My GH3 just arrived and I am trying to work out what I need in terms of batteries. I have heard I should be able to get a good days video shooting from the one I get with the camera so was thinking that I should get a spare just in case. I have heard getting 3rd party/aftermarket ones is not a good idea but this is just for emergencies. I am not bothered if if does not give me battery level/left indicator but obviously dont want to damage my camera. Can any one recommend any good ones?

Ben

Wasabi batteries seemed to good to be true when I found out about them for my Canon camera. Turns out they are too good to be true, they do not hold up as well. They did get me through for awhile, but what a stupid waste of money. The OEM batteries last much longer and are fully reliable.

The generics I've used for the Panasonic GH2 were absolute junk, really bad.

Ben, the GH3 is a complicated piece of electronic equipment. I suggest you consider that for your shiny new GH3 you do not go cheap, but instead protect it with a genuine battery. If anything goes wrong with your camera while you are using the generic battery, you may have trouble figuring out where the problem lies. Also, you could not tell Panasonic the truth, because the generic battery will void your warranty, if they find out.

In the VT Snowshoeing piece I posted I was out in snow and cold for two hours and because I was snowshoeing and chasing animals, I never shut the camera off. It was reading full when I got back.

Go with Jeff's advice and get another official battery from B&H. I've got lot's of cameras and the replacement batteries simply never match the originals. I've got two 5Ds with hundreds of hours on them and the original batteries still run full strength 4 years later.

I threw 3 knock offs away just this week because they failed to even hold a charge on a recent shoot...the one time I needed them.

Two GH3 batteries and you'll probably never need to buy another. Probably good for an 8 hour continuous shoot.

I agree with everything Jeff and Jim said. The knock off batteries in lieu of Sony that I've tried in the past, for one thing, are really bad with "holding" a charge over days of non use.. Really apparent. And I'm pretty sure run time is not up as good either.

I've done with one battery (but have 3 more I bought from B&H first day they became available) 3-4 hours walking around destination "gardens" in our area and then running the HDMI output straight through a projector and cycling the clips for another 2 hours or so. At that point it was down to 1 bar and finally a blinking warning.

I kept going with the projecting from the camera because I wanted to see how much warning time the blinking gives. Seemed like about 8 minutes from my watch. I would say you could pretty solidly count on 5 more minutes of run time, being conservative. Maybe 6 minutes and not have to worry.

So all that said, 2 batteries probably gets you through a full day yes. But 3 you can handle a really really long day. Doesn't suck that I have 4 though....... :)

I agree with everything that has been said here, Ben. Unless you can find a better price, I would just go ahead and get the OEM Panasonic DMW-BLF19 battery from Amazon UK for £69.99 with free UK delivery. There are only a few of them left.

Congratulations on the new camera and Happy New Year!

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution (http://hybridcamerarevolution.blogspot.com)

Sorry, please ignore this posted in error.

Stick with Panasonic batteries. You'll thank yourself for them later.