All About Batteries - Part 3: Hy6 / AFi and Mod2 Bodies

All about batteries - part III -  Hy6/AFi and Mod2

The first thing to know is that there are two possible battery configurations for these cameras:  1) Rolleiflex or Sinar style batteries, and 2) the Leaf Style batteries.   The cameras come standard with the Rolleiflex type contacts in the battery compartment in the grip arm, however they can be ordered with the Leaf style battery contacts in the grip arm on request. 

Why is this important?   If the camera battery and digital back batteries are matched then the batteries become interchangeable and can be used on either device and you'll only need to have on charger set up.

With the AFi and AFi-ii backs the camera battery could power both camera and the digital back, making the whole unit lighter.     Unfortunately this is no longer true with the Credo's as they can not draw power from the camera's battery, but the good news is even with the Credo's internal battery fitted, the Credo is still lighter than the AFi-ii backs without a battery.  The Credo also has a third type of battery and it  isn't possible to have the grip arm of the camera fitted to accept the Credo style battery.

Battery Life:   I can't speak to battery life on the Sinar backs and Hy6 since I never used one for enough time to get a feel for it.  Hopefully someone who does know will add a comment.

Battery life on the AFi backs is really not that great.  You can expect to shoot a few hundred shoots with the AFi 7's but only perhaps 100 with the AFi-ii 12.  Sometimes you get more, a lot more, if you don't chimp but you simply can't count on it.

Battery life of the Hy6 when the back is tethered or with its own battery fitted is a different story.  The Hy6 will last so long I never even bother checking the charge, let alone changing it.  I'm talking thousands of shots.  The Hy6 is really efficient with batteries.    With the film back you can expect to get between 25 and 50 rolls of film per battery depending on age of the battery, temperature, whether you used an AF lens or MF and stuff like that.  But its still really good. 

Now the part I think most of you are really interested in... battery compatibility and which aftermarket batteries will fit your camera.   I'm just going to put the table in first and write about it after - but there is some important stuff there so please do read it.

In the table you'll see the compatible battery part number's for other company's products. Note that if you go shop for a genuine Sony battery its going to also be pretty expensive, just like the ones from DHW.  Interesting right?  You can find all kinds of 3rd party batteries made to the same stock number as the other brands on Amazon, Ebay and other battery vendors - and they may work okay.  I've bought lots of them for my power hungry AFi-ii 12.   But none of the these are performing as well for me as the OEM batteries.    I note that my genuine Leaf batteries are 1) made in Japan and not China 2) are noticeably heavier and 3) physically stronger - I can't deflect the case with thumb pressure.

The outsides of the different aftermarket batteries can look the same but there are vast differences in price, quality and dimension.   YMMV.  I have had decent luck with the Maximal branded aftermarket batteries - they say 2500 mAh, but they a good deal less than the genuine Leaf batteries which are rated at 2350 mAh.

DHW recommends using theirs, and I tend to agree.  The difference may be that the OEM set quality standards, and hold the makers to those standards while 3rd party batteries can be anything - no one is testing them to see if they really have the capacity written on the label.

Some of the aftermarket batteries I have bought are different enough in size that they will not fit well into the grip arm - one got stuck in my camera.   If you use a Hähnel V-Twin Pro Charger  or any other charger that gives you the percentage charge on the batteries, note that many of the aftermarket batteries will show nothing on the display.    

Another thing to be aware of is that Lithium batteries have a shelf life,  and its not just number of charges but also just time from manufacture.  After two years their life can drop quite fast.  Buy just what you need now, and plan to replace them after a few years for best life.   Leaf used to provide their batteries with a date stamp.

My policy on batteries in my store:  I will not sell aftermarket batteries because of the huge variation in quality - even within the same brand and part number.  But I also believe if someone spends a lot of time researching the best cameras and spends a lot of money on a Rolleiflex, they don't need to think about price of batteries.  I will sell the OEM spec batteries at my own cost in the store here.   

I currently don't offer any charger other than the OEM charger but I hope to offer others at some point.   You can buy the Hähnel V-Twin Pro charger on Amazon and other places however.   For the Leaf batteries you will need the T-9 plate.