Battery confusion (FZ7/FZ30)

[GaryFx]

In searching for a spare battery for my FZ7, I've discovered that a number of places have batteries that claim to be for the FZ7 or FZ30 (same battery, as far as I know). However, they routinely say that they're for the CGA-S006, even though the FZ7 documentation calls for a CGR-S006A. I even contacted Energizer, who referred me to Technuity, where the answer was that the batteries weren't compatible - which leaves me wondering how they can list this as being for the FZ7?

None of this makes any sense. I'm guessing that somewhere along the line, Panasonic tweaked the battery and changed its designator. I can't find the CGA-S006 on the Panasonic site. The question is whether or not those tweaks are significant.

Or should I just ignore what the Technuity rep said, and go with one of the third party batteries. The price differential is huge.

Thanks,

Gary

[genece]

Same as the FZ30 if this link works it should show that.

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs...00000000005702

[GaryFx]

I'm afraid I wasn't clear. I know that the FZ7 and the FZ30 use the same battery.

The confusion is that Panasonic gives one model number for the battery, but when I search third party sites for matches to the camera, they frequently come up with a different battery model. So, for example, go to http://www.energizerbatteries.com/ , and use the Search by Device to look for either the FZ7 or FZ30. It comes up with a battery that it says is compatible with the CGA-S006, not the CGR-S006A.

Though I must admit that as I repeat the searches I did a while back, I seem to be finding more matches that say both CGA-S006 and CGR-S006. So perhaps it's a non-issue.

Thanks,

Gary

[genece]

It seems to me that most of the third party batteries carry the CGA #
But here at the battery barn they list both and the links take you to the same Item.

http://www.batterybarn.com/dpanasonic.htm

I have those and they work fine.

[GaryFx]

I finally remembered to follow up on this.

I went ahead and ordered the Lenmar DLP-006 battery from buy.com. It fits fine into my FZ7, and seems to work ok. I haven't really tested how much I can do on a single charge, but at that price, I don't much care.

Gary

[Lens Flare]

The confusion is that Panasonic gives one model number for the battery, but when I search third party sites for matches to the camera, they frequently come up with a different battery model. So, for example, go to http://www.energizerbatteries.com/ , and use the Search by Device to look for either the FZ7 or FZ30. It comes up with a battery that it says is compatible with the CGA-S006, not the CGR-S006A.

The suffix is simply the market it's intended for. A = US, E = Europe (or by extension anywhere but the US, I don't know if there's a suffix for Asia as well). There's no difference between the batteries, they just have different fine print on them for the region they're sold to, so advertising it without the suffix doesn't make any difference.

As for the prefix, I don't know what the 'A' vs. 'R' signifies.