Panasonic starts locking out third-party batteries with new firmware

Kodak's already taken some steps to cut down on counterfeiting of its batteries, and it looks like Panasonic is now taking some fairly drastic measures of it own, which could leave some users of its cameras a tad unhappy. Apparently, the company has determined that some third-party batteries amazingly don't meet its own rigid safety standards, so it's now released a new firmware update that can detect said batteries and prevent them from working. At the moment, that only includes cameras that use DMW-BCF10, DMW-BCG10, or DMW-BLB13 battery packs (some sixteen cameras in all), but it seems safe to assume that this'll soon be standard practice on all Panasonic cameras.

[Via Slashdot]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Panasonic starts locking out third-party batteries with new firmware originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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