Canon Battery Grip (40D) Question

theNOIZ

Does anyone have experience with non-Canon brand battery grips?

I have a 40D and I'm interested in a battery grip. I've found a lot on eBay, but are they good? Is the quality comparable?

I've bought the el-cheapo camera remotes and bubble levels on eBay, but when it comes to camera juice, I'm nervous. Some of the grips comes with two batteries as well. How are they?

I'm judging this experience on an after-market battery I bought once for an HP PocketPC on eBay. The battery really jacked up the screen. :huh

Thanks in advance for your help and opinions.

ziggy53

I think the general consensus is that many of the third party grips are cheaply made and quality control is all over the place. If you happen to get a good one you may find that the "feel" of the buttons and controls also varies widely.

I have an Opteka grip for the Canon XT and I've only had one issue of flaky operation and that was cleared up by cleaning the contacts of both the grip and the camera.

I decided that the 40D has enough additional size that I really didn't need the grip and the battery life is also much better than the XT series cameras.

The genuine OEM grips are better quality but you still hear many stories of people having problems that range from an occasional nuisance to very real issues like complete failure at the worst possible time. Most people do seem to have better luck with the OEM grips and I would think that you should get better support at any rate.

divamum

theNOIZ wrote:

Does anyone have experience with non-Canon brand battery grips?

I have a 40D and I'm interested in a battery grip. I've found a lot on eBay, but are they good? Is the quality comparable?

I've bought the el-cheapo camera remotes and bubble levels on eBay, but when it comes to camera juice, I'm nervous. Some of the grips comes with two batteries as well. How are they?

I'm judging this experience on an after-market battery I bought once for an HP PocketPC on eBay. The battery really jacked up the screen.

Thanks in advance for your help and opinions.

When I was shopping for a grip for my xsi earlier in the year, general concensus in answer to my questions seemed to be to go with an OEM grip, and aftermarket batteries (sterlingtek.com was recommended highly). In the end I got a terrific deal for a nearly-new OEM grip on Fred Miranda, and since the seller included an OEM battery, I was good to go!