What's the deal with Olympus’ HUGE battery chargers?

[LeMenhir]

I recently bought an E-M10. Great camera, I love it. But why does the battery charger have to be so big? I mean, Oly did a great job of miniaturizing a fully functional camera, but why is the battery charger so enormous? The kit is not just about the camera. I also carry the charger around in my camera bag when I’m traveling. m43 is supposed to be about small form factor. Here’s the charger behind the camera. It’s almost as big. (iPhone pix.)

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Fortunately, I had heard about using an Apple power dongle instead of the six meter long power cord that Oly provides with the charger. I had an extra one from an old MacBook, so that saves some space. But really. Here’s the Olympus charger next to my Canon P&S battery charger. The Canon unit is half the size.

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The charger doesn’t even need to hold the whole battery. You should be able to push the battery half way into the charger to make electrical contact, that’s all. This thing is humongous. What a waste of space! I'm trying to keep my camera bag as small as possible. Am I out of line here, or does Oly not understand that they're selling a whole system? Sorry, just a rant.

 

[Dusky]

I also thought about it too... Thanks for the Apple dongle tip. :smile:

 

[Drdave944]

I have always wondered that myself. It is that way with many of their cameras

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[dougjgreen]

I have less of an issue with the size of the chargers, than the fact that they need a power cord. It would be pretty trivial to just hang a plug off the back of them. BTW, Nikon's charger for the EN-EL15 (used by the V1, D7000, and D7100, among other) is even bigger. It's literally the same size as the V1 camera, and it also needs a power cord.

 

[tjdean01]

I bought a cheap Chinese one only to realize that OM-Ds use different batteries than the PENs. Ugh.

 

[Search]

I picked up a "travel" charger with my third party batteries. If I get totally paranoid, I could pick up another charger and 2 batteries for another $26.

 

[lightmonkey]

...and that is why i am a fan of in-body usb charging

 

[dafloyd]

Really? The next rant will be about Oly not using Micro-SD.

SCNR

 

[Bhupinder2002]

Really? The next rant will be about Oly not using Micro-SD.
SCNR

Don't get me even started , there was a thread about long cord which Olympus provided and then someone used common sense n realised u can use Apple plug with the charger . This is the tragedy of Internet and headache for such forums that we can rant about anything . I find such threads simply amusing . People spend time and energy by ranting about something which never occurred to me . Once the camera is out of the box n charged I don't bother about anything else at all ,but that's just me may be
Cheers

 

[dafloyd]

Don't get me even started [...] . Once the camera is out of the box n charged I don't bother about anything else at all ,but that's just me may be
Cheers

[irony on] And you had no problems opening the box and remove the plastic wrappings? I really think Oly should provide simpler packaging, as they are selling a whole system. The packaging experience does not match the usability of the camera. [irony off]

 

[mattia]

Large chargers are a pain for travel. Which is why I don't take the OEM ones on the road. I do wish all my cameras also had in body USB charging - means I can always recharge 2 batteries but only take one charger along

 

[Danny_SWE]

The E-M5 charger is ok size I think? That one was huge and the flanges could maybe be cut away with a Dremel. Keep a little to hold battery in place and remove the rest. I did that with another charger which was even more ridiculously humongous

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[Ulfric M Douglas]

Great Troll!

Here’s the Olympus charger next to my Canon P&S battery charger. The Canon unit is half the size.

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Be thankful Olympus didn't make their charger more than four times the size of the battery ... like your Canon one.

The strange colour reminds me of prosthetic limbs from the 1980's

 

[yakky]

I'd like to see smaller chargers as well. I guess I'm one of the few that likes sony's in body charging. I'd actually like it if I didn't even get a USB cable or 5v adapter. It's wasteful of both money and materials, I have dozens of them about the house.

 

[usayit]

None of these chargers are as awful as the frankencharger that was delivered with my Leica M8. OMG that's a monstrosity.

I don't think the Olympus chargers are that bad. I really wish manufacturers would standardize the li-ion cells. That would solve a lot of these problems. I'd also like a way to quickly determine the status of a battery without having to put battery in a camera. Kinda like the old Powerbook Apple laptop batteries with a meter built right into the battery itself.

Finding a universal third party battery charger for my needs has proven quite difficult.

 

[Photophil]

Yes, the Oly charger is huge, and the cord stiff and tangle prone. I partially solved this problem by purchasing a Wasabi charger and batteries. This unit is smaller and will charge from either a home outlet or the car outlet. The home plug swivels back into the body when not in use, so there is no ridiculous cord. The only problem: the Wasabi unit won't charge the Oly batteries. Normally, the Oly chargers stay at home and the Wasabi stays in the car. Oly could buy, relabel, and modify the the Wasabi units to charge Oly batteries - if they wanted to.

 

[Jonathan F/2]

I have less of an issue with the size of the chargers, than the fact that they need a power cord. It would be pretty trivial to just hang a plug off the back of them. BTW, Nikon's charger for the EN-EL15 (used by the V1, D7000, and D7100, among other) is even bigger. It's literally the same size as the V1 camera, and it also needs a power cord.

That Nikon charger actually comes with a dongle outlet so you don't need to use the cord.

 

[arprok13]

Yes, the Oly charger is huge, and the cord stiff and tangle prone. I partially solved this problem by purchasing a Wasabi charger and batteries. This unit is smaller and will charge from either a home outlet or the car outlet. The home plug swivels back into the body when not in use, so there is no ridiculous cord. The only problem: the Wasabi unit won't charge the Oly batteries. Normally, the Oly chargers stay at home and the Wasabi stays in the car. Oly could buy, relabel, and modify the the Wasabi units to charge Oly batteries - if they wanted to.

I use the wasabi when traveling too. Not too bad. Even thigh it doesn't work with oem battery, it comes with two of its own so you can rotate. I have no issue with its size.

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[taz98spin]

In an ideal world, I would love to have 1 universal charger! Have 4 camera chargers because because the E-P5 & E-PM2 use different batteries & the X100S uses different batteries from the X-Pro1 & X-T1.. On top of that have chargers for my Nintendo 3DS & Sony PSVita, and iPhone & iPad.

Like the OP pointed out, it is odd that our cameras are small, but the chargers are large.

 

[JYPfoto]

In an ideal world, I would love to have 1 universal charger! Have 4 camera chargers because because the E-P5 & E-PM2 use different batteries & the X100S uses different batteries from the X-Pro1 & X-T1.. On top of that have chargers for my Nintendo 3DS & Sony PSVita, and iPhone & iPad.

Like the OP pointed out, it is odd that our cameras are small, but the chargers are large.

If you get the Watson charger, they sell removable charging plates. I bought the Duo, 2 battery charger for myself and have different plates that can charge the Fuji battery (the one for the X-T1) as well as Olympus and the Panasonic GH4's battery. You don't need to get the $75 duo charger, but the removable plates work for the smaller, travel size charger.