Replacing your camera’s power supply is an easy do-it-yourself project that could help you test whether a third party power supply performs as well than the one from Panasonic itself. No tools are needed beyond patience and it should of be fairly painless even for those not familiar with performing this procedure themselves.
Find where the battery is stored on the camera’s body
Comparing Battery Performance
Slide it open gently and you’ll see that metal contacts is in plain sight inside. Remove the old battery for inspection. It appears to be sturdy and normal, as you would expect it to be. There are regulatory markings and other words stamped onto one of its sides.
Then you put that somewhere in your workspace.
Then it’s time to put the new one into place. The camera being replaced is a Chinese-made compact digital camera called the Panasonic DMC-GF8. One hand hold the camera firmly in place. The other grips the new battery. And this one is called “XIAO.” It’s a black pack intended for insertion into slot.
However, the fit appears to be tight and holding well
Then you pause briefly to match up your choices before settling on one or the other. In this case, beside the empty housing are the factory-installed battery: a DMW-BLH7E Lithium-ion pack. That’s the real-deal Panasonic item rated at 7.4V/1150mAh according to its specs. This will be your baseline for performance, and you want to ensure the alternative meets these standards.
Over there’s the alternative battery lying on the grid mat. And it’s clearly labeled as a Panasonic DMW-BLH7E pack, which has the same voltage and capacity as original. The two are both 7.4V and 1150mAh and the labels is clear and simple to read. It looks like a direct replacement. At first glance, you don’t see any noticeable quality differences in casing.
Next, insert the battery. Quickly check that contacts are lined up correctly and that Panasonic is printed on the camera body. The lens fitted here is a H-FS1203. Slide in the blank and the battery fit securely into empty space. Pull out the other battery and use it as a guide. This is intuitive.
You double-check the connection before closing the cover. Then you check that it’s connected. Inside the compartment, the contacts are visible once more. The label has maker’s name and model number on it. As you insert the battery, keep your hand near the slot to make sure it fits in just right. The background grid is neutral-blue. It is the workspace for alignment. Everything appears to be right where it belongs.
Then at last you try it out with the replacement unit. Turns out the camera turn on fine and it accepts the third-party battery with the label “battery pack for panasonic,” which is fine. It’s 1100mAh. Different batteries has different capacities, and this one has three cells of 3.6V. Everything seems to be fine, no reduction in performance or anything. The camera behave exactly as before.
Success!
The alternative battery doesn’t seem to hurt anythings, either.
In the test, both batteries performed equally well. The third party battery is certainly an option that works. You won’t lose anything by buying it and you’ll save some bucks at the same time. You’re comfortabley shooting with it. The camera fires right back on after the power button is pressed. Everything runs smoothly. There are no issues. Power consumption seems consistent.
You don’t feel like you have to buy only the name brand. The generic version has worked very well. You don’t notice much of a difference in performance, and you’d shoot with this thing every day if necessary. The whole thing has been very manageable. It’s done a good job. And it didn’t take too long.
