Smart Camera Charger

Battery chargers often occupy my mind. Probably because I live with dozen battery - powered gadgets and I am continuously trying to optimize the bulk of chargers I carry. And I must say I have been quite successful with this optimization process, thanks to the USB becoming the de-facto battery charging standard, after. I called it the Universal Supply Bus in 2006. It was not obvious back then and I remember people smiling after reading my post. Today it is mandatory in the EU to provide micro-USB charging port in a phone. Even Apple has to comply...


As part of my preparations for the summer holidays I went out looking for a smart charger for my Sigma Merrill digital camera. The Merrill eats batteries very fast, so this means having probably five spare ones at hand (which is not a big deal, as they are rather small). But the problem is how do I charge them all during one night, I will be spending from time to time in a hotel equipped with power sockets. This problem is not specific to Sigma cameras at all. Every photographer usually carries several batteries in a bag. The problem is specific to the industry, as all of the camera battery chargers look identical. They are simple square boxes with a recess where a battery is placed. So much for the innovation and smart design. There are companies like Hahnel, who claim to be innovative in battery charging, but in fact, they are not.

My dream camera battery charger is simple. It has just two modifications over the original one. The first: make a pass-through for the wall plug. With the pass-through I can stack many chargers one on top of the other using just one wall socket. And I can plug my laptop power supply to the last one in the stack. It is so simple and convenient, it is hard to believe nobody, and I do mean nobody has made a charger with this feature.

The second mod is to put TWO high power (2.1A each) USB charging ports on the side. Hahnel has put one in the Ultima II, but it is a pathetic 500mA not even capable of charging a modern tablet. Not to mention a portable power bank. 2.1A USB output should be standard these days.

I wonder if I should pitch my own battery charger startup with this post or somebody will take the idea and make it a reality and will send me my dream smart camera charger as a thank-you...