Vertical Battery Grip for a 40D

StarrToDowler

Hello, all...

I've been looking at a few of these items on eBay and was wondering if those of you who use one would comment on what you think.

I shoot a lot of sports, have been getting into weddings, and shoot a lot in vertical. From some of what I've read, the extra battery power is nice, but it's apparently much more comfortable and stable for shooting in vertical. Do you think it's worth the extra weight (and of course the extra $)?

Thanks!

Scott_Quier

I use the BG when I'm shooting a wedding and it's imperative that I NOT run out of juice part way through some critical happening .... When the battery(ies) in the Canon camera become depleted, aside from watching the gas guage, there's no warning - the camera just shuts down. With the BG, I've yet to exhaust a battery set, even when shooting circa 2,000 in a single day.

For balance ... at first I wasn't convinced. Until I mounted by 70-200 f/2.8L IS onto a 30D with the grip. Big difference and much easier to handle.

Eronomics .... Yes, it does make the verically oriented shoot easier to handle. I rotate my camera such that, without the BG, my right hand goes up (I've seen some rotate the camera the other direction). When I do this the camera becomes a bit less stable. However, with the BG mounted, I'm able to keep my elbows in and well supported by my body - makes for a more stable platform.

For hand-held work, the BG is a good investment, even taking the extra weight into consideration.

However, if you are going to be tripod mounted, I've found the Canon BG-E2 does not mount tightly to the bodies (20D, 30D, 50D). I've come away from a tripod mounted session with a bit of camera motion induced image blur - very disappointing.

You mention seeing things on EBay. All my comments are related to the Canon BG-E2 (and, presumably, the BG-E2n as well). If you are looking at a Hong Kong manufactured EBay special .... don't know that this would be comparing apples to apples.

mehampson

I just got a Zeikos grip for my 40D and I'm quite happy with it. I agree with Scott's comments above, generally.

I'm on a pretty tight budget, so going third-party wasn't a big deal to me. One thing that I hadn't noticed was that it doesn't come with an AF-ON button for some reason. Neither does the BG-E2N, though I thought one of the older models did. It's a pretty strange omission, which I'm getting around by swapping the AF-ON and AE-Lock buttons in the custom functions. For the most part, the build quality seems higher than I'd expected for a knock-off; there's no creaky plastic anywhere and the texture feels good in the hand.

Some brands apparently have a design flaw where the screw that secures the grip to the camera has a flimsy plastic gear connecting it to the control dial. I know the Zeikos doesn't have this problem; I don't know about the Phottix or others.

I'm happy with mine. Just being able to get my pinky onto the camera is a huge ergonomic bonus. I also have an old A2 and the VG-10, and just in terms of comfort and balance, the VG-10 wins hands down (it just feels better integrated with the camera), but then that's a smaller, lighter film body so it's not entirely a fair comparison.

leahe

I have a BG on my 40D and 20D and never take them apart. Like Scott said, it balances really well with the 70-200. I don't have anything bigger than that, but I'm sure it would still feel better than without. I shoot vertical quite a bit and the BG helps to keep my wrist position more normal. It used to start hurting after too much vertical shooting with my right hand on the top. I highly recommend them.