Short answer: the X-S10 and X-E4 both take NP-W126S batteries. One has in-body stabilization, the other keeps its screen on, so real consumption runs faster than the spec sheet suggests. Pair one with a TNP-W126S as a spare and top up over USB-C during lunch and an afternoon coffee, and a day of street shooting is usually covered. The trick is not battery strength but whether the top-up fits into a pause you were going to take anyway. What follows follows one day: why these two bodies draw so much, where the charging windows fall, how to split the two batteries, and when a dock charger beats direct charging.
1. Why these two bodies use more than you expect
The X-S10 is one of the few mid-range Fujifilm bodies with five-axis in-body stabilization. The stabilization unit runs continuously while the camera is on, even when you are just holding it up to compose. Add the deeper grip, which makes one-handed carrying easy, and many people leave the camera powered on for long stretches — so real on-time grows and the battery drains faster than a frame-count estimate would suggest.
The X-E4 has the opposite problem. The body is minimal, with no grip and few controls, so operation leans heavily on the screen and dials and the screen is lit for a large share of the time. It is positioned as a carry-everywhere camera, and owners tend to wear it on a strap, powered on, all day: not many frames, but long standby.
What the two share is that standby and screen time account for a large part of consumption. “Shoot less and save power” does not hold here; on-time is what decides runtime. Carrying a spare is what lets you stop power-cycling the camera to conserve.
Worth noting: the body’s USB port is mainly for data transfer and powering the body, so do not treat it as the main way to charge a battery — whether you can charge while shooting depends on the body’s documentation. The thing that genuinely charges independently of the body is the USB-C port on the battery itself.
2. Fit the top-up into three fixed windows
The value of direct charging is not speed but that it happens during time you were going to spend stopped anyway. A street day usually has three phases, and three matching windows:
- The night before: charge both batteries. Do not skip this, because the second battery is usually remembered only once you are already shooting.
- Midday break: take out the battery you used all morning, connect it to a power bank and leave it in your bag or on the table. Over 30 to 60 minutes of eating, it usually recovers a substantial share.
- Afternoon coffee or waiting for a train: if the afternoon burns fast, use the same window again, or simply switch to the second battery and keep charging the first.
Of the three, the midday one matters most. It decides whether the afternoon is spent nursing the last bar or shooting freely. Many people conclude one battery is not enough when the real problem is that they skipped the midday top-up.
3. Battery allocation across a day
| Period | Typical use | Battery plan | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00-11:30 | 100-150 street frames, standby in between | Battery A in the body | Review little; drop screen brightness one step |
| 12:00-13:00 | Barely shooting | Battery A out, on direct charge | Power bank, shaded spot, not a sealed pocket |
| 13:00-17:00 | Depends on light, usually more than the morning | Fit B; A keeps charging | Alternate the two so neither runs flat |
| After 17:00 | Good light, most of the keepers | The topped-up A, or what is left of B | Do not start any new high-draw features now |
For stills only, with no video, a single battery usually lands in the 300-400 frame range, with wide variation from standby time, screen brightness, burst shooting and stabilization. Recording 4K drops that number noticeably, and a video-led day is better served by three batteries.
If you shoot street with an X100V, the logic is close to the X-E4; see the NP-W126S compatibility list to confirm battery generation.
4. Three cases where a dock charger wins
Direct charging is not universal. In these situations, carrying one dock charger is less trouble:
- Three or more batteries in one night: direct charging handles one at a time, so three batteries queue into the small hours. A dock charger also queues, but it can sit on a table unattended all night.
- An early start the next day: direct charging depends on a power bank, and the power bank itself needs charging, so two devices are queuing and it is easy to misjudge the timing.
- Charging while shooting: not possible. Direct charging requires taking the battery out of the body, and while it is out the camera is out of action.
Conversely, if your day is “out in the morning, back at the hotel at night” and the hotel has sockets, direct charging and a dock charger are much the same and you should carry the lighter one. A direct-charge battery is designed for topping up on the move, not for replacing the charging routine you have at home.
If summer heat limits are more of a concern, a separate article on battery behavior in cold and extreme temperatures is worth reading; lithium cells follow the same rules at both ends of the range.
FAQ
Will the X-S10 show a warning with this battery?
Some bodies show a prompt the first time a third-party battery is fitted; restart or ignore it and shooting is unaffected. The same body can behave differently across firmware versions, so go by what yours actually does.
Can I charge a phone at the same time as the battery?
That depends on the power bank’s output. Most support multiple ports at once, but charging two devices splits the power and the battery takes longer to fill. If time is tight, charge the battery alone.
What size power bank should I get?
A 10000mAh bank, allowing for its rated capacity and conversion losses, typically tops this battery up two to three times and still has room for a phone. More capacity means more weight, so trade off against trip length.
Are two batteries enough for a day?
For stills-led shooting with a midday window, two usually suffice. For video-led work, or for all-day shooting without powering down, plan on three.