Battery Grip

[dicklaxt]

Do I need one and whats its advantages if I do?

dick

[coffee]

Grips make the rig heavier, that's the first thing to remember, and it's ore money. Most including myself love the grip. You have more battery power because like my Canon 40D, the grip hold 2 batteries instead of one. Much longer life. It also balances out the rig in my hand better. most grips have a shutter button for vertical shooting which is also nice. I myself have always had a grip on my cameras. The only reason I would take it off is if I was hiking and needed to lighten the load, but that has yet to happen. I love camera grips myself.

Maybe go to a camera shop and see if they will let you try on a grip on your camera and see how it feels to you, or use a friends for a while. Or buy one locally and try it out. If you feel you don't need one, you can always return it.

[dicklaxt]

Thats interesting,my PowerShot has 4 batteries-1.25 volts each but I'm not sure if they are connected in series,parallel or series/parallel,you say the 40D only requires one and the grip has 2. I guess they are hooked up in parallel dividing the power consummed between the two. What is the voltage level of a 40D battery?

dick

[coffee]

Thats interesting,my PowerShot has 4 batteries-1.25 volts each but I'm not sure if they are connected in series,parallel or series/parallel,you say the 40D only requires one and the grip has 2. I guess they are hooked up in parallel dividing the power consummed between the two. What is the voltage level of a 40D battery?

dick

The batteries for the 40D aren't standard ones. They are designed for the camera. One battery can take 1000 or more shots. In fact I think with the grip and 2 batt I've taken over 4000 on one charge. I don't know anything about voltage and such. I will look on the batteries when I have more time.

[jerryph]

First off, battery grips are more often associated with usage on a SLR camera. For dSLR cameras, they are a repository for extra batteries... more pictures before needing to change them. They also have other advantages such as a shutter button on the side, available when you do portrait shots, additional controls for things like shutter speed and aperture settings. The more advanced ones even have additional buttons for auto-exposure and focus settings. They also tend to seem to balance the camera nicely when using a heavier/bigger lens.

Depending on the manufacturer, there could be more advantages, such as higher frame-per-second ratings with them than without them.

Disadvantages? Well, they do increase the camera weight and they are often over $200 plus you need to purchase additional batteries.

I have one for my D200... put it on the day I bought it and it has not come off once since.

[LensBaby]

I love grips! With my Sony A700 I HAD to have one, because I did not get a lot of juice out of my batteries with that camera. My 40D however, is excellent. I still like the way it levels out the camera better with a larger lens. I also like it for portrait shots.

[thom125]

I am also very happy with the grip on my Canon 50D. I like the added size for easier handling and I like the added weight because it helps steady the camera. I got mine at Amazon, didn't pay much, and I'm 100% happy with everything about it. Mine only comes off when I need to attach my pano' mount, and then it goes right back on again. Thom