charger

Gear Check: Anker PowerPort Cube

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Anker make a ton of awesome power accessories and the PowerPort Cube is my new favourite travel power strip. Sometimes you just can’t find enough power sockets in a hotel room so a power strip is a useful travel accessory. The problem is that traditional power strips, with their side-by-side sockets, often make it difficult to plug in multiple battery chargers. The cubic shape of the Anker PowerPort Cube solves this problem entirely, and it even has three USB ports on it too, so you can keep your phone and other smaller devices charged. This thing solves so many charging

Canon M50 – The LP-E12 Battery Monster (and a Cheap Solution)

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I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to Canon’s previous mirrorless cameras, but the M50 had enough features to get my attention so I’m continuing to evaluate it alongside the 5D Mark IV that I use on a daily basis for work. So far I’m enjoying having a second small camera in my bag that uses the same lenses as my primary camera (with an adapter), but the battery life of the M50 is quite poor. If you come from a DSLR, the decreased battery life of mirrorless cameras does take a bit of getting used to! It’s rare

Gear Check: Nitecore D4 Battery Charger

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Recently I was looking for a new battery charger that would handle all of the different types of rechargeable batteries I have, not including camera ones. I needed something that would handle my Ni-MH AA and AAA Eneloop batteries that I use in things like flashes and remote triggers, and also my Li-ion 18650 batteries that power my flashlights for light painting. As well as this versatility, I also wanted to be able to easily power the charger from a 12v outlet in my car or when plugged into the Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium power station in my photography

How to Wire a Goal Zero Solar Panel to a Zamp Connector

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My Taxa TigerMoth adventure trailer has a so-called “Zamp” connection on the outside of it for wiring solar panels to charge the battery. I say “so-called” because actually the plug itself is a standard SAE connector, but the solar company Zamp wires the plug up with opposite polarity to the industry standard. Then they put a big sticker on the trailer or RV that says “Warning, only use Zamp solar panels with this plug!”. Well… that’s a load of crap if you have a soldering iron and ten minutes to spare! When I first got my trailer, the dealer (British

Pearstone Duo Battery Charger Review

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One of the things that I was happy to see at the launch of the Canon 5D MKIII was that they have kept the venerable LP-E6 battery that was first introduced more than three years ago with the MKII.  I’ve always been amazed at it’s capacity and in the last few years several third party accessory manufacturers have also adopted it for powering video equipment accessories such as LCD monitors of external video recorders.  Of course it’s also been used in the 7D and 60D!  In other words, if you are a Canon shooter then the chances are you have