Nex 5N battery question

<p>I need a spare and the Sony NP-FW50 is the one that came with the camera and is the one the manual says to use.<br>

I bought a 3rd party (Digipower at Future Shop) and the camera returned an incompatible message.<br>

I want to buy the Pearstone version from B&H but their page also warns of incompatibility.<br>

I just used Live Chat and the agent says the NP-FH50 is the one to get as affirmed in the DPReview<br>

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonynex5n/2<br>

I thought it had to be W not H<br>

Can anyone share their experience?</p>

<p>Has anyone bought a compatible 3rd party battery for the 5N ?</p>

<p>No. I bought one from a reputable dealer and returned it because it did not work. I use a Sony battery. Use what they recommend. There is a chip in the camera keyed to that battery. </p>

<p><em> "There is a chip in the camera keyed to that battery"</em><br>

<em><br /></em><br>

That's what i thought may be happening.<br>

Isn't it "illegal" to prevent you from being able to use other battery brands. That's why they can sell theirs for 3x the price<em>.</em> And there is no fair warning/notice ahead of purchasing the camera.<em><br /></em></p>

<p>I've used the Pearstone BPS-FW50 battery from B&H since last November, charged with Sony's 5N charger. No problems and as long lasting as the OEM battery.</p>

<p>I have used the "w" since I bought the Nex-5 in the summer of '10. It ought to work with the 5n due to the same size, I think. The "h" might be a newer version tho...<br>

ps. I have used a couple offbrand batteries also since '10 and never had a problem. I got them in Asia, so no help to you there.</p>

<p>The 5N may be different to the 5. I wonder if sony changed something in the camera or perhaps in the firmware update to make other brands incompatible. Joe, which firmware version are you using with your 5N and the Pearstone battery</p>

<p>Sony needs battery dedicated for each camcorder, or perhaps also for each camera type or model.<br>

Your best bet is to use battery that is listed in your camera manual. 3rd party batteries most likely will not work.</p>

<p>I used Sony brand battery with the exact same size, voltage and capacity in my camcorder, but was a difference of one battery model letter, and that was obviously not for my Sony HD camcorder, but for a different Sony HD camcorder.</p>

<p>I porchased and installed the battery at a vendor shop, and it worked OK, untill I neeeded to change something like shooting parameters, and then a message appeared that the battery was not apropriate for this camcorder, yet, I was able to shut it down and start again... working OK, until the camera needed to evaluate remaining battery capacity, and the message showed up again. Finally I got the right battery, not risking any shooting interruption.</p>

<p>Battery remaining capacity determination needed frequently could detect inapropriate type of battery, then your guess is as good as mine what will happen. Do you want to take the risk?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Frank Gross,</p>

<p>I've used the 5N with this battery thru the original firmware v1.00, and for the past couple months under v1.01, the latest available from Sony product support - <a href="http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=NEX5N&LOC=3#/downloadTab">http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=NEX5N&LOC=3#/downloadTab</a> (this is the link I used for the Windows 7 OS firmware download package. If using Apple or other, choose as appropriate.)</p>

<p>There has been no obvious change in 5N operation or battery life across these two firmware versions.</p>