The battery life isn’t horrible with the Fujifilm X-T3 but at roughly 50 minutes for video recording, it’s not great. I recently was a guest on the live podcast Cameras & Flask. I used my X-T3 for the live camera. I had a concern if the camera would last for the whole 1-hour episode. Luckily it did but barely. Without recording the battery seems lasts longer when continuously being on.
After that close call, I decided to find an external powering solution that was inexpensive. With other cameras like Sony mirrorless, I was able to use a basic USB battery to power the camera for hours. The X-T3 is a bit more finicky when it comes to power with these USB portables. It requires a higher wattage than most of the USB batteries provide.
The search is on
In my quest to find a way to get longer continuous use I hit the keyboard and found that Fujifilm actually has an approved solution. Go figure! I did look into the user guide but no info was available or at least I couldn’t find it. The X-T3 online manual search function isn’t very good on the site. With a little more digging I found it.
Fujifilm recommends two Anker models and both are powerhouses. The PowerCore Speed 20000 PD ($100.US) and PowerCore Speed 26800 PD+26800 ($130.US).
- Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD Capacity: 20100mAh / 72.36Wh
- PD Input: 5V=3A, 9V=3A, 15V=2A, 20V=1.5A
- PD Output: 5V=3A, 9V=2.6A, 15V=1.6A
- Standard Output: 5V=2A
I decided to go with the cheaper lighter PowerCore Speed 20000 PD due to its weight. It’s not super heavy at 12.7oz/360g however it’s 8oz lighter than the larger capacity Anker PowerCore+26800 PD at 20.5oz/580g.
| Fujifilm X-T3 | Still | Video |
| Without mobile battery | approx. 390 | Approx. 40 min. |
| Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD | approx. 1500 | approx. 320 min. |
| Anker PowerCore+26800 PD | approx. 1900 | approx. 400 min. |
As you can see the Anker PD batteries adds a lot more use in both stills and video.
Here is how it works. When the Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD is plugged into the USB-C of the X-T3 and the camera is turned on it trickles down the internal battery while using the PowerCore Speed 20000 PD at the same time. The internal battery will eventually be depleted at the same rate of the Anker battery if left continuously on. When the camera is powered off the Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD will start charging the X-T3 internal battery. It’s very simple and you don’t have to make any setting changes in the X-T3. Now I’m set for long record times.
Getting over five hours of continuous use is crazy good. I doubt I would need that but for time-lapse capture, this would be a great way to power the camera. It’s not a small lightweight battery at 168 X 62 X 22 mm/6.6X2.4X0.9 in. and 360g/12.7 oz. Mounting it to the camera could be a little ridiculous however for tripod use I simply used the mesh bag it came with and hung it to a lockdown on my tripod. Perfect for what I need it for.
Using the included USB Type-C wall charger, PowerCore+ 26,800 PD utilizes 27W of power to fully charge in just over four hours.
This is also great for traveling in remote locations if spare batteries are not available. The PowerCore Speed 20000 PD can fully charge a dead X-T3 NP-W126S/NP-W126 battery approximately 5 times.
While I probably won’t be attaching the PowerCore Speed 20000 PD to my caged X-T3, if you want to, SmallRig has an Anker holder designed to do so.
Another plus is you can use the included USB-C charger as an AC adapter. This thing just keeps on giving! With the Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD, all my power issues have been solved at a price that doesn’t break the bank plus I can use it as a portable iPhone charger for about 6-7 recharges and is also compatible with USB-C to charge a MacBook and Nintendo Switch.
