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#1 Sat, 08/03/2014 - 00:01

Insane accessory prices...

Just a quick rant. ;-)

Bought a new camera (Sony A7) and it's brilliant. Only issue is I would love to have a spare battery - can buy them cheap on eBay but fake ones abound that can have issues either not properly being recognised by the camera, not lasting very long, etc etc. So I would prefer a genuine one but they cost (I kid you not) $99. Throw in a charger ($79 - the camera doesn't have an external charger but rather charges directly via the camera body) and you're lucky to get out of there with much change from $200. Funny thing is I can *buy* a new camera including lens, charging cable and (exactly the same) battery for under $300. So I can get a battery and charger, or (after selling the lens) get a spare compact camera body to use as a charger, battery and charger for about the same price. Insane. It's almost like they're doing the same thing that printer manufacturers do ie sell the printer cheap but charge through the nose for ink....



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Sat, 08/03/2014 - 13:28

that is crazy, personally i would go for this ( 2 batteries, 1 charger ) from amazon fro about $60 aussie

not original, but based on reviews should be decent.

reviews seem quite decent so might be better than ebay ...

should be just a cheap $2 usa convertor plug for the charger to work ..



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Sat, 08/03/2014 - 14:16

The reviews do sound good.... Might check that out. Thanks!



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Sat, 08/03/2014 - 14:22

just read this one

lol, well they are Wasabi batteries, they are supposed to be hot ! ;-)



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Sun, 09/03/2014 - 22:40

mmmm..... don't mind a bit of fire in my food, but not so much in my cameras. Might go back to plan B which is to spend a little more and get a NEX-3 for $300 or so... can act as a backup (the lenses will work on my A7) or to take when I want something a little more compact, but otherwise will provide a spare battery and act as a charger for the bigger camera.



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Mon, 10/03/2014 - 18:32

The batteries are so cheap on ebay, I have found they haven't lasted as long/dont hold their charge as well as the authentic ones, but as a backup/spare are fine and for the price I have been happy.

I agree they're doing exactly what printer companies do!



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Mon, 10/03/2014 - 20:24

I've bought some on eBay and definitely the quality has varied. Some have been fine, some awful. The bigger issue with the special batteries for the likes of higher end digital cameras is that some are clever. Again, similar to ink cartridges where they may not work because of an issue with the smarts in the cartridge themselves. I chose not to update the firmware in my old Nikon DSLR as I had heard that some non-genuine batteries failed to work after the update. Very sneaky if it was intentional. Don't want to be in the same position with the A7 so may just have to bite the bullet and get genuine. Found a 'bundle deal' of battery and standalone charger on the Sony website that's 'only' $119 or so, so might do that if I don't spring for an extra camera.



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