The Online Photographer

I think Hahnel deserves a little attention from time to time. Camera makers, even for some pretty nice cameras, are skimping on chargers and cables as a way of saving money. A reader and friend just kindly donated a camera to the TOP (and Mike) stable, but without a charger. The last time that happened, I inherited a Hahnel ProCUBE2. It’s a third-party charger base that takes interchangeable plates for different kinds of batteries. I really liked it. When you travel you only have to remember to take the charger and power cord, nothing else; information is right there on a screen on the unit; and it charges one or two batteries at a time quickly and efficiently. I sent my first one to my son along with a camera for him to make videos with. So now I’m about to buy another one.

The Hahnel Cube came out in 2018 and got lots of awards and praise from reviewers at the time. But like all products eventually do these days, its marketing has gone stale and no longer gets attention. It still deserves attention in my opinion. I’m a fan.

But it’s a little confusing to buy. There are a variety of packages in different colors—one each for Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Fujifilm, and Olympus, all with bases of different colors. What’s not immediately obvious when you’re shopping is that all the bases are identical, except for the colors. The plates that snap into the top are what customize the base for different batteries, and if you look around a bit you’ll discover that you can buy the plates separately. There’s a little hole in the side of the Cube, and you use a SIM card tool (one is included in the box, but any will do, or a paper clip or even a pen or pencil), stick it in the hole, and the plate pops out. Fit and press and a different one clicks in place. The fact that the base kits are labeled “Canon” or “Nikon” and so forth just means that the base comes with those plates.

It also comes with plugs for UK, EU, and US outlets, an AA charging plate (with one limitation—you must charge four batteries of the same kind at a time), and a car charging cable.

Another limitation is that they don’t make plates for every camera or battery. But do a little research to see if your battery is used by different camera brands. For example, they don’t sell a Sigma package for my Sigma FP (or fp—Sigma styles it both ways). But the Sigma BP-51 is the same battery as the Panasonic BLC12, so I just bought the Hahnel plate for that Panasonic battery, and I’m good to go for my Sigma camera.

While I’m on that subject, that same battery is also used for the Leica CL and the original Leica Q. But the Sigma version costs $40, the Panasonic version costs $60, and the Leica version costs $99! They’re all the same, except for the magic Leica dust on the Leica one. I couldn’t prove it, but it’s likely the batteries are all made by Panasonic in China. So if you’re in the market for extra batteries and don’t care to buy generic ones, you can still save some money by doing a little research to see if your battery is sold under different brand names.

As a final complication, neither Amazon nor B&H Photo has complete stock of the Hahnel stuff. I had to buy the plate from Amazon (less than $11), but the charger from B&H.

I didn’t search around for the best price on a base, but maybe you can save some money there too. At least one manufacturer, Manfrotto, sells the Hahnel ProCUBE2 base under its own branding.

Mike

UPDATE: Two things I forgot to mention: the ProCUBE2 also has a USB-A port that you can use to charge a phone or a third battery in the camera. It starts as soon as the batteries loaded directly in the charger are finished.

Also, John Sparks points out that Watson makes a similar charger that uses individual plates, so you can charge two different kinds of batteries at once. Of course, then you have to buy and carry two plates to charge any two batteries at once, but that’s probably not a big deal for most people. That one is the Watson Duo LCD.

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