The Anker PowerCore 10,000 PD Redux is a great option as well. It is cheaper ($35), smaller, and lighter but still provides a way to extend the Nikon Z8 battery for night photography.
I have the Z 8 and it is finicky. That's not Nikon, but the IT industry. There are a few requirements that have to be met and rather than explaining these, Nikon suggest one product that works. (1) The power cable over USB-C must support PD ("Power Delivery"). That is a much higher power standard than USB version 2.0 both in Volts and Ampères. That's not a trivial "wire gauge" thing, but the cable needs a chip in its connectors that can communicate a Q&A about its capabilities. Note that there's another high power version than PD that has its own Q&A (aka protocol). (2) The power bank then also needs to support that PD standard. (3) As many things in IT, this may need "version level precision". (4) A cable can be "USB-C" but built at the USB 2 standard and charging the camera will not work. (5) there's a clever video from one of the mythbuster guys that explains why some USB-C/Thunderbolt cables cost US$120 at 1m or 4' length. Complete with scans of the internals of the cable, this video reveals the ins and outs. (6) PD and charging aside, if you need a very fast data transfer over USB-C then you need to worry about these cable internals and chips again, or you end up with a "USB-C 2.0" cable that gets you 450 Mbps rather than 5,000, 10,000 or 20,000 (5, 10, or 20 Gbps). Cheap USB-C cables will not relay high Wattage, or not give high data rate, or may default to USB 2.0. Some cables may exist that will only do power.
It's crazy, that they don't even mention that PD is a requirement. Such a simple thing to do, instead they probably got some money from Anker to just promote their product. Here in Europe, I can't even find that model.
I mostly shoot weddings and here nikon gives an extra battery free with the Z8. Before i bought a Z8 i had a Z6, it too came with 2 batteries. I have a D7100 as well, it too came with 1 en el15 battery. Instead of buying a pd power bank i bought a usb charger instead. Its dirt cheap and charges 2 en el15 batteries at once.
Anker PowerCore III Sense 20k. Love your videos. Got one on how to focus the z8 at night a little better? Does the lens got to infinity on the power reset to the correct position? Or do you need to adjust it a little? Trying to master my night focusing technique. Thanks!
Thanks Eric! It seemed like it did when I tried a few weeks ago in the backyard, I didn’t put a lot of effort into testing it yet though. I do really like the new feature of the 400% digital zoom for helping ensure the star is as tight as it can be to tell focus.
I haven’t tried, but I doubt it. There’s usually a max amperage they can draw to properly recharge the battery and a small computer chip in the power bank that manages that on a recharge.
