Battery charging
 

I plan to purchase the InfoLithium® M Series Battery with SQ
NP-QM91D for my PDX10. This battery replaces the NP-QM91. Sony tell us on their website that…features SQ technology, allowing you to recharge the battery in 140 minutes (requires AC-SQ950D Battery Charger).

My question: must I purchase the AC- SQ950D Battery charger or can I charge this battery on the camera as usual, no doubt taking longer than the fast charge promised by Sony using the AC-SQ950D. Fast charging is not a must for me right now. Comments most appreciated.

John

I have been using two on my camera with the original charger and no problems. It does take awhile to charge however. I usually just leave it overnight so it's hard to say, but I'd guess it might take 5 or 6 hours.

Both of my QM-91 series batteries say "SQ" I believe. But the 91D is slightly different in that it has 4 LED dots that show the relative charge level. I don't think there's any difference other than that, and the life seems about the same. When you charge the 91D you get a little "light show", the LED's chase until the charge is complete. This can actually be somewhat annoying in a dark room.

Now I've just shot 3 opera performances that ran about 3 hours. No problem at all handling this with the QM-91 (although I have a second one just in case). At the end of the show they indicate around 70 minutes of life left. But I'd be surprised if you could get more than 4 hours on one battery. I am using the LCD screen and do a moderate amount of zooming and focusing. Also using a mike with phantom power plus a line level input if that matters.

Thanks Boyd, just the answer I was hoping for!

Yes, the fast charger does work nicely, and as advertised (a friend and I used one a while back) but in the end it didn't seem necessary--and was a little costly. Seems to me it cost him something like $150 USD. I decided it wasn't worth it.

Unless you just have a budget to go through and you have covered all the important stuff there is no real reason to spend money on that charger. Keep a backup battery ready and you will always be good to go.I have 2 of the 51's and a 71 and have not gotten close to running out doing 4-5 hour shoots.
I guess if I found one for 40 dollars that might convince me to buy one.
KennJ

So the NP-QM91 and the NP-QM91D are the same battery except the D has the LED?

As far as I can tell, that's the only difference. See my post above.

I was told by the local rep. that the 'non-D' ones were no longer being manufactered so it was a bad idea to buy them cause they may have been in storage for a long time. Of course I believe little of what sales people say, he was trying to sell me the ones with LEDs so I bought the non-LED 91s from B&H and they work perfectly.

I think I am going to go ahead and pick up a non-LED. Thanks for the info...