Once, of course, the price of a cup of coffee was an entirely insignificant amount, and now franchise coffee chains have managed to add so many extras (Venti? SUPER-Veni? Cream on top? Flavour Syrup? EXTRA SHOT? Donut? Full Sunday Lunch?) that the prices is no longer quite the ultimate comparison against low cost.
Still, compared to a new camera, it's not usually a massive investment, even if I do enjoy a gingerbread latte this time of year. But the prospect of buying a new camera when I broke my Sony a7iii’s viewfinder glass made me look for low-cost alternatives, and the first thing I did was fish my rarely-used backup body out of the very bottom of my other camera bag. You know the one, the one I tell myself to take out in case, but never actually do.
There I found a still-functioning camera from 2013 that, after one effort at turning the focusing motor, declared ‘Battery Exhausted’ and gave up. Fair enough, I thought, it's been a while, and I dug out the Micro USB (yes, this is historic!) and plugged it in for it to charge up. A few hours later and, well, same experience! Oh dear.
Perhaps the charging brick I'm using isn't doing the business, I reasoned, so I tried another. Several more hours (at least this is killing time waiting for ness of the a7iii repair!) but no, same result.
At this point, I remembered it was Black Friday week, and I consulted Amazon to see how much a non-Sony battery might set me back. I think even I, very keen on original branded products, might be prepared to concede that this camera, at over a decade old, is past the point it matters too much if the battery has the same name on the outside. What really matters is how quickly I can get a new one and how much it’ll set me back.
I consulted the resource that is Amazon and the result – either a 2 or a 3 battery hub for around £25 or £30 respectively. Since minimum spend is my goal, and I've got this far through life with just one battery, I opted for the two, and here it is. I live in London. Amazon promises to be able to deliver the same evening for no extra charge to me as a 'Prime member' and the rainforest-named company duly achieved this.
So, does it work?
Yes. It's a simple, lightweight bit of plastic that plugs into a USB cable and charges the batteries (and of course works with Sony batteries too, removing the need for inelegant in-camera charging, which I have made do with for years). (Seriously – Canon's cheapest cameras came with chargers).
I'm not saying this is an enormously high-quality or rugged piece of gear, but my goals are for a low, quick spend that helps me out – and that’s what I’ve got! This isn't something I plan to do outdoors!
One slightly embarrassing fact. I later tried charging the a7 with a different Micro USB cable (but the same charging blocks) and that did seem to successfully connect, so perhaps my problem was not so serious after all. I will, nevertheless, be keeping the new batteries. They have still given this camera body a new lease of life and, sure, FullHD/1080P is probably only OK for social, but it still looks great through a ‘real’ lens and is a club well worth having in my bag.
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