The OM System OM-5 mirrorless camera makes reasonably good use of its battery life, but mirrorless cameras do tend to burn through battery life quite rapidly. So you’re going to have to charge that battery sooner rather than later. Or maybe you need to replace the battery or want the extra convenience of having a spare so you can keep shooting while the other charges.
Here’s a rundown on which batteries the OM-5 uses as well as options for charging it.
Batteries for the OM System OM-5
The OM System OM-5 camera uses battery model BLS-50. Whether you’re looking for an official OM System / Olympus battery or an aftermarket alternative, they’ll be listed under that model number.
Official Olympus / OM System battery
Something that’s a little confusing about these is that they can turn up with either Olympus branding or OM System branding. Either is fine. They’re the same thing–it’s just that the Olympus camera brand is changing to OM System, and during that switchover there are some products still carrying the old branding.
Aftermarket alternatives
OM System recommends that you only use their official batteries. And that’s the safest option. But it also means you pay the manufacturer’s premium prices.
In practice, you can often find good-quality aftermarket versions that can work well and be much cheaper.
They appear under a bunch of different brand names. Quality control can vary, but I’ve had good experiences over the years with aftermarket battery brands like Wasabi Power, Powerextra, and Watson. There are also other good alternatives available.
How to charge the OM-5 battery
There are two main ways to charge the OM-5 battery: in the camera or in an external charger.
Option 1: Charge the battery in the camera
This is the method that’s available to charge the camera battery right out of the box. The OM-5 comes with the USB cable you need as well as an AC charger.
As always, they recommend in the manual that you stick with the original (and official) wall charger and micro-USB cable. But I’ve been using stock standard micro-USB cables and USB charging hubs without any problem at all. But if you want to replace the original, official wall charger, it’s model F-5AC.
Something to be careful of is that the camera’s power switch is set to OFF. If the switch is at ON, it won’t charge.
It’s something I’ve been caught out myself with, thinking I’d left the camera to charge but later finding that the battery was still dead. So it’s worth making sure that the camera is powered off and the small orange light comes on.
When you plug the camera in using the micro-USB cable, you should see a small orange light come on the back of the camera, down at the bottom right next to the trash button.
One thing to watch when you plug it in, though, is that the micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports are right next to each other and look quite similar. It’s quite easy to accidentally try to put the USB cable into the HDMI port. But don’t force it–if it doesn’t go in, the USB plug might be upside down, or you might be trying to put it into the HDMI port.
Option 2: Use an external charger
The camera doesn’t come with an external charger, but one is available as an optional extra accessory. There’s an official Olympus / OM System one available as well as aftermarket alternatives.
Official external charger
The official charger is model BCS-5. It’s a single-dock cradle charger that can charge one battery at a time. It’s designed to plug into wall AC power.
Aftermarket external chargers
As with the batteries, there are also good aftermarket versions available produced by third-party manufacturers. Not only are they often significantly cheaper, but you can also get them in different configurations. For example, you can get dual chargers to charge two batteries at once, or chargers that are powered by USB or DC car charger (the cigarette charger style). A number of the aftermarket spare battery options also include a charger, which can make for very good value.
OM System OM-5 camera accessories
These are the model numbers for the official accessories for the OM System OM-5.
- Battery: BLS-50 lithium-ion rechargeable battery
- External Charger: BCS-5
- USB-AC Adapter: F-5AC AC wall adapter
- Grip: ECG-5
- Remote: RM-WR1 wireless remote control
- Eyecup: EP-16 / EP-15
- Flash:
