There's no remote control for LX3 & as for 3rd party battery you can get it around $25 which I have one currently. My advise go for original if you can. :thumbsup:
I got mine off ebay. About $13 if i remember correctly.
Battery has no brand.
So far I have used a few charge cycles and it performs fairly close to my original panasonic battery in terms of usage per charge.
Cant complain for the price.