Panasonic seems to have gotten pretty frustrated with manufacturers of third party batteries for their line of digital cameras, and have released a new firmware that somewhat addresses this issue in a somewhat confrontational manner. Here’s what OhMyBattery has to say about it.
“The latest firmware updated for Panasonic digital cameras contains one single improvement: it locks out the ability to use ‘non-genuine Panasonic’ batteries. It does so for safety reasons, it says. It seems to indicate that this is going to be the norm for all new Panasonic digital cameras. From the release: ‘Panasonic Digital Still Cameras now include a technology that can identify a genuine Panasonic battery. For the protection of our customers Panasonic developed this technology after it was discovered that some aftermarket 3rd party batteries do not meet the rigid safety standards Panasonic uses.’ The firmware warning is quite clear as to what it does: ‘After this firmware update your Panasonic Digital Camera cannot be operated by 3rd party batteries (non genuine Panasonic batteries).'”
What do you think of the entire situation?
Filed in . Read more about Digital Camera and Panasonic.