. You can still use a MH-25 charger as always. They can be purchased online, but beware of counterfeits on Amazon and Ebay. At one time I had accumulated 3 MH-25 chargers. One of them did fail over time. When I sold 2 cameras recently, I only provided 1 charger with the the cameras. I kept 1 knowing that I would not get a replacement with the Zf. I still have a D600 body that also uses the EN-EL15. Charging 2 batteries is still something I wind up doing at times. I decided I should shop for a solution to this emerging problem.
The long story short is that this dual charger is available under a couple of different brand names, and is pretty cheap compared to a MH-25. I bought one branded ENEGON. Charge 2 batteries at once, with a charge level indicator (and that is handy for checking a battery before inserting to camera). It however is also USB powered and you must supply your own USB power supply.
As you see from the label underneath, it can provide more energy into charging 1 battery by itself, and charge 2 batteries more slowly at once. There are 2 USB ports to plug a cable in to, a Micro-USB that was the standard for years on phones and also the standard of today, a USB-C port. Included is a USB-A square end to Micro-USB cable that can be used with an old phone charger, but it suffers from the lower power delivery of that system and just trickle-charges. I tested a couple of batteries that way and found it took overnight to get a full charge. That leads into the next product...
A USB power supply by Anker with USB-C ports plus a USB-A port. This unit can provide 70W power to each of the USB-C ports, 35W to the USB-A port. A USB-C to C cable is provided and that is what I am using for the ENEGON charger. So it can provide all the power the battery charger will demand. I only have tested partly-discharged batteries with the Anker power supply, and my charging times seem to be quicker, but I cannot say with authority that it will charge faster than overnight. My run last night was still still charging with a bit to go after 2 hours. But it was well past bedtime so I had to just live without knowing right now. I will try to update. I do want to put the Nikon charger away now to have ready as a backup in case of failure down the road.
