hand grip???

[albinomangion]

hi,i saw many different cameras on the market ,with the canon eos many people
attach a hand grip that holds the batteries in it and has a small screen on it,can you pls
tell me what it is used for?
thanks Albino Mangion.

[rasmussen4]

Hey Albino, hand grips have two main functions. Primarily they give you double the battery life cause it lets you connect two batteries to the camera, doubling it's use time. It also doubles as a vertical hand grip that makes shooting the camera in vertical portrait orientation just as easy as you would when shooting in landscape orientation. The small screen that I think you've seen is on some of the aftermarket grips, which will sometimes have a shutter release timer built in to them, which to me is more of a gimmick, but then again some people buy a separate remote that allows them to set a variable time to shoot multiple images in sequence. If you need that, check the after-market grips. But frankly, those things are cheap, break easily, and don't always work like you think they should. Just from my experience, I'd stick with the Canon models.

[coffee]

Ya the canon grips are pretty rugged too. I dropped a 40d, 24-70L and grip on concrete. Dented the front of the lens, and cracked the grip pretty well. That was a few years ago now. The grip still works great, and the crack is still there, but rock solid and hasn't spread at all. Camera was undamaged. Silly me.

[sandrac]

Do the hand grips make it easieer to hold steady
I have CP and use a stand because of the troublee holding the cam
iff I hadmore ofa grip it would make it easier
wonder if could rent a hand grip for a week end

[jonrayner]

I find that the grip enables me to hold my camera in the vertical position much more confortably; my hand is not reaching over the camera to reach the shutter button. Because of this I can then hold my elbows into my sides when taking a shot, so in that sense, yes it is more stable. However the camera is now heavier (having the grip and an extra battery on board), so in theory that would make it less stable. For me though having the grip on, I feel a lot more comfortable and stable despite the additional weight.
Hope that helps.
Jon

[jonrayner]

:eek: Ooops, just realised I am in the 'Ask a Pro' section. I am not a pro, far from it! Apologies if I should not be posting in here.

[sandrac]

thanks it does
my strength is not a problem it is the tiny dexterity movements
I might go to the store and try one
it would be nice to take photos some without a stand
thanks for your response