planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

I thought with a grip everything was internal anyways...it's just 2 batteries in series rather than one in a single unit. Anyways, I don't have an external battery pack for my camera. I've also never tried time lapse...I don't think my a77 is capable and I don't really want to buy a separate intervolometer (or whatever it's called).

BlackRipleyDog

The primary reason to employ a grip and a second battery is to have the endurance of a model like a D4 which will deliver at least 1200 frames on a fresh battery vs 500 to 600 on a single EL-15 out of say, a D800. Plus the grip supports a marginally higher frame rate. So unless you have solid performance or ergonomic needs, leave the grip at home. Your wife or girlfriend (maybe both) will still respect you at the end of the day.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

And WHY would I want the women to leave me alone? I'm attaching my previously unused battery grip today! >Alan

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

Like I stated above there are ergonomic reasons like mine for a grip.

BlackRipleyDog

Think of the battery in the grip as the external one and the which is easily swapped out if needed.

BlackRipleyDog

I personally like the feel of the grip on my 800. Especially in portrait orientation and counter-balancing that 80-200 2.8 af-d Nikkor (which weighs the same as my Beretta 92 A1).

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Not trying to be difficult but isn't the buyer's reason to spend money on anything the, "right", reason for them no matter what the reason is? It just seems wrong for you to dictate whatever the right reason should be.

Dennis

BlackRipleyDog

I shoot Nikon and view the second battery as external by definition since the grip is an add-on piece of hardware to the camera. I just don't get wrapped up in the semantics as employed by some. I just go out and shoot.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

I know this is a small technical detail, but the batteries are in parallel. If they were in series, they would double the voltage and probably blow out every electronic component in the camera.

drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

I too have given some thought about battery grips. Back in film days the battery grips were coupled to motor drives which is why you needed battery grips, to run the motor in the grips. I find carrying an extra natter just fine. I do not really need more than that. In fact I can shoot several hundred shots before needing a new battery and then it goes another several hundred and the motor drive is now built into the camera not the grip. As for added weight the only time I mind it is when I use a bare bulb flash mounted to a flash bracket. That is a little awkward and a bit heavy because you have the movable mount to turn camera on its side and the heavy pro-flash with it's external High Voltage supply. I could only imagine what it would weigh then with a battery grip.

Royce Moss Loc: Irvine, CA

I thought of getting a battery grip for my D7100. But why? Camera is plenty large enough, never need 2 batteries, don't care what people think eventhough when I'm out shooting I take a spare just in case.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I do a lot of vertical/portrait oriented shots... probably close to half my shots. So for me the grips with their more comfortable vertical controls are pretty much a "must have".

I've used them on all my Canon cameras since film days (PB-E2 on EOS-3, for example)... Used them in other systems, too, as early as the 1980s. Such as the Nikon MD-12 on FM2n and FE cameras, affectionately known as the "AK47 of motor drives" because of the noises it makes. But the MD-12 didn't provide a comfortable vertical grip and secondary controls, the way the Canon MA Drive did for A-1 and AE-1 Program, or the way the FN Drive or FN Winder did for the New F-1. The MA and FN also have a neat "instant high speed drive" button!

Though I don't often do so, I prefer a camera with a removable grip... To be able to make it a little more compact and lighter for certain uses (hiking, cycling, travel).

I've always stuck with OEM... which have generally been good and reliable. I've simply heard and read too many stories about problems with the third party clones.

I have a gripe about the latest Canon grips I'm using (BG-E16 on 7DII)... instead of the batteries inserting directly into the grip, they now are first installed in a tray that slides into the grip. That works fine... except I have been trying to buy some extra trays in order to have them pre-loaded with batteries for faster swaps when shooting. However, extra trays are impossible to find and Canon is utterly clueless about it. I've asked the major retailers, Canon support, CPS and even Canon's repair/parts department... no help at all! I've even been advised by support to buy the AA battery holders for 5D Mark II grip and other things that certainly won't fit and work! C'mon Canon (or some third party manufacturer)... this isn't rocket science.

Other minor gripes.... Why the heck aren't those trays fully interchangeable between different grips? It doesn't seem like that would be a difficult thing to do... would help keep costs down and be a real convenience for photographers using multiple camera models with grips.

And, what's up with the grip naming conventions? The original 7D used BG-E7... Why doesn't the 7DII use a BG-E7II? Instead it uses a BG-E16? Seems to me that Canon could make it a lot easier for people to buy and use these things, if the model names simply made more sense.

OTOH, the addition of the second joystick is simply brilliant.... now found on the grips for 5DIII and later, and 7DII. That solved one of the minor limitations of earlier cameras' grips.

BlackRipleyDog

A spare is a given anyway.

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

You can be as difficult as you want, if a person wants to buy a grip just to make a camera look more professional and not for the intended purpose, fine. Doesn't mean I have to agree with it.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Mine do, but besides that, all my cameras have battery grips, but none less, I still carry extra/spare batteries with me at all times!